Skulk by Rosie Best - Paul's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Skulk
Author: Rosie Best
Year Published: 2013

Interview with Rosie Best!
Ashley's REVIEW of Skulk
Ashley's PRE-READING of Skulk


Synopsis: To some, Meg Banks’ life might look perfect – she lives in a huge house in West London, goes to a prestigious school, and has famous parents. Only Meg knows the truth: her tyrannical mother rules the house and her shallow friends can talk about nothing but boys and drinking. Meg’s only escape is her secret life as a graffiti artist.

While out tagging one night, Meg witnesses the dying moments of a fox… a fox that shapeshifts into a man. As he dies, he gives Meg a beautiful and mysterious gemstone. It isn't long before Meg realizes that she’s also inherited his power to shift and finds an incredible new freedom in fox form.

She is plunged into the shadowy underworld of London, the territory of the five warring groups of shapeshifters – the Skulk, the Rabble, the Conspiracy, the Horde, and the Cluster. Someone is after her gemstone, however, someone who can twist nature to his will. Meg must discover the secret of the stone and unite the shapeshifters before her dream of freedom turns into a nightmare.

Review: Have you ever passed by an urban animal and wondered its story? Why is this fox outside a jewelry store? Is that spider following me? What if those weren't animals, but humans in disguise! Skulk takes that idea and mixes it into a wonderfully gritty story.

This book takes place in London with all the nuances that make the city. I felt like I took a quick visit to London just by reading this book. British slang and spelling appear throughout the book. Some of the differences took me a second to figure out. Others I had to look up to determine their meaning.

In many contemporary books, the characters never seem to have cell phones or their batteries are always conveniently dead. The characters in this book actually utilize technology. When Meg is presented with so many questions about this new world she's been flung into she Googles it. That's what a modern teenager would actually do. Facebook, YouTube, and other modern resources are also mentioned. It made the story feel more real. 

Graffiti is a big part of this book. Best perfectly paints a clear image of the designs. In our interview with Best, she provided some of her inspirations. You can check out the interview HERE. 

The perspectives of the animals were captivating to read. The senses change and different things are noticed. 
When a shapeshifter dies, the power transfers to the nearest person so fate alone chose the members. This means all different types of people are in the groups. I enjoyed the diversity of the characters. Their human appearances contrasted their animal personas.  The characters were so well written that I loved to hate many of them. I disliked them for real reasons I dislike people in real life. 

Although some things were predictable, I absolutely loved this book. There was great foreshadowing and a few times I was unexpectedly surprised. Best gives a glimpse into this amazing alternate side of London. I can't wait for the sequel. I give this book a 5/5.

-PAUL

Blog Tour: Skulk by Rosie Best - Author Interview!

Hey all! We're super lucky to be hosting Rosie Best for the Skulk blog tour, which comes out on October 1st from Strange Chemistry! Rosie stopped by to chat for a little bit about her book and more. In case you haven't heard about Skulk, you can find the synopsis below. Also, Ashley's review can be found here. This is definitely a book you won't want to miss!

You can find the rest of the stops on the blog tour here, so make sure to stop by and check them all out! 

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Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Skulk
Author: Rosie Best
Year Published: 2013

Synopsis: To some, Meg Banks’ life might look perfect – she lives in a huge house in West London, goes to a prestigious school, and has famous parents. Only Meg knows the truth: her tyrannical mother rules the house and her shallow friends can talk about nothing but boys and drinking. Meg’s only escape is her secret life as a graffiti artist.

While out tagging one night, Meg witnesses the dying moments of a fox… a fox that shapeshifts into a man. As he dies, he gives Meg a beautiful and mysterious gemstone. It isn't long before Meg realizes that she’s also inherited his power to shift and finds an incredible new freedom in fox form.

She is plunged into the shadowy underworld of London, the territory of the five warring groups of shapeshifters – the Skulk, the Rabble, the Conspiracy, the Horde, and the Cluster. Someone is after her gemstone, however, someone who can twist nature to his will. Meg must discover the secret of the stone and unite the shapeshifters before her dream of freedom turns into a nightmare.

About Rosie! 

Rosie Best lives in London and loves all things nerdy. She is an editor at Working Partners Ltd, working on a huge variety of projects from first chapter books about unicorns to dark YA journeys through the land of the dead.

She’s also written for Working Partners on a freelance basis, on series published by Usborne and Hot Key Books.

