any eres and reviewers M1 ieretisc he coraoat dodo lel comet be sorsn or cams Despite The Graveyard Book being a sli 300 pages and the authors frst attempt at the young adult genre, itis easy to see why thas been called Gaiman's best nove yet. The book sa charming, imaginative ale wth Just the right dash of horror that is Gaiman's twademarkasa waiter. The story begins on a dark foggy night as a mysterious assassin kills off the members ‘of a young boy's family. By luck o by fate, the toddler escapes ands saved and adopted by a motley collection of ghosts inhabiting graveyard. Its therein the graveyard that the boy-—called Nobody Owens or*Bod"” for short—grows from an infant toa young ‘man. The book follows his adventures in the cemetery andthe werld outside, along with the lessons he learns along the way from both the living and the dead. Readers will hil tothe rich and imaginative World thet Gaiman has created, You'l never want more te have grown upin a graveyard than after reading this book You'l fall 102 sexo Inlove with the amazing cast of characters and ghosts. There’ Silas, Bod's mysterious, wise guardian; Liza the sassy witch burned atthe stake; and Scarlett, Bods childhood fiend and only cel link tothe ving warld Even setting the fantasy element aide, The Groveyard Book is wellwritten Period simple, clean prose reveals just how much Gaiman has matured since crossing over from graphic novels to fiction. Conceived as ‘a homage to Rudyard Kipling’s The Aungle ook the novel pulls of eight chapters in episodic format through tight pacing and plot. Heck, Gaiman even includes a shout-out 10 Filipinos through a ist of nationalities mentioned in the book Despite what you might tink owing to its tile and the author's reputation forthe macabre, The Graveyard Book is surprisingly less about death than the alternately ‘wonderful and heartbreaking experience ‘of being aive—arowing up, family love, and saciice. ta simple, profound morality tale that avoids being preachy. For horror and goth fans of Neil Galmen, youwor't be disappointed as there Is enough ‘gore and spookiness inthe novel to satis your cravings. There are encounters with ‘houls werewolves and a shadowy Sleer ‘monster that lives in a Celtic batrow and ‘Quards an ancient treasure. The haunting, ‘otherworldly ilustration by Dave McKean ‘throughout the book help, to. However, what makes the story s0 special isthe hope and humanity a the heart of Your fing yourself cheering for Nobody wens, alin in love right along with hin, and being moved during the books climax ashe finally confronts his family murderer ad the tuth about his own identy anything, my only gripe withthe mate Is the weak character development ofthe mor Jack, the assassin who hunts Bod throughout the book. We never really understand who he sand the nature ofthe organization that heisa partof Then again, by dellberately keeping the character ambiguous, Jack comes {o represent all the various dangers and fear we fce growing up Similarly, Nobody Owens (a pla on the phrate-nobody owns"), represents nobody in particular ashe mest ta represent each of us, Quoting the review on the back cover by Laurell K Hamiton: “After fishing The Graveyard Book, had only one thought "hope there's more. want to see more ofthe adventures of Nobody Owens, and theres no higher praise fora book" Ieauldn't agee ‘mote. Stil, Gaiman has created another ‘made classic that can stand perfection Its own, up therewith his Sandman graph novel series as 2 masterpiece to stand he test oftime, Well done, Mr. Gaiman. You've successuly created another die-hard groupie