Marcus Sedgwick – Flut und Fangzähne/Flood and Fang (Raven Mysteries #1)

Hardcover
Verlag: ars Edition
veröffentlicht: 2011
Seiten: 191

Book on Amazon (Deutsch/English)

Klappentext/Blurb:

Rabe Edgar, selbst ernannter Wächter des ehrwürdigen Schlosses Otherhand, ist in großer Aufregung: Küchenmädchen verschwinden auf unheimliche Weise, ein gefährliches Ungeheuer hat verdächtige Spuren im Rhababerbeet hinterlassen und eine Flut droht das Schloss zu zerstören!

Es wird allerhöchste Zeit, dass Edgar die Sache in die Hand nimmt und die Bewohner von Otherhand vor dem drohenden Untergang rettet. Doch der Rabe hat die Rechnung ohne die verrückte Familie Otherhand gemacht, die blindlings in ihr Unglück stolpert…

Meet the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand. Edgar is alarmed when he sees a nasty looking black tail slinking under the castle walls. But his warnings to the inhabitants of the castle go unheeded: Lord Valevine Otherhand is too busy trying to invent the unthinkable and discover the unknowable; his wife, Minty, is too absorbed in her latest obsession – baking; and ten-year-old Cudweed is running riot with his infernal pet monkey. Only Solstice, the black-haired, poetry-writing Otherhand daughter, seems to pay any attention. As the lower storeys of the castle begin mysteriously to flood, and kitchen maids continue to go missing, the family come ever closer to the owner of the black tail…

In Kürze/In (Very) Short:

+ Abenteuergeschichte von einem Raben erzählt

+ erste Buch in der Raven Mysteries Reihe

+ lustig, unterhaltsam, spannend

+ sehr schön illustriert

+ adventure story told by raven Edgar

+ first book in the raven mysteries series

+ funny, entertaining, exiting

+ beautifully illustrated

Meinung/My Opinion:

Die ist der erste Band der Raven Mysteries Reihe. Ich hatte vor einiger Zeit den 2. Band gelesen, ohne wirklich zu wissen, wie die richtige Reihenfolge lautet und hatte trotzdem keine Probleme der Geschichte und den Charakteren zu folgen. Nun habe ich mich an den ersten Teil gemacht.

Flut und Fangzähne ist eine schöne, unterhaltsame Abenteuergeschichte der Familie Otherhand. Der Protagonist, Familienrabe Edgar, entdeckt gleich zwei Bedrohungen: eine Flut und ein mysteriöser schleimiger Schwanz. Da nun immer mehr Dienstmädchen verschwinden und nur noch deren Schuhe zurückbleiben, muss der Schwanz zu einem Monster gehören. Während Edgar versucht der Familie klar zu machen, in welcher Gefahr sie sich befinden, muss er auch noch den Angriffen des Affen Buddy ausweichen. Kann er die Familie rechtzeitig warnen und sie retten?

Die Geschichte ist wieder einmal erzählt aus der Sicht des Raben, der die skurrilen Mitglieder der Familie und deren Haushalt manchmal genervt, aber dennoch liebevoll vorstellt. Edgar ist einfach nur liebenswert und seine Familie etwas skurril, eigen und ohne ihn direkt aufgeschmissen.

Das Buch ist sehr schön illustriert mit kleinen Zeichnung, die das Erzählte wunderbar unterstreichen, ohne den Fokus von der Geschichte zu nehmen. Jedem Kapitel ist ein kleine allgemeine Notiz über einzelne Mitglieder der Familie und deren jeweiliger Eigenheiten vorangestellt. Der Spannungsbogen ist konstant und Edgars Frust über die Familie sehr nachzuvollziehen. Eine gelungenes Abenteuer.

I have picked up the first book in the Raven Mysteries series by Marcus Sedgwick after I already read the second book. I read the second book without being familiar with the sequence of the series and still had no difficulties following the story. But I thought it was time to start with the first book.

Flood and Fang is a lovely and entertaining adventure story. The protagonist – the raven Edgar – discovers two threats looming within the castle boundaries of the Otherhands: a flood and a mysterious and slimy tail. After several maids disappear and their shoes are discovered as the only remains, Edgar is sure that the tail belongs to a monster. He tries to warn the family about the appending doom while trying to escape the families monkey’s grasp.

The story is told from the Edgar’s point of view, who is annoyed by but talks about the family members in a loving way. Edgar is sweet, cute, and endearing and the Otherhands are weird and quirky and seemingly lost without him.

The book’s illustrations emphasize the narration without steeling the focus away from the story. Each chapter starts with a little note about random characteristics or stories of the family members. The arc of suspense remains constant and Edgar frustration with his family is understandable. A well-made adventure.

