Wonderfully written, this book evokes another manifestation of London, uncomfortably close to our own, but emerging from the fog comes a ghostcloud, Alma, who helps the kidnapped children. Fuelling the furnace with coal and trapped in Battersea Power station, the heroes Luke, Jess and Ravi have to find a way to escape without being caught by the evil Tabatha and slimy Terence. It's a story of friendship which can overcome injustice, and the value of practical common sense as an antidote to fears. Like detectives, they puzzle out solutions, gathering evidence and intelligence. In short , a story of children's courage and hope, with lots of terrifying cliff hangers to keep you turning the pages. Book 2?

I really enjoyed the concept of this book! I loved the dystopian feel to it and found the characters likeable and fun! I loved the idea of Ghostclouds and that a person could be half ghost and enjoyed watching the friendships develop, both old and new. I did predict a few of the twists but Michael's writing made it enjoyable and interesting and made me want to keep reading. I thought it was a great middle grade read!

I absolutely loved this! It was so dark, & yet so heartwarming all at the same time! This is such a creative & unique take on a “ghost story”, & I loved & appreciated that. I was hooked from the start-with so much I wanted to know more about right away. Like, why are these kids shoveling coal? Who is this evil woman? How can she get away with it? And more..This worlds whole backstory was so intriguing. Then the more you learn about Tabitha & what is actually going on in this place-fascinating! Such great characters in here too. Since I’m already talking about her-Tabitha is written perfectly & so vividly that I could almost hear her heels as she walks, & her sharp nails as she taps them. She is so cold & heartless, but also extremely smart & calculating. Then you have the 4 main kids(1 is a little different to the others so to speak though lol). Luke was such a great MC, & so well fleshed out. You really feel like you know all the characters really, but him especially. He has memory flashbacks of life before being kidnapped, & you get to see the before, the kidnapping, & his current situation so clearly. Plus, you learn about who he is inside. Such a great soul. Ravi is tough around the edges, but is a kind heart that’s had to learn to be tough. Can’t wait to delve into his story some more possibly..Jess is amazing! It’s a tie between her & Alma with who has my heart(oh! & of course Stealth! Love that cat!). Jess is so optimistic & cheery in spite of everything that has happened. She also wants to be a plumber. She’s already a very good one lol & she will just come out with plumber/plumbing facts & it’s just hilarious. Alma is such a complex, guarded in some ways, character. Her whole backstory, or the mystery of it all, is so sad..Her view on life has turned sad, & cynical as well. Meeting Luke really helped her. They helped each other in many different ways. And both of their character growth/development was superb. So you have all of that, then you add in “Ghostcloud” to it(that includes everything we learn about this..all the detailed & imaginative parts that I am so gripped by & obsessed with)& you have a phenomenal read. I don’t want to say more, because I don’t want to spoil a thing. All soooo good! The ghostclouds, ghouls, council, rain, the location the kids are taken & everything about it, the End Place, the smog..love it! So much danger, suspense, adventure, atmosphere, & more. I finished the last 70% in 1 sitting. Also, full of amazing friendship-friends who do anything for 1 another. Great messages too of course. I was SO excited to see there will be more! This had such an amazing ending, & I’m so excited to see their next adventure. It was set up perfectly for the next 1, & the ending just gave me all the book hugging feels. HIGHLY recommend. Absolutely STUNNING cover front & back, & naked hardback by Chaaya Prabhat as well!

I have just finished Ghostcloud set it a smog-ridden, ghostly and terrifying London where children are kidnapped and enslaved to shovel coal and power the wicked Tabatha Margate's evil engineering in Battersea Power Station. The breadth and depth of the author's imagination is outstanding. I could not put this book down. Michael Mann is a worthy successor to JK Rowling . I cannot wait for Book 2.

A few weeks ago, on yet another visit to my local independent bookshop, one of the assistants – all of whom know me quite well now – told me that there was a book coming out that was perfect for fans of Malamander but couldn’t remember its title. With my love for the Eerie-on-Sea books being well known both on Twitter and in school, my curiosity was piqued and I made a mental note to keep an eye out for it. Fast forward to earlier this week when I spotted this new middle grade read on Twitter carrying that same tag line, and shortly afterwards saw it was up for review on Net Galley. Keen to see whether or not those words were justified, I obviously requested it and have read it over the last few days – savouring its exciting plot and fabulous originality. Having just finished it, I would say that whether or not you are a fan of Thomas Taylor’s writing this is for you – packed as it is with mystery, danger and a thoroughly rotten baddie, and is a book to which I am hoping there will be a sequel. Our story opens in a London of the future – a city altered by a terrible war and one in which the Channel Tunnel has closed and Battersea Power Station belches out filthy smoke. It is below this landmark that we meet our hero Luke, who is just one small part of a chain of children who have been kidnapped from the city around them to shovel coal dust to feed the fires in the great furnace room. Hidden well away from prying eyes, Luke, friend Ravi and the others dream of the day when they will earn their release from this dreadful existence and work their hardest in the hopes of speeding that up. When new girl Jess struggles to keep up with the shovelling, Luke tries to help her but falls foul of station controller Tabatha Margate, who punishes them by sending them both to the East Wing. En route, they are taken aback by the presence of a mysterious shivering mist which appears to have tendrils and a will of its own and after managing to escape from it, the children are imprisoned within a filthy room full of pipes and are instructed to clean it. Jess and Luke set to work and chat about the smog hitting the capital and her dreams of being the first female plumber in her uncle’s guild but when she turns out to be not much better at cleaning than she is at shovelling, Luke tells her to take a nap. Once Jess is asleep, he becomes aware of a voice begging for help and finds a girl trapped inside a machine within the room. Releasing her, he discovers that she is called Alma and is a ghost, or more correctly a ghostcloud. Using her powers, Alma shows him how she can fly clouds and takes him on a journey through the night sky before returning him to the power station. Now full of hope of leaving permanently, Luke starts to plot and plan escape but he has not counted on Tabatha who has alternative ideas. Just what are her intentions for the children? What is she really using the power station for? And how is the terrible, tentacled smog monster connected to it all? Like a great many readers, I love a good mystery story – one which hooks you in from the start and where you cannot see what is coming next, as is the case here. With several threads running through the story in need of unravelling, I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole way through wanting to know what was going to happen next to Luke, Jess and Alma. Each brings their own unique skillset to the story and I really enjoyed the idea of Jess aspiring to be a plumber – a career choice that I doubt many children have considered, especially not girls, making her a wonderful role model for all of our young people for whom choosing a traditional trade is not often presented so positively. Luke is a fabulous character too. Thrown into his adventure by his overwhelming need to try to help others, with little regard to himself, he is not only brave and strongly principled but also incredibly kind. When he rescues Alma and she leads him to discover that there is more to who he is than he originally believed, he sets about using this new knowledge to try to benefit all of the children around him, no matter what the cost might be to himself, and some very interesting class discussions could be shared around the rights and responsibilities of individuals versus those of the greater community in school if this was used as a class reader. With the paperback edition of this not due until May next year, sadly there will be some readers who will have a long wait to enjoy this, although with the hardback publishing on October 7th, I’m sure there will be other lucky individuals receiving this for Christmas. Although the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, there are several questions left unanswered at the end of the story and, as I said earlier, I am hoping that there will be a sequel to this to tell us what comes next for Luke and friends. Until then, enormous thanks must go to publisher Hachette Children’s Group and Net Galley for my advance read. A fabulous 5 out of 5 stars.