Book Review: Silver World

Silver World

by Cliff McNish

Silver World is the third and final book in the astonishing Silver Sequence. Earth is being attacked by a creature from outer space, a vicious and hungry assassin known as The Roar. Meanwhile, Carnac, the grown son of The Roar, waits underground for his mother's signal to attack from below. The Roar is a born killer, an ancient being who has spent millennia perfecting the art of killing. She has no mercy and unimaginable weapons. All that Earth has to stand against her is a few special children, transformed in unusual ways to meet the challenge, the world's animals, and The Protector, an ancient being dedicated to battling the Roar and her kind, but who is severely wounded and trapped under the ocean. How can they possibly hope to stand against a threat as overwhelming as the Roar?

Silver World is an outstanding conclusion to an exceptional series: a suspenseful, mesmerizing book that you just can't put down until the last page. The Roar is such an overwhelming enemy that it's impossible to tell if the heroes will triumph, or even if they will survive. The characters are fascinating, and the obvious affection that they feel for each other makes the reader care about them even more deeply. Some of the transformations could be viewed as hideous deformities, but Cliff McNish makes masterful use of alternating chapters from different points of view to show how the children view each others' transformations as beautiful, and that beauty shines through for the reader, as well.

Book 1 is The Silver Child
Book 2, Silver City is a Cybils finalist.

Tags: book review | children's books | young adult books | fantasy | science fiction