Fazit/Bottom Line:

Eine unterhaltsame Abenteuergeschichte mit einem liebenswürdigen Raben und einer skurrilen Familie.

An entertaining adventure story with an endearing raven as protagonist and one quirky family.

Rating:

My Reading Month January

My reading year 2014 started pretty good. I think I have left my reading slump behind.  I managed 6 books already, which I think is a good start. Let’s see how it continues.

Marissa Meyer – Scarlet

I started my reading year with Scarlet and it was a very good start. This second installment in the Lunar Chronicles series was even better than the first. I haven’t had many books that were better than the first one, usually they are worse. But not Scarlet. I enjoyed the continuation of the story of Cinder. I thoroughly enjoyed Scarlet’s story line (which wasn’t as predictable as was Cinder’s in the previous novel) and I liked how the story came together. I am very much looking forward to the next book.

Marcus Sedgwick – Flut und Fangzähne

This is a lovely, weird and quirky adventure story with a weird and quirky family. Raven Edgar lives in the castle with the family Otherhand and believes to be the only intelligent and not constantly self-involved member of the family. He is the first who notices the danger the castle and the family is in. It’s a fun read with a lovely narrator, a house with an own will, danger, adventure, and a hero raven.

Jennifer E. Smith – Die Statistische Wahrscheinlichkeit für Liebe auf den Ersten Blick

I actually picked this book up because of the title. It intrigued me. Two young people meet on a plane ride across the Atlantic and connect before they are thrown back into their own lives and realities. How much time do you need to impress someone or to feel connected? The book was entertaining and raised some interesting issues when both protagonists faced their problems and fears.

Agatha Christie – Cat Among The Pigeons

Another interesting, entertaining, and somewhat thrilling crime story, with not enough Poirot in it. Again I wasn’t sure for a very long time who the murderer could be or what the motive is. In the early part of the investigation I though I knew, only the be thrown again. But a good read through and through.

Uschi Flacke – Das Mädchen mit den Seidenraupen

Another historical young adult novel. The story is set in 16th century Lyon and the author described the time and setting so vividly that I felt like I could smell it. The descriptions were beautiful, the story interesting (I learned about silk and silk production in the 16th century), and the protagonist annoying, but she was young. 🙂

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades

This is a lovely short story which is set between The Battle of the Labyrinth (the 4th book) and The Last Olympian (the final book in the series). This is again a wonderful story. I had to laugh so many times. I just love Percy Jackson!
And with this book you get two in one. If you turn the book, you get another – Horrible Histories: Groovy Greeks which is a short and funny telling of ancient Greek history.

Marcus Sedgwick – Gold und Geisterjagd (Raven Mysteries #2)

Hardcover
Verlag: arsEdition
veröffentlicht 2009
Seiten: 189

Book on Amazon (Deutsch/English)

Klappentext/Blurb:

Rabe Edgar ist in großer Sorge. Als Karlwin, Sohn der verrückten Familie Otherhand, von einem Geist fast zu Tode erschreckt wird und unheimliche Geräusche aus dem unbewohnten Südflügel dringen, ahnt Edgar, dass gewaltiger Ärger droht.

Doch das Oberhaupt der Familie, Lord Valvin, ist zu sehr mit der Erfindung einer Goldsuchmaschine beschäftigt, als dass er die Schlossbewohner vor dem Eindringling beschützen würde. Und so müssen sich Solestine und Edgar auf eine gefährliche unsicherem Ausgang machen…

Join the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand. The rumblings and wailings from the Lost South Wing can no longer be ignored, as one by one, members of the castle are being found frozen, ‘scared to death’. With mother, Minty, obsessing over her latest fad – sewing – and father, Valevine, busy experimenting with a machine to discover the Lost Otherhand treasure, it’s up to aspiring ghost-hunters Solstice and Cudweed to solve the mystery. But as usual, things don’t go quite as planned…It’s just as well Edgar is there to save the day! Second in a brand new six book series of tales of mystery (with a touch of goth-froth) for 9 year olds from bestselling author, Marcus Sedgwick. With quirky black and white line illustrations from new talent, Pete Williamson. (Amazon)

In Kürze/In (Very) Short:

+ schöne und wunderbar unterhaltsame Geschichte

+ eine Abenteuergeschichte

+ erzählt von Rabe Edgar

+ das Buch ist sehr schön illustriert

+ lovely, entertaining, funny,

+ fun adventure story

+ narrated by the family’s raven Edgar

+ the book is beautifully illustrated

Meinung/My Opinion:

Dieses Buch ist das Zweite in der Raven Mysteries Reihe und ich habe es gelesen ohne den Vorgänger zu kennen. Es war auch kein Problem, da die Abenteuergeschichten allein stehen und für mich ohne Missverständnisse zu lesen waren.

