Every day, thirteen year old Henry Bats has his usual bowl of Sugar Slugs, helps tend Cobalt Sidewinders at Frank’s Peculiar Pets, and keeps to himself with his comic book collection. Just your typical day in Grimworld, where the sky is always dark and shadows lurk in the streets. What’s not typical is a suspicious Nightspook luring Henry into a cemetery in the middle of the night with the promise of a prized comic book. The Nightspook steals part of Henry’s lifespan with a pocket watch, which begins counting down to his death. Henry is running out of time, and the pocket watch won’t stop ticking…
This book is a bit unusual and reminds me of the town in a nightmare before Christmas, but the citizens
are human. It’s creepy, but not scary creepy. I would say it is a good book for early teen and up.
Henry lives with his parents and sister and likes to collect comics. He is tricked and ends up with a pocket
watch that is ticking down to his early death. He teams up with another boy with a pocket watch to try to
find a way to remove the watches that are now stuck around their necks. When they start putting things
together, they realize that they have a bigger problem than they thought. Henry’s sister realizes that
something is going on and starts to poke her nose in Henry’s business.
There is a colorful cast of characters that have interesting little quirks that add depth to the story, and the
world building is really interesting as it has these elements that are normally very creepy, but the way that
they are accepted as normal by the people in the story keeps this book from being scary. There are a few
things that I was thinking “ew” that’s a little yucky, but I think young boys would really like these moments. Boys and girls should both enjoy this story, but I think that boys who have trouble finding things that are interesting to read will enjoy this story. In all I enjoyed this story. It’s quirky, imaginative, and a bit different that what I normally read.
Avery Moray is a storyteller who specializes in middle grade and young adult fantasy. She lives in a land with tall mountains and wide plains with her two furry sidekicks and one non-furry accomplice. She likes sweets, cats, Halloween, and loves creating all kind of things, stories being one of them.
