Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of WAKENHYRST

Product Information

This cleverly written suspenseful historical really gives a great sense of the Time period with the fascinating journal entr Thin Air is an interesting book about a group that decides to climb Kangchenjunga in India. I was quite fascinated with the books premise. Horror stories that take place in isolated places are great and I was quite looking forward to being swept off my feet. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. There were interesting moments, but I just felt that I never really connected with either Stephen Pearce or his fellow travelers. I liked the idea that one of the men from the previous expedition was left behind and that Stephen Pearce felt haunted. But, it just never got really interesting. Dark Matter is terrific. It is a ghost story, but it is also a metaphysical meditation on what lies beneath our little lives.”

Now I love snow. I long for it with every fibre of my red blooded being. I yearn and strain to hear and see and feel it falling. Where I live in Poole we hardly ever get it and when the rest of the kingdom is cloaked in it we have the normal talcum powder sprinklings which somehow manages to bring all normal progress to a grinding halt or we have absolutely none whatsoever whilst radio and tv bangs on about blizzard conditions and the horror that is the white stuff everywhere else. Yet with all this unrequited or at least unsatisfied love affair with snow on my part Michelle Paver still managed to make even me a little unnerved by the idea of the chill and bleakness and paralysing loneliness of a snowed landscape. This is a glorious piece of Edwardian gothic historical fiction from Michelle Paver, it has elements of horror and madness, set in the remote village of Wakenhyrst, surrounded by the fens of Suffolk at the start of the 20th century. The isolated manor house of Wake's End is owned by local landowner, historian and scholar Edmund Stearne, in the midst of Guthlaf's fen, an area bursting with superstitions, folklore, myths and legends, of the dreaded 'fen tigers' a savage people doctoring their 'ague' with a powerful home brewed opium. The overarching religion of the time is controlling and powerful, with locals attending the ornate medieval St Guthlaf's church, with its ornate demons and fallen angels. The novel begins with the now 69 year old Maud Stearne, whose father was committed to an asylum after murdering a local person when she was a child. In the asylum he painted medieval style paintings of demons, which have been rediscovered and lauded. I particularly liked the interplay of the Sherpas and the Sahibs. The Sherpas are laughed at because of their beliefs, it turns out though that prayers and superstition are the only defence against what’s up on that mountain. Shame on you Sahibs 🥶 Also, for a female writer, she has an embarrassingly solid grasp on what makes these boy's adventures so indulgently fun. Building huts, surviving from rations, using a mix of scientific and practical knowledge to keep yourself alive and comfortable in an inhospitable environment. These are the hidden joys of the majority of male fiction, from Tintin to Mad Max and boy does Paver nail it * THE HERBERT WEST MEMORIAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL * I had a good time. That's pretty much all. It has brotherly angst, a fight against the elements, tragedy, pettiness, and above all, really great foreshadowing. Most of my enjoyment came from trying to find out what Kind of ghost story it would become, and when I learned, I was mightily pleased. Nuff Said about that.Michelle Paver's second series Gods and Warriors is set during the Bronze Age. It tells the story of Hylas, a 12-year-old goatherd, whose adventures take him to Ancient Crete and Ancient Egypt, and Pirra, the daughter of a high priestess with a crescent shaped scar on her cheek. The story crucially features animals in the plot – a lion, a falcon, and a dolphin; the dolphin from the first book, the lion from the second book onwards, and the falcon from the third book onwards. I needed to read this for a job I have. It is a ghost story, and a pretty successful one, judging by the fact that I had to sleep with the lights on for three days after. Either it's pretty good or I'm a pretty big wuss. It's about an expedition in the 1930s to the Arctic. Once the sun disappears entirely for the winter, they start seeing a man who walks the shore near their cabin. Nothing much more than that happens, there's not much gore, but it's still impressively scary * BOOKISH * Definitely a book to read in large bites (if not in one mouthful) if you are a lover of the strange and chilling * MIDLETON BOOKS *

When the summer is over and darkness sets in, you can truly visualise the derelict trappers hut, the ice, the snow and harsh landscape. The slowly building sense of dread in this book may not be for everyone. If you're looking for jump-in-your-face scares, you won't find any. I could (and did) read this book alone late at night. But if you're in the mood for a subtle buildup of terror, I think this is a great book. I don't know why I didn't see it coming but when Stephen was abandoned at Camp 3, it was awhile until I truly thought he was a goner and that all of his paranoid imaginings had actualized.. The ending answered all of my questions, which I always love in a thriller and a ghost story. I was especially impressed with Paver's ability to describe different aspects of the mountain's structure without making me yawn with boredom. For teenagers, we're recommending Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. A crossover book straddling both older teens and adults, it's a chilling ghost story set in the stark, desolate environment of the Arctic. Subtle and evocative, it's an absorbing and intelligent read. Not many people can write historical fiction without anachronism but with a contemporary feel and Michelle Paver is one of them. * THE BOOK BAG *There’s no dawn and no dusk. Time has no meaning. We’ve left the real world, and entered a land of dreams.’ For others that are looking for a spooky October read-- this story has no chilling or scary moments! I can't understand why that is even stated in the Publisher's summary. There is nothing in this book that comes close to being spooky, it is all cruelty and unfairness in the life of an intelligent young girl.