Tuesday review from Rae

“You’re being a child, she told herself. Malice, Tall Jake . . . it’s all just a story.” –Heather from Malice by Chris Wooding pg.7

I can still remember the day I found Malice. I was searching for fiction in my local Borders (which is now shut down). The search was beginning to become hopeless because I had looked over those shelves numerous times in search of a good read. Finally I picked up Malice, now I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but the cover played in its favor. The cover is like a pop-up book except in plastic, I have to admit it was very neat. When I picked up this book I was afraid it was going to be a pre-teen book because of the clips of comics in the book but to my surprise it wasn’t.

Malice makes you question fiction. The story Malice begins as Luke a friend of Seth’s begins to wonder if the story of Malice is true if you can perform the ritual and Tall Jake will take you away to Malice.  Malice is a mechanical world where teens believe they are finding an escape from their homes only to enter their worst nightmares. Other kids only enjoy reading it to see if the characters live from comic to comic. Luke being curious does the ritual and nothing seems to happen but he hears scratching noises just as he thinks he isn’t going to be taken away , Tall Jake captures him and he is taken to Malice. Seth and his other best friend Kady start a search for Luke; they uncover many secrets as they reveal the leaders of Malice. Also there is a cute relationship between Kady and Seth they are basically together but Chris Wooding did us the favor of not making the romantic scenes too nasty so we can enjoy them.

The style of this book is very weird. The chapters are cut up into little sections but the stranger the better with the story being about Malice. I think the writing is as best as it can be, Malice is a difficult place to describe even using the countless words in the dictionary. Malice is a place that you must imagine not describe. Perhaps that is the reason for the comics in this book, for the reader to see the action in Malice. In Malice at first it seems hard to understand because of the rituals and passageways but Kady and Seth make it easier to understand since they both sneak around and learn so much about Malice themselves.

As I said Malice is hard to describe but this book is deeply engaging. I myself have performed the ritual but nothing has happened yet I promise. If a reader is searching for a wild ride through Chris Wooding’s fantastic imagination pick Malice up I completely recommend it to teens and pre-teens. However I do not believe this book would be good for adults because it’s very imaginative and might seem foolish to someone older. In conclusion I believe this book is beyond wonderful and I think it should be added onto your must read list.

If you would like to share something pertaining to this review just leave it in the comments box, or you can leave a link to your blog and I’d gladly check it out and leave a comment. Thanks! -Rae