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BooksScifi

Clown Wars: Blood And Aspic by Jeremy Drysdale and Joseph D’Lacey (ebook review)

Blueville is a city where Normals and Clowns live together, if not quite in perfect harmony, then at least with respect and tolerance for each other. The Clowns, who are a different species despite their appearance, make the Normals laugh, brighten up the days with tricks and stunts and harmless pranks. Then, one day, a prank turns vicious, killing Clowns and Normals alike in a gory mess. The Normals decide they’ve had enough and send the Clowns packing. The Clowns are desperate to find out who would do such horrible things and send four youngsters on a quest to uncover the monster responsible. For while the Clowns are taking the blame, someone or something far more sinister threatens Blueville and the Normals living there.

ClownWarsBloodAspic

If you’re looking for something completely different to read, you can’t go far wrong with ‘Clown Wars: Blood And Aspic’ by Jeremy Drysdale and Joseph D’Lacey. This is a series of utterly unexpected events from beginning to end and really defies classification. It’s got elements of fantasy, a dose of horror (some of the scenes are pretty bloody), slapstick comedy and dark humour, too. Definitely not one for the younger children, even though it is about a town filled with Clowns. Oh and if you’re already scared by our real world clowns, you also probably want to avoid this one.

When I first heard about ‘Clown Wars: Blood And Aspic’ I was worried it was going to be too much like Tim Waggoner’s excellent ‘Shadow Watch’ series, which features a wonderfully psychotic clown as one of the main characters, but I really needn’t have worried, they’re absolutely nothing alike. At its heart, ‘Clown Wars: Blood And Aspic’ is a quest story where good must try to defeat evil. Lots of stories have used that basic plot, but I’m pretty sure you won’t find this all that similar to any of them.

Undertaking the quest to find out what’s happening to Blueville are four young Clowns, one from each of the major Clown lineages. As they trudge off, somewhat unwillingly, into the dark forest surrounding Blueville, they encounter a range of capricious creatures that spice up the adventure no end. Meanwhile, back in Blueville, we follow the other Clowns and the Normal Resistance as they try to take back control of the town. It’s often quite farcical (yes, there are custard pies aplenty) but definitely twists to the dark side.

I would have liked to see the characters developed further. They’re quite superficial for the most part and largely tend towards the caricature end of the character spectrum and a bit more detail there would have drawn me into the story more fully. Having said that, it does kind of work with all the twists on various stereotypes, I just felt like there could have been a little bit more to turn this from a bemusing experience into an immersive horror-filled journey through a crazy world. It’s the difference between feeling like you’re watching the action and feeling like you’re part of the action and that’s what would have taken it to the next level. Not that I really want any part of some of the things that go on in this book….

‘Clown Wars: Blood And Aspic’ was certainly an experience. It took me out of my little reading rut and reminded me that the imagination really can take you anywhere, even to a land of crazed clowns and deranged jesters. Give this a few hours of your time and go on a completely new type of reading journey!

Vinca Russell

July 2016

(Kindle/Amazon. 247 page ebook. File Size: 720kb. Price: £ 2.08 (UK) ASIN: B01ETVYFG0)

check out website: www.amazon.co.uk/Clown-Wars-Blood-Joseph-DLacey-ebook/dp/B01ETVYFG0/

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