Der Rabe Edgar erzählt aus dem Leben seiner Besitzer und besteht mit den Kinder der Otherhands das ein oder andere Abenteuer. Nachdem Karlwin und sein Affe einen Geist gesehen habe und auch die Bediensteten einer nach dem anderen vor Schreck erstarren, geht auf Burg Otherhand der Schrecken um. Als ein Geisterjäger seine Dienste anbietet, sind die Kinder skeptisch und versuchen dem ominösen Geisterjäger sowie den Geistern auf die Spur zu kommen.

Das Buch ist eine lustige und unterhaltsame Abenteuergeschichte. Ich persönlich finde, dass die Perspektive des Raben die Geschichte aufwertet. Die Mischung aus Geistern, Abenteuern und schrulligen Familienmitgliedern verleiht der Reihe einen gewissen Charme. Der Schreibstil ist sehr angenehm und das Buch ist wunderbar und passend illustriert. Wirklich zu empfehlen.

Ghost and Gadgets is the second book in the Raven Mysteries series by Marcus Sedgwick. I read this story without knowing the first one.  I feel that the stories are self-contained and can be read in any particular order. I had no problems, whatsoever, to follow the story and so I assume it will be the same with the other books in the series.

The raven Edgar narrates the story of his life with the Otherhands. When a ghosts appear in the castle and servants are frozen in terror, a supposedly famous ghost hunter offers his help. The Otherhand children and their faithful raven Edgar are skeptical of the ghost hunter’s capabilities and begin to solve the ghostly problems themselves.

This book is an entertaining and funny adventure story which is enhanced by the narrative perspective of Edgar. The mixture of ghosts, adventure, and quirky family members lend charme to the series. The writing is fluent and the book is as whimsically illustrated as the family members are quirky. I really really enjoyed them.

Fazit/Bottom Line:

Eine unterhaltsame Abenteuergeschichte mit Geistern und skurrilen Familienmitgliedern. Definitiv zu empfehlen.

An entertaining adventure story with ghosts, quirky characters, and a loveable raven. I highly recommend it.

Ratings:

My Reading Month October

This time around I am a little late and I’m really sorry. I was so occupied with bureaucratic crap (pardon my french) and spend hours waiting and filling out applications (that nobody will ever look at again and that I have already submitted to another part of the same department, which is just two doors down the hall; but no, there is no way in hell to pick the documents up from that office – way to easy). Sorry for ranting, but I am a little frustrated and I know there are a lot more where that came from ahead of me. So yay!!!

Anyway, back to the book part of last month. Though it was clearly not my best month (because there were days where I couldn’t be bothered to even read an email), it was still ok. I had difficulties getting through some of the books because those were books I had to read in a sitting (and didn’t really had the time) or were quite tedious to get through. So to get into the swing of things I started of with a little children’s fiction.

Kate Klise, M. Sarah Klise – Friedhofstraße 43: Ein Gespenst kommt selten allein (43 Old Cemetery Road – Till Death Do Us Bark)

This is the third book in the series and it is as lovely as the previous books. The illustrations are great, the story is funny and cute, and Olivia Spence was maybe a little annoying. All together a great and funny read.

Maria V. Snyder – Fire Study

I don’t really know what to write about this series than I love it. I loved the first, I loved the second, I loved the third. It was quite the ride through the final installment and sometimes the many narrative twists and turns were even to fast and loose for me. I had to catch my breath a few times. But this is a great series. I am a little sad it’s over.

Ekaterina Sedia – Die Geheime Geschichte Moskaus

I have never read a fantasy novel by a Russian author and I was interested. I did not get along with the story and I had difficulties following the narrative. There were just so many narrative strands that I lost track of the main story line. Since I am not very familiar with Russian mythology and tales, I was lost among all those different mythical figures. I think it is generally a cultural thing though. If I knew more about the myths and tales, I probably enjoy the story more.

Kate Klise, M. Sarah Klise – Friedhofstraße 43: Das Phantom im Postamt (43 Old Cemetery Road – The Phantom in the Post Office)

After more bureaucracy filled days I returned to Old Cemetery Road and again this was very good. Finally Seymor meets someone his own age. While “Till Death Do us Bark” was funny and entertaining, “The Phantom of the Post Office” was actually quite “thrilling” and adventurous. Really good.

Marcus Sedgwick – Gold und Geisterjagd (Ghosts and Gadgets)

I ended my month with another rather spooky and ghostly book. Marcus Sedgwick has written a wonderful book about the Otherhand family and their raven Edgar. It is a nice and entertaining book, that was funny, cute, and a little spooky. The right book for Halloween (at least for me since I really don’t like scary things).