Friday, 22 October 2021

Book Review | Thunderpaws and the Tower of London by Ben Housden | prettylittlewriter

 A witty and hilarious adventure with a fierce feline as our hero. 

Synopsis

'Teufel (alias Thunderpaws) finds himself no longer living the life of luxury by the sea in Devon, but now in residence at the Tower of London. Confused and agitated, as he explores, he finds himself in the midst of a ghostly war, surrounded by irritating ravens, kings and queens both alive and dead, and mischievous ghostly cats. When a magic mouse tells him his destiny is to save the world, Teufel has to figure out who he can trust to help him along the way, and to save the Tower of London from destruction, he has to battle with some unlikely characters.'

This story was a laugh the whole way through. I think it is brilliantly clever and witty how Ben has written from a cat’s perspective; it truly feels like this is how a cat would think and speak if they could. Our protagonist is just hilarious, with bounds of confidence even when he should fall in line, and he is not afraid to stand up to the enemies around him.

 

The writing is just brilliant, I love how it changes with the story, like when Magnificat changes in size, so does the text, or when Teufel falls down or jumps up, the writing goes in an up or downwards direction. Little elements like this, and the stunning illustrations, help to create this world of Teufel’s very vividly in your head, and also make it that extra bit child friendly.

It is also very historically factual, with details about the tower and those that died there, which in turn, gave me horrible histories vibes! Meeting the likes of King Richard III and Guy Fawkes (to name a few) was exciting and brilliant, with some very interesting conversations between them and our main character!

 

There are some absolutely hilarious moments throughout, one of my favourites being two cats commandeering a speedboat to escape! I could perfectly imagine it in my mind, which really did make me laugh out loud.

 

When Ben reached out to me via twitter to ask if I’d be interested in reading his debut novel about a talking cat, I was intrigued but unsure whether it would be too childlike. I’m 27 years old, but absolutely enjoyed every element of it and I am looking forward to seeing what else our Thunderpaws will get up to! Definitely not a story for younger children, but anyone over the age of 9 will enjoy this thoroughly!

 

Thank you so much Ben for sending me a copy to review, and I cannot wait to see what else you have in store for my new favourite feline!

 

5/5 stars




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