Review: MALICE by Chris Wooding

Thanks to Nikole at Scholastic for sending me this great book to review!

First of all I have to say that the cover of this book is startlingly creepy. It’s bold red with the title and an antagonist in eye-catching relief. I love it! I’ve traced the lines of that character (Tall Jake) a hundred times while reading it!

The description on the back cover pretty well sums up the plot of this YA horror novel. It says: “Once you get into the story, there’s no way out.” Well, the truth couldn’t be any plainer. Malice is the name of a comic book but it’s also the name of the place in the comic where, if the kids are foolish enough to take the dare of presenting the specified offerings and repeating the required chant, they find themselves in a dangerous world of monsters, caves, dark corridors, booby traps and many more hidden dangers. Just when I thought I’d come across the worst evil-doer, the following page would be all the more terrifying!

To Seth and Kady, best friends since childhood the rumors of Malice are too much to resist. What follows is an adventure of a lifetime – and maybe several lifetimes. The book is full of intrepid and resourceful teenagers battling the evil lurking behind every corner in the real world and in Malice. But they’re normal teenagers too – they have arguments with their parents and deal with peer pressure. And the antagonists!

I love adventure stories and when I saw the cover of this book, I couldn’t resist reading the first page. And then the next and the next. Ok, I had trouble putting the book down. Its easy to read format and the story line drew me in completely. The book’s beautifully graphic cover extends to the inside where the story is interrupted in at least six places by a comic depicting the action going on. That was great! Sometimes it’s easier (especially if you’re a visual person) to see something rather than have it described by the written word. So the descriptions of some of the fantastical creatures were depicted in equally strange drawings.

I didn't realize until I finished the book that this is a series! I cannot wait for the next one to come out! I love having books to look forward to...I recommend this book to any kid who loves creepy horror stories (who didn’t see or hear about or read at least one book from the Goosebumps series?). And some adults too!