Book of the Week (3): "Malice" by Chris Wooding

I loved this book. You have probably not heard of Malice, but don’t let that put you off as Malice is a very clever combination of written words and brilliantly drawn comic, which combine to make up a really exciting and unusual adventure. The cover’s great too – with the evil Tall Jake resplendent in 3D.

The story is about a group of kids who find out about a certain, special comic that not only has ink that disappears after two days but which – if you speak a special chant – will kidnap you, stealing you away to the world of the comic. A world which is just as real as ours – but much, much scarier… Such a story couldn’t be true, could it? But one of the kids disappears. And reappears as a new character in the comic! Can his friends rescue him, or will they all too become nothing more than drawings on a page?

I would recommend this book for anyone over ten, but especially people who are interested in comic books and who like non-stop action. If you think books are boring, then try reading this – and be proved wrong!


Recommended by Nat Philipps, age 12

Next?

• More books by Chris Wooding for certain; The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is deeply scary, or try his wonderful, darkly gothic Poison which is about a girl searching for a lost sister.
• If you liked the combination of words and pictures, try Brian Selznick’s intriguing The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
• There’s fewer pictures, but the ones there are are just as important, in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Or try his wonderful Coraline – about a girl who finds herself being drawn into an horrific other world.