Product Description

On your 14th birthday, you're dead meat! Chilling SF adventure from international bestselling author Garth Nix. In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no child shall live a day past his fourteenth birthday. On that Sad Birthday, the child is the object of an obscene harvest resulting in the construction of a machinelike creature whose sole purpose is to kill. The mysterious Shade -- once a man, but now more like the machines he fights -- recruits the few children fortunate enough to escape. With luck, cunning, and skill, four of Shade's children come closer than any to discovering the source of the Overlords' power -- and the key to their downfall. But the closer the children get, the more ruthless Shade seems to become!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100336 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"Infused with all the qualities we've come to expect of Garth Nix's futuristic adventures! It's exciting stuff! [and] a worthy addition to the genre." Inis "[Garth Nix is] the coolest read in the playground." Amanda Craig "Garth Nix blends suspense, action, and high emotion in this excellent, fast-moving science-fiction story." Amazon.com "The twists and turns of the action-filled plot are compelling." Publishers Weekly "A dynamic page-turner. Fast-paced action and the intensity of the entire situation make for exciting reading." ALA Booklist "Combines plenty of comic-book action in a sci-fi setting to produce an exciting read! An action-adventure with uncommon appeal outside the genre." Kirkus

From the Publisher
Question and Answer with Garth Nix:

What is your favourite piece of clothing?
My R. M. Williams elastic-sided boots
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 things would you want to have with you?
I presume a satellite phone is out of the question, so:
1. "The How to Survive on a Deserted Island Manual"
2. A knife or machete
3. A very large clear plastic tarpaulin
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Absent-minded writer guy
What time do you get up in the morning?
Usually between 4:45am and 7:00am depending upon my young son. Preferably closer to 7:00am!
Do you have any pets? What are their names?
No pets, unless you count the two swallows that are building a nest under the canopy above my office door. Maybe I should give them names.
What are 3 things you love about where you live?
The sea, the trees, the birds
What makes you most happy?
A cup of tea, a good book and my family around me
Did you like school? What was your favourite subject?
I sometimes liked school. My favourite subject was History. Or maybe English. Or Drama.
When did you start writing and what gave you the inspiration to start?
I started writing stories when I was six or seven, but didn't seriously try to write and get published till I was nineteen.
What do you like to read? And what book are you reading now?
I like to read all sorts of books. I'm currently reading a history of Venice by John Julius Norwich.
What was the first book you can remember reading?
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What is your favourite TV programme and pop band?
My favourite TV program is an old one, Dr Who. My favourite pop band changes, but I guess my all-time favourite would be The Beatles.
What is your perfect holiday?
Taking it easy at a beach house on the NSW South Coast in late Spring, before lots of people go there
If you could travel back in time, who would you be and why?
I would like to be all sorts of people, but I wouldn't mind being a long-lived, healthy medieval king who died in bed at an advanced age, mourned by all.
What is your favourite food?
Sausages and mash
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Give some of it away, invest the rest in interesting projects like making films, or producing a play, or re-publishing some old books that have disappeared
What is your favourite sport?
Fishing
If you could be invisible for the day, where would you go?
The Invisible Club, though it's a pain to find and you keep bumping into people
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Where I live now, near the beach in Sydney
What is your ideal Saturday/weekend?
To be at home with my family, with no obligation to do anything or be anywhere
If you had 3 wishes from a genie what would it be?
That would depend upon the nature of the wishes. If I could make really big wishes for other people I would wish:
* For everyone in the world to be healthy and vigorous (and if that was too hard for the genie, then I'd try for all children to be healthy and vigorous)
* For all the weapons in the world to turn into flowers
* For everyone to be able to experience compassion and understand kindness
If the wishes had to be for myself, I would wish for:
* A really good singing voice
* Extremely good health for my whole family
* A small very comfortable castle on a large private island in Sydney Harbour

From the Back Cover
I've been here with Shade for three years. There's been a lot of children in this place since then. I've seen their videos, but I'll never see them. You sit in the dark, watching their faces as they talk through their brief lives, and all the time you wonder what got them in the end.

Now you're watching me ... and you're wondering ... what got her?

In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no child shall live past the age of fourteen. Ella, Drum, Gold-Eye, and Ninde have all escaped this terrible fate and are recruited into a resistance movement by the mysterious Shade.

Haunted ceaselessly by savage, mutant creatures, Shade's children work together to discover the source of the Overlords' power. But as they get closer to their goal, they begin to question Shade's motives and objectives.

Chilling post-apocalyptic novel from the international bestselling author of 'Sabriel', 'Lireal', and 'Abhorsen'.

Customer Reviews

Shade's Children
This has got to be one of the best books i have ever read. It is dark and creepy and Garth Nix describes an alternative world with scary realism. The book is so well written and you get incredibly emotionally attached to the characters in the book that it nearly made me cry and i have never cried reading a book before. All of the events draw you in closer to the book and characters making you feel stronger emotions as the book goes on. The ending is worthy of the rest of the book and shocks you because of how sudden it is and also the contrast of emotions is unbelievable. What else can i say apart from this book is probably one of the best teenage books out there (i mean mid to late teens - no younger than 15 or 16 as it is inappropriate below that age and would not be truly enjoyed, see the other review entitled 'weird' - big misconception as it is enjoyable to any fan of reading) and anyone not reading this has certainly missed out. I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time.

Superb
Readers of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series will be well aware of his fantastic writing style and exceptional story telling. This time Nix provides his readers with a new and original style. Throughout the book we follow the story of 'Gold eye' who, having lost his loved ones to the evil overlords, must now seize the opertunity to escape from the 'factory like' dorms that all children are locked inside. For it will soon be his birthday; the sadest birthday of them all, when 14 year old children are taken and made into a grotesque machines, forced to serve the overlords for eternity. Gold eye must use his special talents to escape the dorms and be recruited by the ominous Shade. Obsessed with defeating the overlords, shade is both their saviour and their enemy. Suffice to say this book with both thrill and astound you; nix maintains the pace and the tension throughout, however the book is less up beat than his previous works. I prefer to see this as a posotive aspect; the fact that he can explore different areas and still suceed, proves once again his brilliance.

so glad i got this
i do think this is for slightly older readers but that doesnt mean it is not a good book. being shown through the eyes of Gold Eye who is about as confused as the reader really works well, garth nix tends to have really intricate worlds which are easy to get lost in. you get a deep empathy with the characters which is helped along with little scripted videos, transmissions, lists and that sort of thing in between the chapters. the characters are well written with the determined and gritty to the excitable and dreamy. it is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat when they go on missions and have to find daring means of escaping. aswell as burning with anger at the horrid overlords and crying with either sorrow or happiness.
just like all of Garth Nix's other books this is amzingly imaginative. and if you are a bit squeamish read the first little part quickly and dont let it put you off, the rest of the book is brilliant.