Dark and gritty, Skulk brings out the real underground London
Author: Rosie Best
Publisher: Strange Chemistry, UK
My ratings: 2 out of 5 stars
Releases: 1st October, 2013
Skulk is what I have been anticipating to be written for a while now. A story which will bring out the dark underground world of modern day London. We have many books which are set in Regency or Victorian London with its fog laden streets. So, when I read the blurb, I instantly perked up.
A modern day high society girl who goes to private school but is a graffiti artist at night watches a man die and he inadvertently passes on his powers of turning into a fox to her. With these new found powers, Meg has more freedom then she ever had. But there is danger looming just around the corner who is trying to kill all the shape-shifters. There are other shifters like Meg who can transform into butterfly, spider, rat and crow. It is up to Meg now to somehow unite all of them and face the danger head on.
I wanted to like Skulk. I really did but somewhere down the plot line I lost interest in the plot and the characters. Looking at it now everything about it was fine. We have a heroine who is young and has a lot to learn from life who goes on this journey where not only does she grows a lot but faces incredible danger and makes new friends. Sounds great. But for some reason it failed to stir anything in me.
Let’s starts from the things that I liked. Firstly, I enjoyed reading about a YA heroine who had weight issues. Well, not in her mind but from the perspective of the people around her. It is something that should be addressed with the number of anorexia and eating disorder cases on the rise amongst teens. Furthermore, I liked how the romance was played out and spanned slowly with the plot.
Apart from that I had a few issues connecting with Meg. She was the poor rich kid with her own set of problems with uncaring parents. Regardless I failed to ‘feel’ her. All the people dying in front of her and the horror she had to witness I still struggled to really like her.
I had no problems with the setting and the world. It was dark, gritty, real and underground. I could really feel the chill in the air and the smells which make London unique.
In the end, Skulk was a book which tentatively to explore new frontiers using your everyday animals and constructing myths around them. The setting and the atmosphere was dark but the plot failed to interest me and the characters were unsuccessful in leaving an impression on me.
Releases 1st of October, 2013 in the UK
ARC provided by Strange Chemistry
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