Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen Review

Reviewed by Siobhan Bridgwater

This colourfully covered hardback was devoured in a weekend by my 10 year old son, Sid. And these were his thoughts on the book:

His first impressions were that “it did not look like the most exciting book” because of the subject matter. However, he liked the illustration on the cover which he found interesting and once he started reading he soon realised that it was a book he would enjoy.

He liked the characters, Ade, the child trapped in the tower with his friends Dory and Obi. Sid thought Ade was about his age but every time he read something about him it made him feel quite lonely. He felt Ade’s life with his housebound Mum was quite depressing.

As the story started off sad, Sid wanted to read more and was pleased to find that it got happier. Gradually, the three main characters helped to rescue new friends from other towers and their relationships grow stronger as the trust between them developed. And the more he read, the more he wanted to read and he thought it was a good idea to have a happy ending.

He found it was an easy read for a 10 year old and a great book for both sexes. He did feel, however, the blurb on the back cover gives too much of the story away.

He liked the way the author left some mysteries as unsolved or unexplained like what happened to Ade’s Mum and why the cat survived the deadly spores or even, where the plants came from in the first place. In the end this unusual approach kept him thinking and wondering long after he had finished reading the book and he enjoyed that.

He will be recommending it to his friends.

His final contribution to the review was “I think this book would make a good film.”  High praise, indeed.

He awarded The Boy in the Tower 5 stars, “definitely!

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £12.99 (hardback) / £6.99 (paperback) / £2.99 (Kindle)

Available to buy from Amazon here.