The opening of Skulk won a place in the 2012 Undiscovered Voices anthology. When not writing or indulging a passion for video games, she sings with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.

Find Rosie on the web here: Strange Chemistry | Tumblr | Twitter


And now, for the interview!

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1) What was your inspiration for writing this novel?
I was really inspired by the title - as soon as I read that 'skulk' was the word for a group of foxes, I knew I had to write the urban fantasy story to go with it. I was inspired by the urban foxes that I see sometimes around London, too. I wondered, if there was a group of people in London with the power to shapeshift into foxes, what would they do, how would they spend their time, and what reason would there be for people to exist with that power? 

2) Since Meg is a graffiti artist, we see quite a bit of art scattered throughout London, whether it's hers, E3's, or someone else's. Are these pieces based off of real graffitti around London, or are they totally original?
I haven't specifically based the individual pieces of graffiti in Skulk on any pieces of real graffiti in London, but I'm inspired by all kinds of street art. I think of E3's style as being a bit like this:

Graffiti by The Mac and Reyes, photo by funkandjazz

whereas Meg's is a little bit less lush and colourful and more Banksy-ish - more thick black lines and stencils highlighted with bright colours. Here's one that always makes me think of Meg...  

Tumblr

although I can see her painting in this kind of style too 

Tumblr 

3) Do you see any qualities of yourself reflected in any of your characters? 

I definitely see my teenaged self in Meg - she's much cooler and more adventurous than me, but we have a similar outlook on life, especially when it comes to the things other people seem to think are fun and navigating friendships with people who you like, but don't have very much in common with. I was always the sensible one in any group, and it's not easy to be that person! I wanted to write about a girl like me who never had a great time at school but found her place in the world by finding people she has something in common with - for Meg it's shapeshifting and graffiti, for me it was geeking out and writing stories with friends from my youth choir. But the incredible feeling of actually, finally connecting with someone is the same. 

4) If you could only use three words to describe Skulk, what would they be?
Wild, thrilling, grubby!

5) What was the biggest challenge you faced when writing Skulk?
Honestly, probably just getting over my own procrastination. I'm a terrible, terrible procrastinator. There were some hard times when I couldn't work out how to fill plot holes or I'd lost track who was where and who knew what, or I knew I had to get someone somewhere and couldn't figure out how. But the biggest challenge of writing for me is definitely the procrastination-guilt spiral. 

6) If you could be a member of any of the Skulk, Rabble, Conspiracy, Horde, or Cluster, which would you want to be in and why?
It's hard to choose! I don't think I could deal with being in the Cluster - I have to assume that anyone who joins them quickly gets over their arachnophobia, but still, the idea freaks me out. I like the idea of being a fox, and I like the idea of being in the Horde so that I could hang out in abandoned tube stations, but I think I'd have to pick the Conspiracy, because they get to fly, and spend their time in such a cool location. 

7) How does a typical writing day usually go for you?
I have a full time day job so I often grab 45 minutes in the middle of the day or even try to get some writing done on the Tube on my way into work, but I get most done at the weekends when I can get out of the house. I generally get up at a reasonable hour with a plan to go to work immediately, and then procrastinate heavily until lunchtime! Then I usually hop on the bus up to my local posh suburb and settle in at a cafe with my laptop, the soundtrack to Doctor Who or Game of Thrones, and the biggest cup of coffee they'll give me. I tend to go home when I've hit my word target for the day or stayed so long in the coffee shop that I have to either leave or start paying rent!


Thanks again for taking the time to stop by, Rosie! 


--Ashley and Paul

Skulk by Rosie Best - Ashley's Review

*I received this book as an ARC from Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry in exchange for an honest review*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Skulk
Author: Rosie Best
Year Published: 2013

My Pre-Reading

Synopsis: To some, Meg Banks’ life might look perfect – she lives in a huge house in West London, goes to a prestigious school, and has famous parents. Only Meg knows the truth: her tyrannical mother rules the house and her shallow friends can talk about nothing but boys and drinking. Meg’s only escape is her secret life as a graffiti artist.

While out tagging one night, Meg witnesses the dying moments of a fox… a fox that shapeshifts into a man. As he dies, he gives Meg a beautiful and mysterious gemstone. It isn't long before Meg realizes that she’s also inherited his power to shift and finds an incredible new freedom in fox form.

