I'm not the Crowvus writer who publishes horror. I've appreciated the brilliant books by Judith Crow, but I know it's not something I can write. The supernatural is different. People will - quite rightly - tell you that horror can encompass the supernatural, but the supernatural is not only confined to that genre. The supernatural, by definition, have their roots in the natural. In the case of ghosts, they were once alive, now having transcended from the natural (i.e. worldly) existence, into the supernatural on an unknown plain. The best ghost stories (my opinion only!) are the ones which unite the natural and the supernatural, looking at the shadows and imprints left on the natural world by those now occupying the supernatural one. In essence, when I read through the submissions for the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story Competition , I'm looking for the human aspect of the story. I love the idea of ghosts trapped in time, I love the idea of ghosts trying to commune with ...
Just to start off with a point of clarification: this book was advertised to me as Upper Middle Grade. It is definitely not Upper Middle Grade. The first clue is the length (around 93k), but it also contains drug taking, domestic violence and school shootings, as well as including curse words. Reading it, I stubbornly continued to see Vincent as being 15, rather than 13. The review which follows – and the stars awarded – views it as a Young Adult book. I have so much I want to say about Even Heroes. The first thing is that I was desperate to know how it ended, which is a sure sign of a good book. I was invested in the characters from early on, but I really did not like Vincent. He’s exceptionally judgmental about everyone around him and, because it’s all from his point of view, you get every sniping thought which goes through his head. But that’s not a bad thing at all – for a protagonist who fancies himself a superhero, the antihero vibe works very well. I felt particularly so...