BOTM for November is MANDRAKE'S PLOT

[Jemima]

Our second Indie Pick of the year is Mandrake's Plot by Helen Laycock.

Helen has very kindly made copies available to us - but move quickly!

This is her message:

"From 31st October, the Kindle edition of Mandrake's Plot will be FREE on Amazon for five days, ending on November 4th.
(It is available worldwide) https://www.amazon.com/Mandrakes-Plot...

Unfortunately, the paperback price has been set by Amazon, albeit to a minimum of £5 in the UK and $8.50 in the US.

However, if you would like me to send an electronic copy, I'd be delighted to oblige. I currently have a PDF of the book, but if this isn't a format you like, I will seek some technological help from my husband(!) to see if it's possible to create the file that you'd prefer.

In order for me to get this to you, would you like to leave me a private message with your email details?

In the meantime, if you'd like to know a little more about the book, here is its website page:

https://helenlaycock.wixsite.com/hele...

If you have any questions about this, or any other of my Middle Grade fiction, please do ask. I have a Goodreads Author Page where (if you look very carefully) there are chapter samples from each book."

**

I've already downloaded my copy, and I'm looking forward to it.

As always, add your comments here once you've read it, with {spoiler} tags if you reveal any plot (replace those curly brackets with pointy ones).

Enjoy!

[MasterReader]

Thank you Jemima, it's lovely to see that one of my favs made it.
I have now downloaded the copy and am looking forward to read the book.

[Rebecca]

Got my copy! I just have to get through a few books with expirations coming up or reviews due, and then I can enjoy it!

[Manybooks]

Mandrake's Plot was a surprisingly quick read for me (I am usually a slow reader, but I finished this in about an hour or so). And while I enjoyed Mandrake's Plot (and love the play on words of the title, but I will not give this away as that would be a spoiler, and I will post my review below, but encased in spoiler tags), I also have found the story a bit predictable and on the surface, but it sure was a fun way to spend an hour of reading (and I do love the Scottish scenery, the lochs, the entire atmosphere depicted and shown by Helen Laycock).

(view spoiler)[Now while Helen Laycock's Mandrake's Plot has been a generally engaging and diverting enough reading experience (and I certainly have enjoyed reading about how Mia and Evie discover and later manage to reverse that all encompassing and nastiness producing/inducing Saint Agatha's curse, how at first so sinister seeming school caretaker Mandrake really is a gentle and helpful soul, and indeed, the play on words of the title totally has made me smile, as Mandrake's plot is simply the land on which the cursed vegetables eaten by Saint Agatha's students are grown and not some sinister type of nefarious plan with Mandrake as the main villain, rather the opposite, in fact), I also have found Mandrake's Plot a bit too predictable and too deus ex machina like for my adult self, and this especially with regard to how easily and painlessly, with neither all that much mystery nor real and palpable peril and danger Evie and Mia manage to mostly on their own both break and reverse the curse and then outwit and roundly trounce Mac and Verity. And in fact, the entire sub-story that in Mandrake's Plot Mia and and Evie discover that the former's parents were murdered by her Aunt Verity (that their car accident was not that but a staged deliberate killing arranged by Verity and carried out by Mac), well, I for one would much rather have not had that rather commonly used type of typical storyline used and instead have had the chance to read a more fleshed out and intricate tale of the specifics of the Saint Agatha's curse, with for example flashbacks to when Sister Beatrice originally created the curse and how slowly both Saint Agatha's teachers and students transform into either one-sided nasties or eccentrics. But all that having been said, Mandrake's Plot is atmospheric, entertaining, and Evie and Mia's friendship (not only with one another but also later with creepy but actually simply and sadly misunderstood caretaker Mandrake) is sweetly uplifting and encouraging (a fun and quick little reading interlude Madrake's Plot has been for me, not perfect, a bit too on the surface and unsurprising for my tastes, but it was still an entertaining and diverting way to spend a couple of hours on a dreary November day). (hide spoiler)]

[Paula]

I really liked Mandrake's Plot, and found it a great continuation of the Halloween theme. St. Agatha's was a truly scary place and I loved how the girls worked together to find the solution to the mystery.

[Jemima]

I really enjoyed the way atmosphere was created through the landscape. At first I felt the characters very unnatural, but it soon turned out why. A quick, but very enjoyable, read!

[Manybooks]

Jemima wrote: "I really enjoyed the way atmosphere was created through the landscape. At first I felt the characters very unnatural, but it soon turned out why. A quick, but very enjoyable, read!"

Yes, I also at first wondered why everyone was so cardboard like except for Evie and Mia (and I really really like Mandrake and wish the author had expanded his story a bit more).

[Jemima]

More Mandrake- now there’s an idea for the author!

