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    The Black Tattoo
    Unavailable
    The Black Tattoo
    Unavailable
    The Black Tattoo
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Black Tattoo

    Written by Sam Enthoven

    Narrated by John Lee

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Jack's best friend, Charlie, is in serious trouble, possessed by an ancient demon called the Scourge who plans to use Charlie to bring about its evil ends-which, unfortunately, involve the destruction of the entire universe.

    Now Jack and the butt-kicking, sword-wielding Esme must contend with floating sharks, intelligent jelly, oversized centipedes, gladiator pits, and vomiting bats, all for the sake of saving Charlie from the Scourge.

    And, hopefully, saving the universe from total and utter annihilation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 10, 2006
    ISBN9780739336762
    Unavailable
    The Black Tattoo
    Author

    Sam Enthoven

    For the last ten years Sam Enthoven worked as a part-time bookseller, living largely on a diet of instant noodles and parsnips while honing his skills as a writer of thrillers for young people. He is passionately – possibly 'certifiably' – committed to the ideal of "books that make kids want to read." His writing desk is made out of a squashed wardrobe. His favourite pastimes include playing lead guitar with the band Sour Mash Daddy And His Sixty Wives and practising tai chi while listening to skull-cracking drum-and-bass. "Hey," he says, "it works for me." He lives in London.

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    Reviews for The Black Tattoo

    3.5/5

    186 ratings22 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Though the story seems to start off with Charlie as the main character, we end up seeing through his friend Jack's eyes, who is just along for the ride. The book started off well, but lost momentum midway though, I found The world building was interesting and descriptive enough to hold my attention. The last third in, the story not only picks up but is the best part of the whole book, imho, and winds to a sometimes funny but satisfactory resolution.
    • 5/5
      This book was amazing. Compliments to Sam Enthoven. I wouldn't recommend this book to beginner readers. This book for me was a bit of a challenge. But, overall It's just an outstanding story.
    • 3/5
      This book isn't at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be all dark and serious. Instead it falls somewhere closer to the writing of Terry Brookes or Douglas Adams (minus the sci-fi). It is funny. Yes, yes, the universe is in danger of being snuffed out in one abortive act of finality and everyone is in danger, but the characters (Jack especially) are still able to recognise the absurdity of the situation and let an exasperated explicative slip. Jack's insistence that most things in his life are just 'typical,' even when everything around him is most assuredly not is an effective running gag that made me laugh more than once.

      Granted, he's a pretty useless hero. I'll admit that for much of the book I lent toward agreeing with other reviewers who disliked him because of this. Even after hints that he might have finally been given a few extra abilities of his own nothing materialises. He remains totally and utterly normal. But toward the the end I started to suspect this was the point. He is the most powerless individual in all of Hell. He is simply below notice of the movers and shakers of the underworld. But in the end he is also unquestionably the hero. As defenceless as he is (and knows he is) he twice marches into the bowels of Hell to rescues his friends..."and apparently the universe." He willingly offers his life in place of his best friend in order to correct the actions of another and save the world. Such courage is almost superhuman by itself, more so since there is nothing but unassuming backbone to support it.

      Esme is just plain awesome. I always love a well-honed warrior and just go gaga over a female one. I suppose I should at least mention Charlie. He's a git. He just is.

