4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Monsters, mysteries and cups o' tea!, December 21, 2009
Theo Wickland has the most boring life imaginable - and his guardian, Doctor Saintly, wants to keep it that way. How would you like to lead a life where the most exciting thing your calendar is a birthday trip to the graveyard, and every day you get painful and mysterious medical treatments from the oh-so-inaccurately-named Mercy Tube?
A mysterious present and a burglary leads to Theo escaping the boredom of his old life and getting entangled in the war between the Society of Unrelenting Vigilance (the sort-of-good guys)and the Society of Good Works (the definitely-bad guys). Theo and his new friends in the Society of Unrelenting Vigilance must go on the run in an amazing underground world beneath London and meet some particularly frightening ghosts and gruesome beasts like Garghouls and Smoglodytes. (The last ones are my favourites - they're weird and gross at the same time!)
And Theo soon discovers that he has a special power passed on by his - no wonder the Society of Good Works wants him dead!
The story is fast-moving - you'll never get bored, and the ending is amazingly exciting! The characters (especially Theo and his enemies) are strange but interesting. The only bad thing: this is book 1 or a trilogy, so you'll have to wait a bit for the second story in the series!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Candle Man, Book One: The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance, October 16, 2009
Best children's book I've read an ages. Full of great characters, fantastical settings and cool twists in the tale. Great dialogue and especially taken with some of the imagery used. I'll be buying more copies for my nephew(12) and niece (9) before Christmas. Fans of Darren Shan and Philip Reeve will love it as will comic book readers and fans of steampunk fiction. Couldn't put it down. Want to read Book Two now, not in 2010!!!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 6, 2011
Theo has never been around more than three people in his life: his guardian, the butler, and the maid. He has been told he has a serious illness, having to be put inside the Mercy Tube every day, always having to wear gloves, and he's never allowed to do anything too exciting for fear of over-stimulation.
The truth is much creepier. Theo soon realizes that his guardian is not the good man he believed him to be, and that Theo himself is quite powerful in ways he never knew.
CANDLE MAN is a new steampunk series for middle grade readers, with the second book just recently released. Theo is a fun narrator, finding himself as the reader goes along. It's interesting to see how The Society of Good Works is actually a bad group, and just how they disguise their plots as good deeds. It's definitely a lesson in manipulation and secrecy, but good old creepy fun for younger readers!
I loved that the book is set in London, as it fits the atmosphere really well and it makes sense that the various creatures, like Gargoyles, could come to life there. One of the most interesting characters was the butler, as he's a bit conflicting. You can't say he's perfectly good, but you can't say he's truly bad like other characters, either. He's certainly a fascinating man to think about.
THE SOCIETY OF UNRELENTING VIGILANCE is a quick read overall, and sure to excite fantasy fans!
Reviewed by: Lauren Ashley
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