Fabulous reads – YA novel goes up in a cloud of smoke

Smoke, Dan Vyleta, Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN: 978 029 760993 3

WHEN this YA book landed on my desk, I may have squealed with delight. Below the back page synopsis, another reviewer likens it to the great Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights trilogy – already setting the bar quite high.

The book is set in a parallel earth, where sin is visible as Smoke. The gentry do not sin and their clothes, which are often white, remain in pristine condition. It is those of the lower class who smoke and are constantly covered in soot. London is the epicentre of sin and during an unusual school outing, two school children, Thomas and Charlie, discover a secret that sets in motion a plot that could undo the world they know for good.

It has such a strong opening as two boys walked into a tiled bathroom alongside their schoolmates at their boarding school and are forced to undergo a ritual hazing. Once there, a few of the boys are literally put under the spotlight and are grilled by the school’s upperclass bully until they Smoke, which will see them punished by the school’s body of teachers. Vyleta introduces you to this new world which is filled with possible excitement as everything feels fresh. I was keen to find out the journey he had planned for his characters.

Unfortunately, the plot is somewhat disjointed and relies heavily on coincidence to move the story along. Another issue I had with the book was that it was deeply hampered by the use of Victorian-style English, definitely not a writing style that would entice most young adults. The book had some defining moments where it grabbed me by the hand and refused to let go, but these were too few and far between for me to recommend it to others.

When I finally set the book aside, I could see the link, however small, between this story and that of Pullman’s work, but the two still remain worlds apart in my opinion.