f33lthesun's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bookerage's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The main characters of this book are Valerian, who is on a quest to save his life, his servant "Boy" who was given no name and can't remember his own parents, and the boy's friend Willow, from which we don't have much background either. The personalities are shown through their relationship with each other, rather than described from the author, which is well executed, you just have to push through the first 50 pages, where little information is given to the reader. The story is set in a "distant time and place" and I pictured Victorian London, which turned out to be far off as there were later in the story catacombs mentioned under the city. This somewhat bothered me, I wished we've been given an actual location. Overall still a good read, if you don't mind unlikable characters. The plot was thrillling and unpredictable.
On another note, this is a YA read, but the book contains explicit graphic violence and other controversial topics, see all the content warnings.
On another note, this is a YA read, but the book contains explicit graphic violence and other controversial topics, see all the content warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Addiction
elliearnold's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bearystarry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Murder, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Blood, and Abandonment
Moderate: Vomit, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, and Classism
elise_griffin's review against another edition
4.0
I started to read this book, and then I put it away for a while without reading it all. And recently I read the end of it and I wondered why I didn't do that in the first place. It's a brilliant book, and the way it is written kept me on my toes until the end.
mayoi's review against another edition
5.0
Some of the reviews below are so scathing - do I dare reread as an adult? But I remember reading this book as a young teen and being completely enchanted by it. Boy was such an intriguing character and I was smitten with Valerian, as horrible as he was. The whole book was tinged with an atmosphere that stays me with me now over 10 years later!
rukistarsailor's review against another edition
3.0
Marcus Sedgwick's The Book of Dead Days definitely sold me with on the ideas it contained. Our hero Boy, with the help of another servant girl, must save his master Valerian, during the period of time in-between Christmas and New Year's Eve. This book had it all-- late 1800 European grime, magic, murders, mystery, and grave robbing. The unfortunate part of this book is that perhaps none of the ideas were executed well.
Early on in the book, we are introduced to a murder, but it turns out the murder has almost no relevance to the plot. I can assume it was just setting up the plot for the next book, but it was just strangely done.
There was one detail that really bothered me, and I wasn't sure if I had just misunderstood or perhaps there was something physically wrong with the book I had? When Boy, Valerian, and Willow are in Linden, there is a scene where they try to steal a horse. Valerian says something while still on the ground, and then the next line Valerian is already on the horse trying to escape. There was no mention of how he got on the horse all of the sudden, nor where the horse was in relation to Valerian or the mob that had gathered. I was so confused. Let me know if that was just me or if that particular bit really just wasn't written well.
As for Boy's relationship with Valerian, this is what I gathered from the text. Even though Valerian abuses and demeans Boy, Boy stays with Valerian because he fears being completely alone without human companionship. Before he came to Valerian, he had no one in his life. When he met Valerian, he suddenly had human companionship. Boy doesn't care about the quality of the relationship as long as he has a relationship; thus, he stays with Valerian. This begins to change a bit as he begins a friendship with Willow.
I wish Boy's relationship with Willow had been played up more to contrast with Boy's relationship with Valerian. It would have been good to see Boy gradually realizing for himself, "Hey, Valerian doesn't treat me very well because Willow treats me this way. People should treat me like Willow treats me."
Valerian's relationship with Boy is ambiguous at times. At times, he almost seems amiable with Boy. However, by the end when Valerian has decided to kill Boy to save his own life (and not in a Abraham and Isaac way), it should be clear that Valerian really doesn't care about Boy. But then, Valerian last moment decides to just accept his death with the flippant remark from Kepler (who has professed openly that he doesn't have Valerian's interests in mind) that Boy is actually Valerian's son (which Kepler subsequently admits is a lie after Valerian's death). WTF? I doubt that would happen.
I think a better ending would have been that Boy has to literally wrestle Valerian, and through Boy's own initiative and realization that Valerian really does not care about him, Boy pushes Valerian into the void and to his death. In that way, Boy could truly eliminate a toxic person from his life.
Also, the ending of the book just leaves to many loose ends. Who in the freak is Boy really? Why did Valerian initially have a falling out with Kepler? What happened to the woman Valerian loved? Why was Valerian thrown out of his school and disgraced? What is Willow's backstory? How did Valerian do that magic that wasn't supposed to magic but that I can't figure out?
Overall, I liked the ideas of this book, but the story wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
Early on in the book, we are introduced to a murder, but it turns out the murder has almost no relevance to the plot. I can assume it was just setting up the plot for the next book, but it was just strangely done.
There was one detail that really bothered me, and I wasn't sure if I had just misunderstood or perhaps there was something physically wrong with the book I had? When Boy, Valerian, and Willow are in Linden, there is a scene where they try to steal a horse. Valerian says something while still on the ground, and then the next line Valerian is already on the horse trying to escape. There was no mention of how he got on the horse all of the sudden, nor where the horse was in relation to Valerian or the mob that had gathered. I was so confused. Let me know if that was just me or if that particular bit really just wasn't written well.
As for Boy's relationship with Valerian, this is what I gathered from the text. Even though Valerian abuses and demeans Boy, Boy stays with Valerian because he fears being completely alone without human companionship. Before he came to Valerian, he had no one in his life. When he met Valerian, he suddenly had human companionship. Boy doesn't care about the quality of the relationship as long as he has a relationship; thus, he stays with Valerian. This begins to change a bit as he begins a friendship with Willow.
I wish Boy's relationship with Willow had been played up more to contrast with Boy's relationship with Valerian. It would have been good to see Boy gradually realizing for himself, "Hey, Valerian doesn't treat me very well because Willow treats me this way. People should treat me like Willow treats me."
