A review by rukistarsailor
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick
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.