Imatge de l'autor

Royce Buckingham

Autor/a de Demonkeeper

20 obres 493 Membres 29 Ressenyes 1 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Born in 1966 in Richland, Washington, growing up Royce was fascinated by fantastic tales such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Hobbit, Conan the Barbarian and anything Stephen King. Royce attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington where he majored in English mostra'n més literature and in his junior year he studied English in England. He had begun creative writing by this time but also pursued a "real" career in law by attending the University of Oregon School of Law. He is a prosecutor with the Whatcom County Prosecutor's Office in Bellingham, Washington. Royce sold his first novel, Demonkeeper, to Putnam in 2005 and the award winning screenplay to 20th Century Fox. Royce went onto write Demoneater, Demonocity, Goblins: An UnderEarth Adventure, and The Dead Boys. His books have become international best sellers. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys

Sèrie

Obres de Royce Buckingham

Demonkeeper (2007) 209 exemplars
The Dead Boys (2010) 123 exemplars
Die Karte der Welt (2013) 34 exemplars
Mürrische Monster: Roman (2009) 33 exemplars
Der Wille des Königs (2014) 10 exemplars
Die rubinrote Königin (2016) 6 exemplars
Die Klinge des Waldes: Roman (2018) 2 exemplars
Demons (2010) 2 exemplars
The Goblin Problem (2014) 1 exemplars
the deed 1 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Nom oficial
Buckingham, Royce Scott
Data de naixement
1966
Gènere
male
Nacionalitat
USA
Lloc de naixement
Richlang, Washington, USA
Llocs de residència
Bellingham, Washington, USA
Educació
Jura-Studium
Professions
Staatsanwalt

Membres

Ressenyes

Richland, in Washington state, has long been famous and infamous as the location of the Hanford Site, the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States (it produced plutonium for most of the nuclear weapons developed by the U.S.) and the focus of the nation’s largest environmental clean up. As if this disaster on the Columbia River wasn’t sufficiently horrifying, Buckingham uses his hometown as the setting for a story that combines an unconventional serial killer, its victims, and a smart protagonist.

Twelve-year-old Teddy’s nurse mother moves him to Richland a month before the new school year begins, then pushes him outdoors to find new friends. Teddy is a smart, likeable, shy, and brave protagonist, and down by the river he meets Albert, dressed in old-fashioned bell-bottom jeans. Albert warns Teddy about the local bullies, led by a kid named Henry, and hints at a greater danger, but before he can share more, the bullies appear. Albert slips into the river to escape, leaving a bewildered Teddy to deal with Henry on his own. Teddy meets other boys around town, all of whom talk and behave—then disappear—in odd ways. Just as odd and even more intriguing is an enormous sycamore tree growing in the yard of an abandoned house next door. Fairly quickly, Teddy figures out the tree, the Hanford Site, and the mysterious boys are connected and that the tree, which scratches at Teddy's window with long, grasping branches, seems determined to lure Teddy closer. When the tree takes drastic, dangerous action, Teddy realizes it will stop at nothing to bring him under its control, and he learns that it knows—and will use—Teddy’s deepest fears to achieve its goal. There’s a wonderful scene in which a black widow spider threatens Teddy; our hero’s decisive action made me squirm, and undoubtedly it will please everyone who reads it.

Buckingham adapts the villainous tree motif by adding ecological terror in the form of the Hanford Site, a nice touch by the author, a Richland, WA, native. The Dead Boys, of course, isn’t unique in using a tree as villain: Apple trees make Dorothy Gale’s life briefly miserable in The Wizard of Oz; hundreds of kites were lost to one greedy tree, courtesy of Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz; and Buckingham’s giant sycamore bears a strong resemblance to a gnarled tree that loomed outside the home of the hapless Freeling family in Poltergeist.

The story benefits from fast pacing and action that doesn’t encourage reflection, an asset in a story that, judged by the most lenient standards, fails just about every logic test. Why, for example, does the tree only crave 12-year-old boys? Engaging as each boy proves—and Buckingham does deft, quick characterizations of each—wouldn’t the boundless energy of 5- or 6-year-olds provide enough power for entire forests? What does the tree have against girls? Adults? Or dogs and cats, for that matter? Equally puzzling is why the police don’t seem to realize that over the decades there’s been a systematic series of disappearances among the 12-year-old boy population; has the tree cast some form of glamor over the entire town? The climax, in which Teddy negotiates the dim, dusty world of the sycamore, proved so visually confusing I gave up trying to make logical sense of it and let myself succumb to a surreal vision—it worked for me.

When I closed the book, I wondered how the boys Teddy saved would cope with their new lives, devoid of family and many familiar landmarks; and I liked Dead Boys even more for having provoked such questions. Highly recommended.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Charlotte.Hunter | Hi ha 8 ressenyes més | Jul 16, 2015 |
Such a fun and creepy book. Takes place in our own Richland, WA and tells the story of a tree that lives off the energy of 12 year old boys. Keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire story. I book talked this book to 5th and 6th graders and they showed extreme interest in reading this book. Very appealing to both genders. And I have heard excellent responses from the students who have read it since that book talk. I really enjoyed reading this chapter book and have been recommending it to teacher friends and others.… (més)
 
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LoisHaight | Hi ha 8 ressenyes més | Feb 17, 2014 |
This book has a lot of foreshadowing which eventually becomes obvious. The climax. when Teddy is in a supernatural alternate dimension called “The Dimness” ruled by an evil sycamore tree is a good part.
 
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SebastianHagelstein | Hi ha 8 ressenyes més | Nov 18, 2013 |
I was worried about this book since it was an award nominated book and it needed to be in the library...but all of you who worry about the title, don't. This science fiction /fantasy book is great, and the illustrations of the tree reaching out for the boy at the beginning of each chapter helps. It is creepy and not for every reader--especially if you get scared easily and you have a big tree outside your bedroom window. The time travel element in the book is interesting, but it took me a little while to figure out that the dead boys were coming from the past.… (més)
 
Marcat
brangwinn | Hi ha 8 ressenyes més | Jun 17, 2013 |

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Autors associats

Michael Pfingstl Translator
Max Meinzold Cover artist

Estadístiques

Obres
20
Membres
493
Popularitat
#50,127
Valoració
½ 3.5
Ressenyes
29
ISBN
47
Llengües
5
Preferit
1

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