Renegade by Kerry Wilkinson

review by Maryom

Silver Blackthorn and eleven other Offerings have escaped from Windsor Castle, managing to evade the clutches of King Victor, the Minister Prime and their guards the Kingsmen. But merely escaping isn't enough; getting out was - if not the 'easy' part - the obvious thing to do, beyond that Silver never really had any plans. She can't just go home - even if her family are still there, there'll surely be Kingsmen lying in wait - but what should she do? Everyone seems to have plans for her - to act as figurehead for the various dissident groups, to use her knowledge, or to manipulate her actions to suit their own plans.
With the silver streak in her hair, Silver is never going to be anonymous or able to hide in a crowd. And if the Kingsmen can't catch Silver then retaliation for her actions will be taken on her family....

 Renegade is the second book of Kerry Wilkinson's very British dystopian series, the Silver Blackthorn trilogy and, as such, picks up from the point at which Reckoning ended. There's such a lot of world-building and character development in the first book that it's best to start there; Renegade hits the ground running (rather literally as Silver and the other Offerings try to avoid re-capture), expecting the reader to be up to speed with the plot so far.
Having been chosen as one of the Offerings for King Victor and uncovered the abuse at the heart of his government, Silver's first thoughts had been of escape - for her and as many of the other imprisoned teens as possible. Now she's finding that personal freedom isn't enough, eventually someone is going to have to bring down King Victor and his supporters. A variety of groups are seemingly ready and waiting to do this, and Silver could easily fall into the role of their figurehead....but will she? There are hard choices to be made, choosing between the safety of family and friends, and the bringing down of King Victor.

There's more chance for the reader to get to know the other Offerings this time - particularly Faith who steps out of Silver's shadow with a heart-breaking story-line and some very hard choices to make.

The story is as action-packed and nail-biting as Reckoning, with both support and betrayal to be found in unexpected places as Silver tries to pick her way between conflicting emotions and advice. The only downside is the long wait for the third, series-concluding book.

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Pan Books
Genre - teen/YA dystopian, action adventure, thriller

Cover Reveal - Renegade by Kerry Wilkinson

 Today we welcome Kerry Wilkinson to the blog - to reveal the cover for Renegade (Book 2 in the Silver Blackthorn Trilogy) and talk about judging a book by its cover......

Despite everything I've been told growing up, I always judge a book by its cover. Not only is it natural but it's where publishers put all the fancy quotes from people who like it. Hey, if they didn't want you to judge a book on its cover, those quotes would be hidden away somewhere else.

That was fine when I was simply a reader deciding what to buy, but now, on the other side of the fence as an author, it's altogether trickier. The people who create these covers are real-life designers, with real-life feelings, so to say 'I hate it', that you feel as if a tiny piece of your soul has been stamped upon repeatedly - even when that's the truth - is hard.

And I have been shown covers that I've really hated.

I say this precisely because I only had one look at the Renegade cover - and loved it. I still do. After last year's Reckoning, someone had the bright idea of a bronze-silver-gold colour scheme for the Silver Blackthorn trilogy. Book one, Reckoning, is bronze - and this is the silver. The colours, the rain, the castle, Silver's battered kick-your-arse gaze is perfect for the tone of Renegade.

Maryom's review of Reckoning can be found here

Crossing the Line by Kerry Wilkinson

review by Maryom

Manchester is suffering from a spate of seemingly unprovoked, unrelated attacks - some serious, others less so. Newly promoted DI Jessica Daniel and her team have seemingly no clues to go on, so how can they ever find the perpetrator?
Meanwhile the anniversary of a police success is coming up - it's 25 years since The Stretford Slasher's reign of terror came to an end with his arrest and imprisonment. The police who helped put him behind bars should all be mighty pleased - shouldn't they?

Although I read the first of the author's teen dystopian series
Reckoning earlier this year, I've jumped into this series at book number 8, which is why this book languished for so long on the 'to review' pile. It didn't prove to be a problem though; if anything piecing together Jessica's backstory was another 'detection' in itself.
The story starts slowly with Jessica and her team rather floundering around with no leads to follow and no connection between the various attacks, but this gave me time to become acquainted with the characters before the action really kicked off. Jessica herself was a character I quickly warmed to - strongly-focussed, using dark humour to get her through bad days, able to hold her own in a male-dominated world.

An enjoyable read with several unexpected twists. The strong female lead, the Manchester setting plus the overall mix of dogged police work and unsettled private life make it rather reminiscent of one of my favourite TV cop shows, Scott and Bailey - so if you're a fan of that, it's time to discover Jessica Daniel.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Pan Macmillan
Genre - Adult, crime

Reckoning by Kerry Wilkinson

review by Maryom

England at some future time, and along with the other 16 year olds from her village, Silver Blackthorn is awaiting the Reckoning - this test 'grades' adults and determines their social position - Elite, Member, Inter or Trog. Also, each year a number of teenagers are chosen as Offerings to serve King Victor in his castle at Windsor; everyone sees this as a privilege but, when she finds herself among those chosen, Silver begins to have doubts. Arriving at the castle, her misgivings multiply; the atmosphere there is one of rumour and suspicion, no one will speak of what happened to the previous years' Offerings, and King Victor is not the charismatic leader everyone believes him to be but a brutal drunken bully. Keeping quiet and unnoticed is the first step to safety, and the next is finding a way to escape.....

Set in a post-civil war future England, Reckoning is a dystopian action adventure/thriller bound to appeal to fans of The Hunger Games. There are, to be honest, a lot of similarities with other teen dystopian novels - oppressive regime, a self-confident heroine, a love triangle in the making and a rebellion about to kick off - but that doesn't stop this being an excellent read. The story starts quietly and a little predictably - Silver will obviously be chosen as one of the Offerings - but the action increases and the tension mounts. Considering that the panning out of the story-line is fairly obvious, the author does an excellent job of screwing up the tension and keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.
Silver is a likeable heroine, resourceful and quick-witted but not so over-confident as to lose the reader's sympathy; she's ready to face up to authority rather than meekly accept its dictates. The choice of villain can make or break a book - and I rather liked King Victor in this role; with his ginger hair and piggy eyes, his choosing and discarding of the most attractive girls, his drunkenness and random violence has a definite touch of the elderly despotic Henry VIII about him.

The main snag is the all-too-common first of a series one and the long wait till Book 2.


Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Pan Books
Genre - teen/YA dystopian, action adventure, thriller