[Manybooks]

Jemima wrote: "More Mandrake- now there’s an idea for the author!"

I definitely could have done with more Mandrake and less (view spoiler)[of the Verity/Mac subplot. (hide spoiler)]

[Rebecca]

I've read the first chapter. I'm still haring off after other stories, but it won't be long.

[Manybooks]

Of course, we should probably refrain from making comparisons between Mandrake's Plot and the Harry Potter series, but especially when Evie and Mia first arrive at St. Agatha's I could not help but compare St. Agatha's caretaker Mandrake to Hogwart's Filch, but then later of course, Mandrake becomes much much more of a Hagrid like individual.

[Justine]

It was an enjoyable read. Plot-wise, there were sections I thought
things happened too conveniently. This might be fine for a younger reader, but an older reader would expect more of a struggle before they got round the problems.

[Manybooks]

Justine wrote: "It was an enjoyable read. Plot-wise, there were sections I thought
things happened too conveniently. This might be fine for a younger reader, but an older reader would expect more of a struggle b..."

I agree that the level of predictability and how fast Mia and Evie were able to solve their mysteries was a bit frustrating and left me wanting more.

[SaraKat]

I think Manybooks said everything I was thinking. :) A quick, fun read that is lacking enough detail and intricacy of plot to keep an older reader engaged.

[Manybooks]

SaraKat wrote: "I think Manybooks said everything I was thinking. :) A quick, fun read that is lacking enough detail and intricacy of plot to keep an older reader engaged."

I seem to have enjoyed this a wee bit more than you, but I still feel as though I have read not a finished novel, but more like a sketched outline of a story (which is indeed how I often seem to react to books that are in my opinion too focused on remaining simple for younger readers, as I had the same "I am reading an outline" type of reaction when I was reading Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch).

[Maria]

I enjoyed the setting and plot elements of Mandrake's Plot (except maybe (view spoiler)[not so much the evil nun cursing the school or worse, the "good" nuns who locked her up... (hide spoiler)]). The friendship of the girls was fun, and one thing I appreciated was how they realized that they, and everyone else, have character flaws that can either be resisted or succumbed to, and how much more likable people are when they work against those natural negative tendencies.
Along with what several others here have said, it felt to me that this was a draft that needed to be developed more. There were a number of places I felt distracted from the story--things an editor should have caught.

[Rebecca]

I have to agree with other comments here--the book just felt a little thin, and the path to solving the problems both too direct--and at times too outlandish (see Maria's spoiler, above). I also had some trouble keeping the two girls straight in my head, suggesting that they aren't sufficiently developed into individuals.

I think Manybooks has a point--the effort to keep books simple for younger readers can lead to things that feel pat or undeveloped to us as adult readers. I'm not sure if it's a fair criticism, then, if the point is to appeal to the younger crowd. I'd put this one more at 6-8 than the 8-12 we usually read, though the reading level (as opposed to story) might be kind of high for them. That's not all bad either--kids who develop strong reading skills early often have trouble finding books that appeal to them but still challenge their reading ability.

[Manybooks]

Rebecca wrote: "I have to agree with other comments here--the book just felt a little thin, and the path to solving the problems both too direct--and at times too outlandish (see Maria's spoiler, above). I also ha..."

I think I would have really enjoyed Mandrake's Plot when I was between the ages of seven to perhaps nine, but minus the Aunt Verity/Mac subplot which does not really do all that much for me and would likely also not have appealed to me as a child.

[Rebecca]

I think that sub-plot feels a little unnecessary. It's enough to need to save the school. I think part of the problem with it is that it brings too much of the adult "real" world into it, when you have to have the police show up and all.

[Maria]

I agree, Rebecca. Also, the title is Mandrake's Plot, so perhaps more development of him, and what he knows and why, and his garden plot could be included instead of the subplot about the murderers.

[Rebecca]

Maria wrote: "I agree, Rebecca. Also, the title is Mandrake's Plot, so perhaps more development of him, and what he knows and why, and his garden plot could be included instead of the subplot about the murderers."
I like that!

[Manybooks]

Maria wrote: "I agree, Rebecca. Also, the title is Mandrake's Plot, so perhaps more development of him, and what he knows and why, and his garden plot could be included instead of the subplot about the murderers."

Indeed, I really liked Mandrake and was a bit annoyed that he was not developed more. It really made me a bit sad in fact.

[Manybooks]

Rebecca wrote: "I think that sub-plot feels a little unnecessary. It's enough to need to save the school. I think part of the problem with it is that it brings too much of the adult "real" world into it, when you ..."

Not to mention, a staged accident (a murder) and really in many ways just out of the blue (for until Mia and Evie overhear Aunt Verity chatting with Mac at the cottage, there was not even an inkling that the deaths of Mia's parents were not accidental).

