Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – Set in 2120, this novel by David Walliams tells the story of the sickly Prince Alfred, the heir to the throne of Britain. The country is in ruins and ruled by the Lord Protector, a terrible, terrifying man who controls Alfred’s father, the King, and rules the country in his place. He rules with fear and terror, controlling the people of London with the Royal Guard and the All-Seeing Eye (a laser-shooting flying robot). The only group who stand up to him are the revolutionaries, a shadowy group of people who Alfred believes want to kill him and the rest of the royal family. When Alfred’s mother, the Queen, is arrested for treason and sent to the tower, Alfred determines to free her and find a way to stop the Lord Protector – even if it means joining up with the revolutionaries.
My rating – 2.5/5
My Thoughts – I have read a number of David Walliams’ books before and having worked with children for years, I know how popular they are with children. They are easy to read, exciting and full of pictures, and generally have characters and story lines which appeal to children. I have read and enjoyed Grandpa’s Great Escape and Awful Auntie in the past. This book is in a new style for Walliams – more of a futuristic epic in style rather than his usual ‘Roald Dahl-esque’ books. Whilst it still includes a lot of Walliams’ signature humour, I did feel that the story was lacking something. I felt that the characters were a little one-dimensional, especially the supporting characters.
The storyline is quite dark and depressing, with more violence than I would expect for a children’s book. It’s not the sort of book I would read to a primary school class, especially as (SPOILER) the main character loses quite a large number of family members with relatively little fanfare. The story ends with a whimper, with the main character making a speech but no real information about what will happen to him next. I don’t know if the author did this to set up for a sequel, but if he did, I certainly won’t be reading it!
Positives – the audiobook version that I listened to had an excellent cast (i.e. Fiona Shaw, Andy Serkis, Joanna Lumley), so Walliams didn’t have to do all of the voices. I appreciated that and felt that it helped mitigate some of the issues with the actual writing of the book!
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