      I got fairly tired of all of the ridiculous descriptions of the different demons. A whole section of the middle seemed dedicated to this. The story seemed to lag a little, bogged down by one description after another. Similarly there seemed to be a lot of 'great black wings wrapping around them' going on. It seems that one description apparently covers a lot of different sounds. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.
    • 2/5
      This is a Young Adult book, so I'm the wrong audience.
      I found the characters rather simplistic and reactions obvious.
      A young ordinary boy has a friend who becomes a chosen one in an age-old battle against an ancient scourge. His friend makes rather unwise choices that Jack is unable to dissuade him from.
      Wild kung-fu battles, fights against unstoppable evil and a visit to Hell thrown in.
      2 1/2 stars
    • 2/5
      Convoluted and a little messy, but with enough adventure and gross out scenes that boys will love it and most likely want to read the sequel.
    • 4/5
      This book was nothing like what I expected, the protagonists are much younger then you would think and the cover is definitely overly serious when compared to the actual text of the book. Yes the book is an apocolyptic hell will take over the world kind of thing, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. With running jokes like (God)frey, the archivist/librarian being our God and double headed tape worms who argue at every meal over who's the mouth and who's the bum, this book is good for a laugh. Don't expect one of those whiney the world is ending and it's all up to me books, cause this isn't it.
    • 4/5
      The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven was a thrilling and entertaining book that I could read over and over again enjoying each time. It is about A young boy Charlie and his best friend Jack. They do not fit in very well with people along with the fact that Charlies parents are divorced and he hates his father. They then are sucked into a supernatural adventure where charlie gets "magical" black tattoos going down his back. These then give him supernatural abilities that he uses for bad. This genre of books are very new to me so reading this was a fun experience, but I wish more could have been done with it. What I mean by this is that I feel like the author could have tossed in more characters and important acts by the characters to give this book an over all better feeling.
    • 2/5
      eh i just wasn't impressed. i've read this same plot in so many other books and enjoy it but this one was a little dull for me. Not enough soul just writing on paper
    • 3/5
      A decent read a teen boy might enjoy.This guy hooked me a few times throughout the book, but his meandering plot-line drove me crazy. It seemed he couldn't decide where he wanted the story to go, and just went everywhere. I think he is a great storyteller however, and with better focus I'm sure he can have great things ahead of him. :)
    • 5/5
      A very good book. detailed and action packed mixed in with fantasy brilliant. Definately a great book to read.
    • 4/5
      A good, if flawed dark fantasy story. There are constant changes of point-of-view, which could become confusing to some readers. The author really should have pared it down by quite a bit. The climactic battle goes on so long that you are constantly turning the page thinking that it's going to end, but it doesn't. Also, the language gets repetitive in certain descriptions, like the way that a demon's voice causes a strange sensation behind a human's eyes. That said, it's certainly a good time, a romp. Suggest this for teens who like their fantasy with a fair bit of dark humor, though they will need to have at least some appreciation of British humor to fully enjoy the laughs. It's also a good choice for folks who like fantasy with a real world setting and are not fans of gallant knights, charming elves, adorable fairies, etc.
    • 4/5
      this book was RAD! i love this author. authors from the U.K. are interesting to me i don't know why. i love the different types of monsters and the plot. i heard about this book from a friend she didn't like it so much. but i think that if you are into fantasy and characters like monsters and a boy dropping into hell then i think that you would enjoy this book.
    • 4/5
      I confess, I bought this for the back cover blurb.('Vomiting bats? I'm sold' Neil Gaiman** Neil Gaiman has specifically asked us to point out that he has not actually read The Black Tattoo yet.)The book gave me *exactly* what the blurb led me to expect - a really enjoyable, fun, ride complete with vomiting bats, demons in the subway under Centre Point, and the poor, abused, old Marquee, perfectly cast as the gateway to hell. (It might help that I'm a Londoner, and this book is a London book)
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting book by Sam Enthoven, who I have never read before. Jack's best friend Charlie has always been effortlessly cool and when, after some strange events, Charlie suddenly has a black tattoo covering his back and they start to wonder if Charlie is exactly normal.It wasn't very well written I think or maybe it just isn't my type of book. It seems like it was sloppily written. But the storyline was still interesting.
    • 5/5
      i like this book , but at sometimes it was a little confusing. Over all i liked it,and i hope that he keeps up the good work.
    • 4/5