[Manybooks]

Rebecca wrote: "I think that sub-plot feels a little unnecessary. It's enough to need to save the school. I think part of the problem with it is that it brings too much of the adult "real" world into it, when you ..."

And without that subplot, the school story could have been expanded a bit.

[Maria]

Manybooks wrote: Not to mention, a staged accident (a murder) and really in many ways just out of the blue (for until Mia and Evie overhear Aunt Verity chatting with Mac at the cottage, there was not even an inkling that the deaths of Mia's parents were not accidental).

Actually, I did make note that when Mia tells the story of her parents' death, she says the bodies were not recovered, so I was thinking that they would turn up alive!

[Manybooks]

Maria wrote: "Manybooks wrote: Not to mention, a staged accident (a murder) and really in many ways just out of the blue (for until Mia and Evie overhear Aunt Verity chatting with Mac at the cottage, there was n..."

Oops, I kind of skipped over that, it seems.

[Rebecca]

Maria wrote: "Manybooks wrote: Not to mention, a staged accident (a murder) and really in many ways just out of the blue (for until Mia and Evie overhear Aunt Verity chatting with Mac at the cottage, there was n..."

I had the same thought about them turning up alive, and I think I would have liked that better. It would be more in keeping with the book being aimed at younger children--murdered parents are a bit grim.

[Manybooks]

Rebecca wrote: "Maria wrote: "Manybooks wrote: Not to mention, a staged accident (a murder) and really in many ways just out of the blue (for until Mia and Evie overhear Aunt Verity chatting with Mac at the cottag..."

Especially by a jealous family member ...

[Susie]

Hmm. After all of these comments, not in a hurry to read this one.

[Manybooks]

Susie wrote: "Hmm. After all of these comments, not in a hurry to read this one."

Actually, it is a very quick and also a fun read, and while not perfect, I did enjoy Mandrake's Plot.

[Jemima]

I think this has been the most discussion on any book since I’ve been here.
It may be controversial, but I think most of us enjoyed it.
Thank you, Helen, for providing the discounted copies to us, and I hope you have lots of kind reviews!

[Manybooks]

Jemima wrote: "I think this has been the most discussion on any book since I’ve been here.
It may be controversial, but I think most of us enjoyed it.
Thank you, Helen, for providing the discounted copies to us, ..."

I found the discussions both interesting and enlightening.

[Maria]

Reading this kind of discussion could, I think, be invaluable for writers of children's books, especially if they plan to self-publish and don't have a critique group or something like that.

[Leone]

Yes, Maria, think we all learned something from this discussion of Mandrake's Plot.

[Manybooks]

Leone wrote: "Yes, Maria, think we all learned something from this discussion of Mandrake's Plot."

Personally, I have found the discussion very engaging and interesting, and with much more meat so to speak than what usually ends up happening (which I for one very much have appreciated).

[Louie]

I finally got around to reading Mandrake's Plot and I found it to be very fun and mysterious, though a little predictable and not everything was explained. Such as (view spoiler)[The whole thing with Ms. Blackthorne's rings containing sleeping powder. There was no explanation as to why she would hide sleeping powder in special rings. Also why does she go to the whole trouble of having special rings just to hide sleeping powder in and then she just leaves her bedroom door open when she uses the rings even though she knows that Evie and Mia are right outside? It's like she's just asking for them to take it. (hide spoiler)] .Overall though I really enjoyed it and I will definitely read more of Ms. Laycocks books in the future.

[Helen]

Jemima wrote: "I think this has been the most discussion on any book since I’ve been here.
It may be controversial, but I think most of us enjoyed it.
Thank you, Helen, for providing the discounted copies to us, ..."

It was my pleasure to provide free copies of Mandrake's Plot, Jemima, and I would like to thank those of you who took the time to read and respond to it.

I see that it was read with a critical eye, which was interesting to me, and I am grateful to the members of the group who expressed their opinions so kindly; I am but a mere mortal!

I personally loved creating the character of Mandrake, so I was pleased to see that he found a place in your hearts, too. In retrospect, maybe I should have given the poor chap a bigger role.

I have written many other books for MG readers (as well as for adults) and am delighted to hear that some of you are interested to read more.

And thank you, Jemima Pett, for running the group so efficiently and organising activities such as this.

Happy reading, folks!

[Manybooks]

Helen wrote: "Jemima wrote: "I think this has been the most discussion on any book since I’ve been here.
It may be controversial, but I think most of us enjoyed it.
Thank you, Helen, for providing the discounted..."

Maybe write a sequel with Mandrake as main protagonist :-)

[Leone]

I would like to see how you develop Mandrake's character in a sequel, Helen.