A Dark Inheritance (Unicorne Files #1) by Chris d’Lacey
Michael Malone’s father disappeared three years ago and ever since then he, his mom and his younger sister Josie have been doing the best they can. Then one day on the way to school there’s a dog on the edge of the cliff and Michael knows it’s going to jump .And if that’s not weird enough, suddenly he’s out of the car and catching the dog. But that’s just the start of his weird new life. Besides getting recruited by a secret organization called Unicorne, he learns that he has the weird ability to shift through the multiverse, that his father was in fact one of Unicorne’s agents and a girl in his class is being haunted by the ghost of a dead girl. And he knows that Unicorne is keeping something from him.
How’s that for a first book?
I really enjoyed pretty much every second of it. It was unusually grim and life like. Unlike a lot of children’s books where magic kind of erases the consequences of the heroes adventure, Michael gets grounded by his Mom, he gets in trouble with his teachers and in the end, looses a friend. It’s obviously for bigger kids, because it’s dark and serious and there’s actual death, the not-sugar-coated, devastating, absolutely lost forever kind of death (even if dead mostly come back as ghosts). There is a real sense that being undead means the loss of life and happiness and the enormous grief knowing they will never be with the people they love ever again.
It was also quite unique in that it takes a long time before Michael gets a sidekick. For the first three quarters of the book he doesn’t have a friend his own age who knows about this mission. Even near the end, when Freya starts to understand what’s happening to her, Michael still doesn’t tell her about Unicorne.
Generally this book lacked quite a few things that I usually enjoy, like a humour and sidekicks but despite these gaps I really, really liked this book and was rather disappointed to learn that book two isn’t out yet. I couldn’t even find a release date.
Ultimate conclusion: for older kids, with serious content but totally work it.
Last movie I watched:
Muppets Christmas Movie. I like the Muppets Christmas Carol better though.
Last TV episode I watched:
Pokemon! I want a rapidash so much guys!
musingofanunemployedlibrarian 