She is plunged into the shadowy underworld of London, the territory of the five warring groups of shapeshifters – the Skulk, the Rabble, the Conspiracy, the Horde, and the Cluster. Someone is after her gemstone, however, someone who can twist nature to his will. Meg must discover the secret of the stone and unite the shapeshifters before her dream of freedom turns into a nightmare.

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Review: This book surprised me so much and exceeded all of my expectations! Seriously, it was so good. Dark, gritty, suspenseful, and full of gorgeous imagery and world building. I've read quite a few books about shapeshifters, but this one is probably the best one I've read.

Rosie's world building and her incorporation of the shapeshifters into modern day London is rich, imaginative, and completely believable. After reading this book, I feel like I would question all of the foxes, crows, spiders, rats, and butterflies that I saw in London - are these animals just animals, or are they really humans in disguise? Especially since, in the world of Skulk, there are only six of each shapeshifter at any given time. I also really loved that the groups of shapeshifters were known by the names that groups of the animals they shift into are actually called. Super neat! 

I think my favorite part of Best's London was all of the graffiti featured throughout the story. I felt like I could see the vivid colors of E3's art and the harsher lines of Meg's. And I could even feel the emotion behind the artwork whenever Meg explains her reasons or what things represent.Especially the one about her mother. 

Meg's family life is kind of terrible (her mother is a tyrant who only cares about her public image and her father barely speaks to her), so it's not really a surprise that she does some of the things she does. She isn't perfect, and I think that it's because of her flaws that I really liked her so much. I also really liked that she's very real - she has real emotions and real problems even though her family is very wealthy, and she's also not stick-thin and gorgeous like a lot of heroines nowadays are. It's very refreshing. I think she's one of my favorite female characters that I've read about in a long time. 

All of the supporting characters are also very well developed, and I felt like I knew them just as well as Meg did. I feel the loss of her friends just as if they had been my own, and I loved meeting new people that were part of one of the shapeshifting groups. They're all so interesting and so diverse, and I thought it was really interesting that there was no real rhyme or reason to who gets the chance to shift; you only have to be the closest person when one of them dies. I think that's so cool.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great urban fantasy. Or for anyone looking for a new take on shapeshifters with excellent world building, character development, and gorgeous art. This book was so good! A 5/5!! I can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next! 

Oh, and don't miss Rosie on the blog tomorrow! Paul and I are interviewing her as part of the Skulk blog tour! :)

--Ashley

Skulk by Rosie Best - Ashley's Pre-Reading

*I received this book as an ARC from Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry in exchange for an honest review*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Skulk
Author: Rosie Best
Year Published: 2013

Synopsis: To some, Meg Banks’ life might look perfect – she lives in a huge house in West London, goes to a prestigious school, and has famous parents. Only Meg knows the truth: her tyrannical mother rules the house and her shallow friends can talk about nothing but boys and drinking. Meg’s only escape is her secret life as a graffiti artist.

While out tagging one night, Meg witnesses the dying moments of a fox… a fox that shapeshifts into a man. As he dies, he gives Meg a beautiful and mysterious gemstone. It isn't long before Meg realizes that she’s also inherited his power to shift and finds an incredible new freedom in fox form.

She is plunged into the shadowy underworld of London, the territory of the five warring groups of shapeshifters – the Skulk, the Rabble, the Conspiracy, the Horde, and the Cluster. Someone is after her gemstone, however, someone who can twist nature to his will. Meg must discover the secret of the stone and unite the shapeshifters before her dream of freedom turns into a nightmare.

Why?: I'm not a huge fan of the whole werewolf craze because I think it's way overdone, but seeing shapeshifters who turn into different animals feels like something completely different, creative, and awesome. I want to know what each of the five groups transform into (other than foxes), and I want to know about this gemstone that apparently has the power to destroy the world. I have so many questions and I can't wait to find the answers to them! Oh, and Meg is clearly an artist, so I can't wait to read about what she paints! 

Expectations: I've got pretty high expectations for this one. Shapeshifting has been done before, but I really hope that this book takes a new and exciting turn. Obviously I expect a lot of mystery and adventure, and I'm pretty sure there will be quite a bit of magic involved. Strange Chemistry has yet to disappoint me, so I'm really excited for this book.

Judging a book by its cover: I really like this cover. It reminds me more of a movie poster than a book cover, and it really catches my attention. The colors are very dark, but it works. If I saw this one laying around somewhere, I would totally pick it up. 


--Ashley