When Emma's sister Helena goes missing her parents do everything they can to try and find her, resulting in the family losing everything. They are forced to move to the edge of the city where crags (magical creatures) live. Emma has her heart set on finding her sister and with the help of Jack, a talking cat, the adventure begins. I was incredibly excited when I won Claws by Mike and Rachel Grinti from Waterstones a few weeks ago. Although this book is aimed at those that are about ten years younger than I am, I still really enjoyed this book. It's great for people in their early teens and anyone who likes a good story about magic. The novel is short but sweet. My favourite character is without a doubt Jack. Who couldn't love him? Character development was most prevalent with Jack, Emma and Cricket and perhaps Toe-Chewer as well. The only downside to this lovely story is the fact that my copy of the book contains a couple of typos but I was able to overlook this because the story captured my imagination. Claws is purrfect for anyone who loves cats :)

There have been books about young magicians; books about vampires and werewolves in High School. This is a tale of crags. A world populated with fairies, child eating hags, harpies and magical cats. Emma’s sister Helena has gone missing. Her father, in his despair can’t concentrate and the family loses his restaurant and their home. They end up moving to a caravan park on the outskirts of the enchanted forest. Emma starts having problems at school and wants to help find Helena. To do this she is going to have to enlist the help of the crags. Jack, a one-eyed scruffy cat, who has lost his magic, offers Emma a way to find her sister. So starts a magical adventure with many twists and turns. At the start of each chapter is a quote from ‘Crag-pedia’ the crag equivalent of Wikipedia. It gives an interesting crag fact that helps the story along. This is a great fantasy book and a introduction to what promises to be a series that all ages will enjoy.

Claws is an exciting, magical book perfect for girls and boys between 7 and 13 years old. It focuses on Emma and the search for her missing sister Helena following Emma's family's move to the Crags, a housing area for magical creatures. The language style is appropriate for children in Key Stage 2 to read unaided and is good bed time reading material. Likely to be loved by children with an interest in magical creatures.

In modern-day America where magical creatures of many kinds (some of them dangerous to humans) are everywhere, 12-year-old Emma's older sister Helena has gone missing. Their parents will do anything to find her, even move into a rundown trailer park next to where the crags (magical beings) hang out. The first sign that anything is different is the talking cat who already lives in their trailer. Before long Emma is up to her neck in magic and danger, determined to find her sister. I'm far from being the target audience for this book and though I read the first few Harry Potter books I don't normally read much in the fantasy genre. However, despite all this, I quite enjoyed Claws. I liked the fact that the existence of the crags is taken as normal and that the relationship between them and humans is more likely to be negative than positive. The fact that Emma's family is Vietnamese-American also makes the book a bit different to the usual. I enjoyed the portrayal of the different types of crags, though on a personal note I'm not a big fan of cats (allergic!) so would have enjoyed it more had they been another type of animal. Emma is a sympathetic character and all the plot strands knit together effectively without it all being too neat. The book is a short, satisfying read and looks likely to be the start of a series.