Ok, so Hamish and the Neverpeople is probably not the first book you expected me to review (after all why is someone in their 30's reading a children's book?) however I have recently started reading longer books to my eldest son and this is the latest one.
I have never read a Danny Wallace book before and did not realise that this is the second in a series of books that have Hamish Ellerby as its main character. That said the book was still a good read and gave you enough information to let you follow the plot whilst, at the same time, making it worthwhile reading the first instalment in the series.
One thing that I really liked is the humour that runs throughout the book. This is especially true given that the humour worked both for my 5 year old son and also for my wife and I which is something very hard to do!
If it wasn't my son laughing then it was my wife, all while I was trying to keep a straight face and read the story in a 'proper grown up way'.
The action starts fairly quickly and keeps going at a good pace throughout the book. The plot centres around Hamish Ellerby, a young boy who foiled a plot to stop the world along with his friends who formed the PDF - that's Pause Defence Force rather than anything to do with Adobe.
This time around the evil villain, Axel Scarmarsh, is trying to take over the world by 'blanking' people. The book starts with several important people being 'blanked' and acting very strangely indeed.
As we progress through the story we are introduced to Otherearth. This is a separate world that is the opposite to ours but linked to it. Everyone has a mirror of themselves, their neverperson, and if either one is blanked then the other will be as well.
This makes for some interesting twists as every brave character gets a cowardly counterpart and the two must work together for mutual survival. So Hamish ends up working with his neverperson, Holly. It also introduces some interesting concepts such as the UK flag becoming the Union Jill, etc.
The fact that there is a male and female version of every important character helps to make the book appeal to both boys and girls which is quite nice. I must admit that, based on the cover, I wasn't expecting the book to have such broad appeal.
The book is set in England and the majority of the action takes place in London (and Never London).
After much agonising I have decided not to go into too much detail about the plot so as not to spoil it.
The above is simply my personal views on a book that my son and I really enjoyed reading together, you may well disagree with what I have written however that is, for me, one of the great joys of reading - we each take something different from a book!
I have left a link to the book on Amazon below in case you wish to purchase it or have a look at it in more detail.
If you do read the book, or already have, I would be interested to see what your thoughts on it are.
Amazon - Hamish and the Neverpeople
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