      In the West End of London there are things you cannot imagine. Secret societies, hidden demons and the gateway to Hell. Certainly Jack never imagined any of things. Nor did he imagine meeting a magical warrior girl or to be part of a mystical initiation along with his best friend Charlie. However, when Jack discovers who and what they will be fighting one thing becomes clear. Just when things look bad, don't worry. They will always get worse.The Black Tattoo was originally written to be three books, but published as one. Each book has a definitive beginning middle and end although they are clearly one intertwined story. While I was reading it I did think that it might have been better off as three separate shorter books than this thick of a book which some readers might find off putting. I do think that the characters, violence and, well, unsavory (i.e. rather disgustingly gross) parts of the story might lend itself more to the taste of teenage boys, but I am sure that there are girls out there that this story would appeal to as well. I did enjoy the story overall. I really love the British slang used (I'm American) and always find reading it enjoyable. Another thing that struck me, and this probably wasn't even intentional, was that the character of Jack really rather reminded me of Arthur Dent (of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and much of his inner dialog made me smile just from the familiar feeling I got from it.All in all I did enjoy this book and would certainly recommend it to any lover of YA urban fantasy, boys or girls.
    • 2/5
      Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven is in the style of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, although less whimsical. Set in London, Jack's life is absolutely normal. Everything that happens to him is typical, it just figured that it is his cool friend Charlie that gets the magic powers and is going to save the world. The Scourge is coming and he wants to wake the dragon and send the world back into the void from whence it came.Although it is a thick book, it is a quick read. The story moves along nicely and while you don't get a good feel for the characters, you get just enough to keep things real. As real as they can be when Hell is a mole on a dragon's back and the devil's favorite passtime is watching demons play gladiator games. Don't worry, God will put them all back together again.Sam Enthoven has done a good job creating this mythical world and making the fantasy realistic enough to hold your attention. The sheer girth of the book would tend to make me recommend it to older readers, but the story line, language and content lend it to being a good read for all teens. My 12 year old son loved it.
    • 3/5
      Of course, being a Bookseller and being asked to review the first novel of…a fellow Bookseller presents some interesting dilemmas. Should I be brutal or sympathetic? Ex-Blackwells staffer Sam Enthoven takes the enthusiastic view of throwing in all the ingredients (Demons, Buffy-a-like ass-kicking teenage girls, tortured orphans with secret powers, you know the sort of thing) to the melting pot from the beginning in the hope that it all makes sense. He’s done his background reading – Garth Nix, Philip Pullman, Darren Shan are all clear influences, and as children’s genre fiction goes this is safe and sturdy, with some interesting issues raised and nice plot twists along the way. As first novels go - a fine attempt.
    • 5/5
      You could say that The Black Tattoo is another of the countless good vs. evil tales where a trio of characters battle to save planet Earth from the forces of darkness. You could say that. Until you read this book.The author’s cast of characters could be any of the teenagers attending your nearby school. Charlie, the misfit, is bored with school, doesn’t do homework, can’t get a girlfriend, hates his life and desperately wants to be like his ultra-cool, good-looking, smart and ever-popular friend. Jack, of course, is that friend. Then there’s Esme. She’s trained her whole life for this mission. It has been her total focus for as long as she can remember. Just think of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and you’ve got the talents, skills and finesse of Esme.The author draws the reader into this story through his integration of vividly described action scenes, fantastical settings, realistic characters, and quick pacing. As the main characters are deeply involved in surface issues, they are also dealing privately with individual issues of ethics, morality and loyalty. They must each deal with their own personal demons regarding these issues in order to be ready to accomplish the task at hand. Cleverly, the author provokes the reader’s contemplation of these issues as well. Join Charlie, Jack and Esme as they battle inner demons, interpersonal relationship issues, and the battle of their lives. Together they must go to the very depths of hell to save planet Earth from total destruction. You won’t want to miss it! Happy reading!
    • 4/5
      this book was very good and always kept you on the edge of your chair. a book you could not stop reading
    • 3/5
      Entertaining. I think it would've made a better graphic novel than novel-novel (and the way plot points are reiterated at the beginning of its parts makes me wonder if it the author conceived it as a graphic novel).Begins well: two 14-year-old boys get drawn into an adventure where one becomes the host of the Scourge, a demon that manifests as a black tattoo on his skin. Very "Matrix-y" fight scenes ensue, and then suddenly the book changes tone for part two.Heavily influenced by "The Matrix," "Sandman," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Bits of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett as well.
    • 5/5
      What a great read! Full of action, magic, demons and London landmarks. How could it be better? Give the people more! We need more of this in our lives!