Read from October 6th - 12th 2014.
Published February 27th 2014 by Corgi Childrens
Format Paperback
| Review | Itchingham Lofte is an element collector.This book by Simon Mayo follows his adventures from book one-Itch. He tries to outwit the criminal masterminds all of whom are desperately seeking the rocks made of the dangerous element 126 with help from various members of his family.Itch thought he'd safely disposed of these eight rocks forever in the first story.Since he is the only person alive who knows where the rocks are hidden, he is a wanted man by criminals and by foreign governments.Itch knows, some elements are so dangerous, they can kill. Life is starting to get back to normal for Itch after the adventures from the first book which resulted in Itch escaping the thugs from Greencorps and being exposed to radiation and having to have a bone marrow transplant.He is now back at school but with around the clock surveillance from MI5 for him and members of his family. Criminal forces are still hunting for element 126 and will stop at nothing to find out where Itch has hidden the precious radioactive rocks. These enemies are willing to kill to get their hands on these radioactive rocks. Lucy Cavendish,a girl from Itch's class had always been friendly but is now suddenly aggressive towards Itch, his cousin and sister, for reasons that stay secret throughout much of the book and slowly trickles out as the story progresses. There's a new girl in school called Mary Lee and she has arrived in town due to her father's job which involves travelling around. She is a few years older than Itch in school. Mary informs Itch HER father collects elements also which stimulates Itch's facination, but things are not as they seem.She isn't who she professes to be and Itch would be wise to keep his distance but of course this being a story, doesn't happen. Itch finds out many surprising things about family members (father) and other characters that had been kept hush hush. These rocks need to be got rid of and we follow Itch and co, inc the evil masterminds to a pulsed neutron source lab in Oxfordshire................ I found the writing in this book very good, gripping and witty. Simon Mayo, a writer, I never knew and really, he can write.This book draws the reader in from the start.I felt very sucked in reading it. I didn't read the first book but have since popped it on my to read list.I still felt that I could read Itch rocks stand alone and picked up the history and what had previously happened very easily. The main characters are plentiful and strong, smart and resourceful, even when they are up to no good.I was continuously very impressed with these extremely clever teens often outwitting the seemingly clueless MI5 officers sent to protect them. I understand this is a young adult book and these kind of stories do tend to show teens/children much smarter than the adults in the story in order to grip it's audience. What I did struggle with was the length of violence some of these adults went to against the teens/children in the story.I couldn't imagine in every day life adults would find it so easy or could be so thoughtlessly brutal to children.Kidnapping I could handle but the rest even made my eyebrows lift and I read books with gore and violence in them directed at adults.I also found the hockey match went on a bit too long with needless info that lost my interest for a while.Very different from the rest of the book. However, these are my only negatives. I enjoyed Itch Rocks. It's fun and enthralling and will appeal to mature adults (I'm 38) and young adults. It was very hard to put this book down. 4 out of 5 stars given. |
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