Review: Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden

Publication Date: March 10th 2016
Publisher: Puffin Books
Source: Borrowed

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Blurb: 

Denizen Hardwick is an orphan, and his life is, well, normal. Sure, in storybooks orphans are rescued from drudgery when they discover they are a wizard or a warrior or a prophesied king. But this is real life—orphans are just kids without parents. At least that’s what Denizen thought. . . . 
 
On a particularly dark night, the gates of Crosscaper Orphanage open to a car that almost growls with power. The car and the man in it retrieve Denizen with the promise of introducing him to a long-lost aunt. But on the ride into the city, they are attacked. Denizen soon learns that monsters can grow out of the shadows. And there is an ancient order of knights who keep them at bay. Denizen has a unique connection to these knights, but everything they tell him feels like a half-truth.
 If Denizen joins the order, is he fulfilling his destiny, or turning his back on everything his family did to keep him alive?

So this is a book I have seen so much buzz and chatter around since its release two years ago! I was so glad to finally pick it up so that I could see what all the hype was about. 

I was really looking forward to reading this novel as my interest was re-instated after seeing the recent publication of the third novel earlier this year. This series had taken the internet and my Instagram by storm! I really enjoy a gripping and adventurous middle grade novel and had not read one for a while, the final Percy Jackson book not included. This book also has one of the best first sentences I've ever read: "Looking back, it had been a mistake to fill the orphanage with books."

E. Lockhart Q&A and Book Signing

Hi book lovers! 



Last Thursday I attended an amazing event held in Eason O'Connell Street, Dublin. 

The signing was a free event held in Easons Dublin and ran by Easons special YA unit Department 51  . 

Easons always put on great events as their staff are so efficient, organised and friendly. 

I had only read E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (review here) and The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau Banks (review here) before attending the signing.  

I re-read We Were Liars a few days before the event to refresh my memory and enjoyed it just as much the second time round. 

Although the event was mainly in place to promote her newly released in the UK & Ireland edition of How To Be Bad, E did talk equally about We Were Liars and The Disreputable History. 


The area was well laid out with chairs and a speaker so everyone in the audience could see the stage and clearly hear E's stories and anecdotes that she told before launching into the Q&A. 

The book signing was  part of E Lockharts road trip to promote How To Be Bad's re-release. The road trip of events, signings and Q & A's all over the UK and Ireland actually began in Dublin. I thought it was pretty cool to be at the first event of the road trip and the hashtag was very fun to follow on twitter. 

Louise O'Neill & Sarah Bannan Book Signing

Hi readers! 


Last Friday I had the absolute pleasure of attending a Q&A and book signing featuring Sarah Bannan , author of Weightless, and Louise O'Neill, author of the award winning Only Ever Yours. 

Check out Sarah's Twitter page here! 

Check out Louise's Twitter page here!

I was so excited for this event, it was all I could talk about for weeks coming up to it. 

I traveled for 3 hours to get to the signing and went with my lovely friend Eimear (who blogs at An Abundance Of Novels) who is as big a fan of Only Ever Yours as I am. 

I am very excited to begin reading Weightless and am going to do so very soon! It sounds amazing and I've only heard great things. 

The signing was a free event held in Easons Dublin and ran by Easons special YA unit Department 51 . 

The area was well laid out with chairs and a speaker so everyone in the audience could see the stage and clearly hear the Q & A.

 I chatted to two staff members in the Easons, David and Jacqueline, and both were so easy to talk to, friendly and funny. A big shout out to Jacqueline as she was so nice and I loved talking about books with her! 

[Image Source: Cormac Kinsella ] 

The Q & A kicked off with Eason's David O'Callaghan chatting to Louise & Sarah and asking them questions both about their novels, their inspirations and about themselves. 

I really enjoyed the Q&A and I thought David was so funny and asked all of the questions I had been wanting to ask!   

I really liked listening to how well Louise and Sarah spoke and really liked the obvious friendship between them as they complemented each others novels. Both Sarah and Louise were so funny and lovely.