Book :: Lungdon

I am so excited to tell you about this book! I should tell you, I received a copy (electronic) in exchange for reviewing it - but I had already read and loved the first two books, pre-ordered this AND intend to buy hard copies as soon as I can be sure I get a matching set. So believe me, it didn't influence my review =)

Lungdon is the final book in Edward Carey's Iremongers trilogy. I don't want to give any spoilers for the first two books, so I'm going to kind of do a review of the series and keep the details vagueish, ok?

As you can probably tell from the above, I am kind of nuts about this series - it is just so fun and weird and unique! The story is set in Victorian times, and follows various characters from the Iremonger family from their home in the great rubbish heaps outside of London (Lungdon), through a town called Foulsham, and finally to London itself. The tone in Lungdon feels a bit darker than the first two as the characters are changed by their experiences along the way, and by the end of the book the story has come to an unexpected and perfect conclusion.

Each book is told from the perspectives of two main characters, as well as an extra person here or there. One of my favourite things about these books is the how unusual and distinct from each other the voices of the characters are - I don't think I have ever read anything where this has been done so well and in such an easy to read way.

The series is marketed at the 12+ age group, but has that quirky grotesque gothic kind of style that makes it a great read for adults too - think Neil Gaiman or Tim Burton - and it didn't even occur to me that it was a "kids' book" until I saw it in that section of the catalogue.

Another fantastic thing about these books is the illustrations - Carey prefaces each chapter with portraits of characters or scenes from that chapter - they are so cool! You can get a good feel for Carey's work on his (really cool) website.

Lungdon is out this week from Five Mile Press / Hot Key Books, and is 400ish pages of perfection - I give it (and the other two in the series) five stars and recommend you get on it now =) Meanwhile, I'm off to check out Carey's backlist =)

Happy reading!

Xo Bron

 

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