Valerian's relationship with Boy is ambiguous at times. At times, he almost seems amiable with Boy. However, by the end when Valerian has decided to kill Boy to save his own life (and not in a Abraham and Isaac way), it should be clear that Valerian really doesn't care about Boy. But then, Valerian last moment decides to just accept his death with the flippant remark from Kepler (who has professed openly that he doesn't have Valerian's interests in mind) that Boy is actually Valerian's son (which Kepler subsequently admits is a lie after Valerian's death). WTF? I doubt that would happen.
I think a better ending would have been that Boy has to literally wrestle Valerian, and through Boy's own initiative and realization that Valerian really does not care about him, Boy pushes Valerian into the void and to his death. In that way, Boy could truly eliminate a toxic person from his life.
Also, the ending of the book just leaves to many loose ends. Who in the freak is Boy really? Why did Valerian initially have a falling out with Kepler? What happened to the woman Valerian loved? Why was Valerian thrown out of his school and disgraced? What is Willow's backstory? How did Valerian do that magic that wasn't supposed to magic but that I can't figure out?
Overall, I liked the ideas of this book, but the story wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
trisha76's review against another edition
3.0
Het was twee uur voor middernacht. Boy zat opgekruld in de kist. Zoals gewoonlijk sliepen zijn benen, afgekneld als ze werden in de kleine donkere ruimte die in de buitenkist verborgen zat. Boven hem hoorde hij Valeriaan zijn kunsten vertonen. Voor Boy klonk de stem ver weg en hij probeerde te berekenen hoe lang het nog duurde. Hij mocht zijn wachtwoord niet missen; dat zou een ramp zijn. Maar Boy wist dat hij zich niet echt ongerust hoefde te maken. Hij had vaker geprobeerd om het precieze moment te berekenen, maar hij raakte steeds weer de tel kwijt en bovendien hoefde hij het niet te weten, het wachtwoord was niet mis te verstaan.
De dagen tussen kerst en nieuwjaar zijn dode dagen. Waarin de geesten vrij spel hebben en de magie zich pal onder de oppervlakte van ons leven roert. In de dode dagen kan veel gebeuren....
Een makkelijk boek om te lezen. Heerlijk overigens ook om te volgen. Niet veel diepte in de personages, maar een leuke spanning in het verhaal.
Drie sterren voor het geheel.
---
Marcus Sedgwick is geboren in Kent. Hij is schrijver, illustrator en muzikant. Hij heeft diverse prijzen gewonnen en is voor diverse prijzen genomineerd.
In zijn werk als muzikant is hij drummer geweest voor de band Garrett en gitarist voor de ABBA Tribute band.
Meer informatie over Marcus is te vinden op:
http://www.marcussedgwick.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/110234.Marcus_Sedgwick
---
Boekinformatie:
©2002 Marcus Sedgwick
THE BOOK OF DEAD DAYS
©2004 Van Goor
Vertaling: Van Goor en Annelies Jorna
Omslagillustratie: Geoff Taylor
Vormgeving omslag: Steef Liefting
ISBN: 9000035996
253 pagina's; Hardcover
Opgedragen aan: Julian en Isabel
De dagen tussen kerst en nieuwjaar zijn dode dagen. Waarin de geesten vrij spel hebben en de magie zich pal onder de oppervlakte van ons leven roert. In de dode dagen kan veel gebeuren....
Een makkelijk boek om te lezen. Heerlijk overigens ook om te volgen. Niet veel diepte in de personages, maar een leuke spanning in het verhaal.
Drie sterren voor het geheel.
---
Marcus Sedgwick is geboren in Kent. Hij is schrijver, illustrator en muzikant. Hij heeft diverse prijzen gewonnen en is voor diverse prijzen genomineerd.
In zijn werk als muzikant is hij drummer geweest voor de band Garrett en gitarist voor de ABBA Tribute band.
Meer informatie over Marcus is te vinden op:
http://www.marcussedgwick.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/110234.Marcus_Sedgwick
---
Boekinformatie:
©2002 Marcus Sedgwick
THE BOOK OF DEAD DAYS
©2004 Van Goor
Vertaling: Van Goor en Annelies Jorna
Omslagillustratie: Geoff Taylor
Vormgeving omslag: Steef Liefting
ISBN: 9000035996
253 pagina's; Hardcover
Opgedragen aan: Julian en Isabel
clstrifes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When I first read this, I was like 9-10 years old and I thought it was well written but the Death of Korps freaked me out so I stopped reading it. Years later and I remembered the summary of this book but not the name or cover so I asked a book group on goodreads (titled: WHATS THE NAME OF THAT BOOK????) to help me out, within a few hours, I got a reply and I confirmed it was the book, I’ll come back to thank the person who solved it for me on this review later.
(THANK YOU AGAIN BECCA! YOU’RE AWESOME!!!!!)
The book started off well, it had promise of the dead days and a good mystery at first with all these deaths what force it was that was coming for valerian. This book is very plot driven which I appreciate but at times it doesn’t line up with the characters either. It felt that the “kids are smart and adults are creepy and mean” trope which at the time of the writing, YA was still in its infancy so I’m not surprised by that. I gave it three stars because the plot has potential and the pacing was good and I liked the concept of the dead days being used in here.
(THANK YOU AGAIN BECCA! YOU’RE AWESOME!!!!!)
The book started off well, it had promise of the dead days and a good mystery at first with all these deaths what force it was that was coming for valerian. This book is very plot driven which I appreciate but at times it doesn’t line up with the characters either. It felt that the “kids are smart and adults are creepy and mean” trope which at the time of the writing, YA was still in its infancy so I’m not surprised by that. I gave it three stars because the plot has potential and the pacing was good and I liked the concept of the dead days being used in here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Murder