Guest Review 2: The Magrsian Chronicles*

Courtesy of Alex (Primary Six, opinionated, reads a lot), two short essays about Paul Magrs books.

Hands Up

I really enjoyed Hands Up as I think it was very funny and a little scary. I thought a bat puppet would not be alive or anything special but I was very scared when it spoke. I could hear its voice in my head as I read.

My favourite character was Tolstoy, as I think he is evil but in a crazy and daft way. I think that making him kill Nixon the penguin and then having a funeral was really quite funny. I think Tolstoy is a very odd name for a bat but in this story it is really quite good. Tolstoy is my favourite character in books I have read by Paul Magrs. (Close behind is Kelly from Exchange)

I liked how Paul Magrs made Frank do a deal with the Devil to bring Tolstoy to life and make Frank a famous puppeteer with Tolstoy on the telly, with his own show called The Frank Lurcher Show. I think it is a good spin off from that that Barry now has his own show called The Barry Lurcher Show and Barry is also a famous puppeteer.

I think that it was good that Paul Magrs made Jason have a crush on Lisa Turmoil, Stylist to the Stars. I think that Lisa was a very good character in the book and had quite a bit of an impact on the book.

I think the funniest part of the book is Tolstoy’s review of the book which says that it helped 68 out of 68 customers.

Overall I give this book 8/10 and I highly recommend it to children.

Exchange

In Exchange I felt that Paul Magrs had described the characters and their movements to the maximum possible and I really feel it paid off, because it often felt as if I was watching the characters from inside the book. As if I was there with them.

My favourite character was Kelly. I really liked her plan to steal the 50's glamour magazines and sell them to Terrance. I could picture Kelly as soon as I read about her in the book. I feel she had a lot of impact on the story and making her a Goth, I think anyway, made it a little different to other stories.

I really liked Simon as well as I think he was like the jam in a jam donut, if you know what I mean. He glued it all together. I think that Paul Magrs tried extra hard with Simon and it really paid off in the book. I felt Simon’s emotions were the strongest out of all the characters in the book.

I thought that Grandad Ray was really quite harsh and cruel. I was very surprised when he burnt the book but I was shocked to read that he had burned the rest of his 50's glamour magazines. I found that bit very well thought out with the wording and actions as well as the plot in that part of the story. I think that by making Grandad Ray the way he was, Paul Magrs gave the book a twist in its tale of all nice characters.

I thought that the book itself was a very powerful book with lots of interesting things, so you never get bored. I was up until 1.30am reading Exchange hungrily as if it was my dinner. I would give the book a 9/10 and I really would like Paul Magrs to write a sequel to Exchange as I would read that as well.

Alex is now reading Paul's Strange Boy. She hopes to finish it before she goes to see Jacqueline Wilson at the Book Festival on Sunday.

* There, I used that title when I said I never would. Oh well, consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, seemingly