Sunday 14 December 2008

Book review: Necropolis - Anthony Horowitz

I discovered two outstanding authors in 2008, namely Anthony Horowitz and Garth Nix. They are both masters in the young adult fantasy or science fiction genre and I discovered them while trying to fill the void left in my life after finishing the Harry Potter (JK Rowling) and His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman) books.

In October, I wrote about how impressed I was with the first three books in The Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz and I was waiting (not so patiently) for the latest book in the series - Necropolis. Does this fourth book live up to the promise of the previous three books in the series?

I felt like an excited child when I opened up the package from Amazon and I noticed with glee that the pages of the book were teal-edged to match the front cover. The cover of the book is metallic and shiny and really did look quite the Halloween treat!

The fourth book focuses mainly on the last of the Five, Scarlett Adams, as she is taken by the evil Nightrise Corporation and held hostage in the dying city of Hong Kong. This book does not have the fast and frantic pace that the other three books had and on the surface, it appears that there is not as much magic in this book as there was in the other books.

In the end though, the book absolutely does deliver and it has a magnificent and explosive ending. We realise that the magic was there all along but that we simply weren't noticing it.

Naturally, being a book series about the Power of Five, there are five books in the series. Necropolis perfectly sets the stage for the final book yet I have to admit that I don't think it would be able to stand alone as a story on its own. On second thoughts, a lot happens in this book to Scarlett and in the end, none of the books could have stood on their own because you are always going to want to rush to the next story so that the Five can come together and the fight for the end of the world can begin (again).

I am certainly not disappointed with this book and once again, my only feeling of sadness has to do with wondering how long I will have to wait until the final book in the series is released. Oh well, it looks like 2009 is going to be concerned with trying to fill the void left in my life after finishing the Old Kingdom (Garth Nix) and existing Power of Five books.

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5 comments

  1. I would have to read that book, I read the first three books already and so has my sister.
    My sister owns the series of it (except for the fifth which hasn't come out yet) and doesn't have an actual bookshelf, yet she won't let me put them in my bookshelf (I made my seven shelf bookshelf for a free choice project) instead, she has them in a cupboard.

    The first three books were great, I loved all of them, my sister doesn't mind me using her books so I will try to start "Necropolis" soon, I still am reading "Sabriel" and I have started a review of my knowledge so far. And I have gotten my younger brother to start read more... Older level of books. He told me he wouldn't like a series entitled "Deltora Quest" (I would recommend it for about 11 or ten year olds like him) then he marvellousely read the whole first, second and a bit of the third series (12 books, only 120 pages long each) in just a month. (That's pretty good for someone his age, I wish I could read fast).
    Then I got him into the "Ranger's Apprentice" series, and I have only read the first book of it, (AWESOME!) and I can't read any other books until after "Sabriel", I let my brother go as far as the second book, as I wanted to read the series before him, he is a little bit of a spoiler.

    I plan on getting him started on "Raven's Gate" soon after he has read another book of mine "Dragon Keeper".

    I completely agree with you, I haven't read "Necropolis" but from your perspective it sounds great.

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  2. Great comment Pizza!! I can't beleive the books are hidden in a cupboard! Mine have pride of place on my living room bookshelf!

    How old is your brother? He must really look up to you.

    Sorry for the late replies - was sick for a whole week!

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  3. My brother is 12 this year, he likes to do lots of things I do.

    As a reply to your other comment in "The Seventh Tower" review, I know many things come in good practise, but for me, I read well but slowly in my head, it is not that I do not have practise, I just end up accidently reading sentences over again, by the time I finish the book, I know the story line better than most people would.

    I agree, it is an insult to have such a great series hidden in a cupboard, I've been trying to convince her to put them in my bookshelf. I've still got more shelves to fill up.

    I never used to buy books, I used to borrow them from a library, now, I do it occassionally when I'm not definite that I will not like the book, therefore not waste my money, and I also buy books (since recently) as my friends sometimes borrow books I have and my brother is on like... hang on I got a list here... he's up to HIS SEVENTH book this year already, unbelievable. He's read nearly double the amount I have, but then again, my books I have read are longer and he reads for a few hours a day, I only read at night (it's the only time when I... [Oh my gosh, he just came and told me he finished that book].... like it for some reason and am comfortable) for about 1 hour and a half, my average time per page is like 50 seconds.

    Cya,

    Pizza

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  4. I was doing so well - finished Seventh Tower: The Fall in two days but having been sick I have slowed right down! I hope to finish Mister Monday in the next day or so though! I gave up on Interview With the Vampire.

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  5. I'm reading Mister Monday aswell, I have only just passed the prolouge.

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