A June Showcase of YA and Middle Grade Horror Roundup

A June Showcase of YA and Middle Grade Horror Roundup

Apologies for the recent erratic posting and radio silence, I have been working on another YA horror project which has taken up all my time. I have read many further books I have not yet had time to review but will endeavour to catch up over the summer. 

Meantime we have seven new books for you to investigate further. The highlight of this bunch was undoubtedly Rob Costello’s excellent We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels and other Creatures, a wonderful anthology of LGBTQIA+ short stories with a monster twist and a positive message of acceptance and being yourself. This outstanding book deserves to be in every school library across the land. 

I was a huge fan of Ben Oliver’s The Loop trilogy, and enjoyed The Kill Factor, his Squid Game inspired dystopian thriller in which an outsider becomes an unlikely social media star. JW Copp’s Camp Terra was an enjoyable random pickup set in an American (technology free) summer camp, which features one of the most outrageous twists I have come across in a while and was solid entertainment getting there. Nevin Holness’s fascinating debut King of Dead Thingsmixes West Indian mythology and magic in an alternative version of London where the supernatural is very real, albeit hidden from most people. 

Finally we have two Middle Grade sequels, Lora Senf’s The Nighthouse Keeper is a sequel to the excellent Clackity and is part of the Bright Harbor Trilogy (book three coming soon), this series should be on everybody’s radar. Unfortunately, I was not particularly impressed by Kalynn Bayron’s vampire tale The Vanquishers and found sequel Secret of the Reaping equally dull. Kalynn is an outstanding YA author and I look forward to her returning to where her writing has more whack.

The books are presented alphabetically. 

Kalynn Bayron – The Vanquishers book 2: Secret of the Reaping  

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Kalynn Bayron has written some terrific horror and fantasy fiction, however, The Vanquishers book 2: Secret of the Reaping, is not one of them. She is at her best when writing edgy YA fiction, often with an LGBTQIA+ theme, this Middle Grade sequel to The Vanquishers (2022) is similar to its predecessor in that it is equally boring. Even at the tamer Middle Grade level, never have I found vampires to be so toothless, tedious and truly the most non-threatening creatures who could not scare themselves out of a paper bag. The opening book seemed to be setting the scene for a big sequel, mainly because there was virtually no vampire action in it, even if things do move slightly faster, there is just not enough going on to captivate children and the chill level is absolute zero. 

In the opening book vampires have been supposedly extinct for a number of years and the child characters Malika ‘Boog’ Wilson and her best friends Cedrick, Jules, and Aaron suspect otherwise, especially after one of them is bitten. Back in the day (their parents) were part of an organised group, The Vanquishers, who disposed of the vampires and now that the creatures have returned the kids are taught the art of vampire fighting by their parents. I found the mystery involving the disappearances and the conspiracy behind keeping the return of the vamps a secret to be uninvolving and the story to be undemanding and one paced. Not one I would recommend. AGE RANGE 8-11

JW Copp – Camp Terra

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Book Guild Ltd 

The number of YA novels set in dodgy summer camps are dime-a-dozen, however, Camp Terra is slightly different in that it never pretends there is a serial killer on the loose, or a rampant wendigo stalking the teens unfortunate enough to end up there. A group of teenagers arrive at their first summer at Camp Terra; a self-proclaimed haven for teenagers that encourages the guests to surrender their grip on technology, in the hope that they can ‘reconnect with nature’ and other outside elements. The camp has no internet and even though the story focusses on Jake, who likes to stir things up, it also jumps into other third person points of view. Early in the action a camper is injured and is whisked to a hospital somewhere else on the site, however the counsellors are strangely secretive and the teens are forbidden to visit the injured girl and suspicions are heightened.

Camp Terra was one of these books whose success hung upon what was at the root of the mystery and did a decent job of keeping the reader guessing, so I will provide no spoilers. But you might wonder why there are surveillance cameras everywhere and even a pair of military goon patrolling the perimeters. The reveal is ridiculous and if I gave you fifty guesses you would still be a mile off! It finishes with a cliffhanger and potential sequel. Camp Terra has little to offend beyond a few f-bombs and I enjoyed my rather unpredictable stay there. AGE RANGE 12+

Rob Costello – We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels and other Creatures

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Running Press Kids

We Mostly Come Out at Night is an extremely broad collection of fifteen short stories by LGBTQIA+ authors which have some form of queer message, characters or narrative. This is very varied, ranging from traditional horror stories to others which move towards fantasy, mythology and fairytales. As the title suggests the theme is ‘creatures’ and the anthology has a full smorgasbord to choose from, including Mothman, fairies, werebeasts, gorgons, sirens, angels and others. Ultimately this is a terrific book about acceptance and how there is freedom and power in embracing the things that make you stand out. Each of the stories also has a very enlightening, and very personal, endnote (called Monster Reflections) about their story, monster and how it relates to their lives. I enjoyed the fact that the most common LGBTQIA+ narrative of ‘coming out’ in YA fiction was very heavily disguised in most of the stories, but still present on a deeper level. The authors featured are Rob Costello, Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

