A Game of Ghouls

F. E. Higgins

Ages 9 to 11
01 August 2013
9781447248118
224 pages

Synopsis

An earthquake has rumbled through the twisted city of Degringolade, stopping the town Kronometer and the infamous Phenomenals in their tracks. Legend has it that if the ancient clock stops ticking a terrible fate will befall the people of Degringolade, and there's no denying that the super-mundane entities of the tar-pits are behaving strangely. They know something that the townspeople don't: deep below the city, something has woken up. And it's hungry . . .
The overwhelming feeling of this book is the phenomenal (if you'll excuse me) amount of effort that's gone into creating this world. New seasons, new words even a new system of time measurement. It's a compelling world, too, and compellingly dark. It's not afraid of evil and has no shortage of murderers, the ghosts of murderers, torture, and the bad guys getting away with it (at least for now...) It's almost gleefully dystopian and seems to take great joy in the suffering of the characters for our amusement, which makes it a really good find.
A treat for those of an inquiring bent