[books 2016] Kim Newman
3. The Secrets of Drearcliffe Grange School by Kim Newman
Kim Newman takes on the boarding school story, with spooky and nefarious stuff going on, in a slightly alternate world where there are people with Unusual abilities who are useful to the government but socially frowned upon.
I really struggled with the first half (or maybe third) - Newman channels St Trinian's which, from my limited exposure, is one of the most vile concepts on the planet.
Eventually there is less jolly hockey sticks and inter-war posh people slang and more spooky stuff, and it gets a lot more interesting and genuinely creepy rather than the cartoon quirkiness of the first half/third. I tore through the last 100 pages. The ending is just - confusing - though.
Not one of his better efforts and frustrating because there was a really malevolent story at its core which got buried.
Kim Newman takes on the boarding school story, with spooky and nefarious stuff going on, in a slightly alternate world where there are people with Unusual abilities who are useful to the government but socially frowned upon.
I really struggled with the first half (or maybe third) - Newman channels St Trinian's which, from my limited exposure, is one of the most vile concepts on the planet.
Eventually there is less jolly hockey sticks and inter-war posh people slang and more spooky stuff, and it gets a lot more interesting and genuinely creepy rather than the cartoon quirkiness of the first half/third. I tore through the last 100 pages. The ending is just - confusing - though.
Not one of his better efforts and frustrating because there was a really malevolent story at its core which got buried.