I enjoyed the majority of the stories and will pick out a few of my person favourites. In the YA literary world Kalynn Bayron is undoubtedly one of the book’s stars and her excellent House of Needs and Wants is worthy of her reputation. It concerns a foster house which has a reputation for being haunted, but instead it has a weird way of healing the damaged kids who end up staying there. This clever story turns the haunted house trope on its head and I found it both emotional and moving. I also loved Merc Fenn Wolfmoor’s The Girl With Thirteen Shadows, in which a sinister doctor experiments on the girl and tries to remove her thirteen shadows one by one. But does she really need to be ‘cured’ of anything in what was a terrific story of acceptance. I was also a major fan of Claire Kann’s Bonnie Nuit about a group of reckless kids who, for a prank, try to push a gargoyle off their school roof, only for it to come to life and they get much more than they bargained for. In Be Not Afraid Michael Thomas Ford brings some romance to the Mothman legend and in World-Weariness by Naomi Kanakia transformations are explored with troll and fairy mythology. There is a huge amount to unpack in this thoughtful and diverse anthology and I was delighted to add my review copy to my school library and am happy to recommend it. AGE RANGE 13+

Nevin Holness – King of Dead Things 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin 

I enjoyed Nevin Holness’s debut King of Dead Things, which unfortunately, will be held back in the UK by a god-awful cover. Yes, kids really do judge books by their covers and this one stinks, the American cover on Goodreads is significantly catchier. However, it is really great to see more fantasy horror novels appearing which are based around Caribbean and African folklore, another recent example being JP Rose’s Haunting of Tyrese Walker. In King of Dead Things, in this version of London there is a dark underside where magic exists, but most people are unaware of it. The story has a split narrative and it takes a while revealing how Eli and Malcolm connect, it was also a delight to read a book with two male characters, who have almost become extinct in all types of YA dark fiction. 

Main character Eli has lost his memory and makes money in the strangest of ways; by stealing slithers of magic from people who cross his path. Most people, however, never notice but Malcolm (the second narrative) does and this leads the pair onto a supernatural quest to keep the Daughter of Death from being released from the prison that Malcolm’s estranged father (who also uses magic) placed her in years before. This is a quirky, pacey, with an interesting take on magic and a fascinating group of support characters who connect through a West Indian takeaway with strong connections to the supernatural. This novel is based on the interrelationships between outsider teens who left home and have various problems and are connected by magic. I liked the fact there is no romance, but bonds of friendship are strong, with a deep sense of loyalty. Magic is alive, truly living and breathing in King of Dead Things, and this is a fascinating look at two teenagers feeling a taste of their powers which will be explored in the proposed sequel. Apart from some f-bombs, there is little to offend and anybody could read this. AGE RANGE 12+

Ben Oliver – The Kill Factor

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

I was a massive fan of Ben Oliver’s The Loop trilogy (2020-2) which has been a massive hit in my school library and I love it when kids come running in for the sequels. Due to that I was looking forward to reading The Kill Factor and seeing whether the author could recreate the same intense blend of dystopia and action. Overall Ben Oliver delivers a very solid follow up, and the very striking cover will ensure this will be in high demand in school libraries. Teenagers killing teenagers for entertainment is nothing new and is widely covered in fiction, with The Kill Factor most resembling Bryony Pearce’s Red Eye novel Savage Island (2018) but with a much more obvious social media angle. Other points of comparison would be Koushun Takami’s adult classic Battle Royale and Stephen King’s masterpiece The Long Walk (1979), which is one of his least known novels, but one of his most YA friendly releases. 

In the opening of The Kill Factor Emerson is offered the chance to appear in a brand-new gameshow for young offenders that combines social media and reality TV, instead of heading to prison for deliberately starting a fire in a local school which led to fatalities. Fifty teenagers start the game (a bunch are killed very quickly) and as the games progress those with the lowest numbers of followers and voted off. Not all are necessarily killed and instead face life in prison solitary confinement, but not all is what it seems and the game has an ever-darker secret edge to it. The novel charts Emerson’s progress from rock bottom of the social media viewer chart and her inevitable climb and the trials she faces along the way. Some of the games were very cool and young readers who use social media with quickly side with outsider Emerson and the friends she makes. I saw this listed as 14+, which even though the theme is mature is ridiculous, there is no graphic violence, swearing or sex. AGE RANGE 12/13+

Lora Senf – The Nighthouse Keeper (Bright Harbor Trilogy book 2)

I was a huge fan of Lora Senf’s Middle Grade debut, The Clackity (2022) beautifully captured the trials of a little girl who lives in a (very) haunted town of Blight Harbor and goes up against a powerful supernatural being who has stolen her aunt, taking her to a spirit world. The Nighthouse Keeper picks up the story several weeks after Evie Von Rathe’s adventures in the strange world of seven houses, where the little girl once again, finds herself in the supernatural domain of the Nighthouse Keeper. Blight Harbor is the seventh most haunted town in America and the ghosts are mostly harmless, with many being seen as members of the family or local tourist attractions. The story revolves around the sudden disappearance of many of the ghosts, all without warning or saying goodbye. Early in the novel Evie is invited to a mysterious council meeting, where she learns a terrible secret and how the disappearance of the ghosts has serious implications for the town.

I would recommend reading The Clackity before tackling The Nighthouse Keeper as they are interconnected and the town of Blight Harbor is a fine, vividly described, location. Structurally the stories are quite similar, with Evie going up against the odds to find the lost ghosts, with the reader finding out more about the Nighthouse Keeper at the story develops. The original novel had a stronger villain (the Nighthouse Keeper is strangely absent through most of the novel) but this is a more complex, challenging, and meatier story. The recurring theme of Evie searching for her parents bubbles in the background and, once again, Evie is blessed with cool supernatural sidekicks and has to deal with her anxiety issues problems with anxiety and magical doors which might or might not appear. Although this is Middle Grade it felt like a more mature read and is well worthy of its Final Ballot nomination for the Bram Stoker Middle Grade Award. I’ll be checking in for the third instalment The Loneliest Place later in the year. AGE RANGE 10-13

Tony Jones

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