The Whatnot audiobook

4.5 Sterne für den Abschluss der Dilogie - etwas schwächer als Band 1, aber die originellen Ideen und der Schreibstil sind wirklich großartig! ♥Spoiler zu Band 1! Mit dem ersten Band hat mich der noch sehr junge Autor total begeistern können und ich war gespannt, wie es mit Bartholomew und Mr. Jelliby weitergeht. Ich war im ersten Moment ein bisschen enttäuscht, dass dieses Mal anfangs andere Protagonisten im Mittelpunkt stehen. Das war mutig gemacht und auch überraschend, ist aber nach kurzer Gewöhnung auf jeden FallIm Fokus steht hier Pikey, ein Waisenjunge aus London, der eine extrem unschöne Begegnung mit einer mächtigen Fee hatte. Seine Erinnungen daran sind allerdings verblasst, aber die Fee hat ihm etwas gestohlen, das noch eine sehr wichtige Rolle spielen wird. Hier muss ich wirklich nochmal betonen, auf was für grandiose Ideen Stefan Bachmann gekommen ist, denn wie auch im ersten Band gibt es wieder eine Menge origineller und verblüffender Details. Sie machen diese Welt grausam und brutal, aber auch lebendig und zu einer abgefahrenen und realistischen Bühne, auf welcher die Figuren immer wieder um ihr Überleben kämpfen müssen.Bartholomew taucht leider erst ab der Hälfte des Bandes auf und die Suche nach seiner Schwester hat ihn mit der Zeit doch sehr überspannt und ja, besessen gemacht. Seine Angst, zu spät zu kommen, ist aber durchaus berechtigt, denn Hettie hat keinen einfachen Weg vor sich.Durch das Portal ins Feenland verbannt muss sie mit gehässigen, gruseligen Kreaturen zurechtkommen - und das Bild, das der Autor hier von den Feen zeichnet, ist unglaublich eindringlich und alles andere als zart und verspielt. Bzw. verspielt könnte man es nennen, wenn man noch Grausamkeit und Tücke dazu packt. Auch das Aussehen und die Beschreibungen bestechen mit treffenden Metaphern, die mir völlig neu waren und die das ganze auf allen Ebenen anschaulich gemacht haben. Ich kann da nicht genug davon schwärmen, weil wie er das beschreibt, grade wenn man auch sein Alter berücksichtigt, ist wirklich bewundernswert!Die Botschaften hier klingen auch wieder gut verständlich durch, gerade auch für junge Leser: Pickey, den Waisenjungen, bringt seine Hilfsbereitschaft von einem Schlamassel ins andere, und auch wenn er selbst nur endlich einfach einmal etwas mehr haben möchte als nichts, hat er immer auch das Gute für andere im Blick. Nicht aufgeben, die Hoffnung nicht verlieren - auch Hettie ist davon geprägt und man sieht hier sehr schön: wie viel Schlimmes auch im Leben passiert, alles hat seine Gründe und führt uns meist auf einen Weg, der vielleicht auch etwas positives bringt. Zumindest macht es uns zu dem Menschen, der wir heute sind.© AleshaneeWeltenwanderer

OH GR, because of the few reviews, I will give you this one. I suck.There she stood, one small girl in front of twelve great globes.I believe if you can manage to imagine the gravity of this line solely, regardless of whether you've either book of the duology, I'll have the unquestionable freedom to bet my imaginary third arm against your real left one that you'll like this story as much as, if not more than, I did. Even if you can't, you might like it. I'm no astrologist or numerologist, or psychologist(though I am planning to be study it shits and giggles, and because my sister got a very costly and rare book on psychology for cheap cost at a book fare last year, and also I don't want to study chem/bio the following year). Reading The Whatnot, I was reminded of how deluded I can be sometimes, thinking that childhood memories are full of bubblegum and precious shoes, that just because the good ones are favored over the bad times doesn't mean the latter didn't exist, that simply because a cover hints at a fun book, it won't always deliver. No, I have never had to leave my family behind and stray far in a strange and wild land amidst stranger and wilder creatures; and no, I never did have to look under every rock and in all niches, pay in bruises and pride for my little sibling; and a definite no goes to roaming is solitude, which can be harsh enough without the added torment of the late 19th century Englishmen and faery around. But this dear story also tells of desperation, hope and well, how far one'll go and lie to maintain a semblance of hope, for oneself and otherwise. The three characters to The Whatnot each follow a thread of lonely sorrow. Pikey Thomas Albeit he's the newest to our tale, it didn't take a lot for Pikey to break the forth wall with me. He's a street kid who lost his eye to a faery and lives beneath a chemist's shop. There's a lot of customary dolor in his life, but all he wants is to get away from wretched England and wretched faery and have a few of them caramel apples. His narration was oh so sad, and there's a point in the latter half where he wishes Hettie had been his sister too(for his own reasons) and it had me wishing for a paperback I could clutch and shake! Pikey's stolen eye remains in the Old Country where dear Hettie finds and so he can occasionally get a glimpse of her, which connects two distinct worlds so disparate that even their times aren't synchronized and also makes him invaluable to Bartholomew, which follows... Bartholomew Kettle While he's still an integral part of the story and doesn't exactly play a cameo, Barthy appears at around the 50% mark. Years have passed since he managed to saved the world but lost his sister, and now he's a teenager. He's still adhering to the vow he made at the end of The Peculiar and seeking ways into the Old Country to bring back Hettie; he's left his mother and has been adopted by Mr Jelliby for the funds and support and gates he opens to assist in Barthy's quest. We don't have his perspective until a very short piece during the climax of the story, however, his feels and the person he's become aren't difficult to get a hold of. Hettie Kettle OH this lovely girl, how she grows! She is pathetic at times, she grows bolder, she is dismayed and she is courageous, and at one point, she wishes for the old days when she had been abducted and was different and, at the very least, special enough to be abducted, as opposed to the current time when she's scorned and petted and kept on a leash. Her intractable belief that Barthy will come back, that he'll save her one day keeps her going even whilst she's incarcerated in an absurd and frenzied faery house, circumventing pity piskies and the Belusites.And I have this quote I have been waiting to use, although I've forgotten where I got(some help):We hope, dream, regret, yearn, and engage in all sorts of behavior good and bad that reveals the inner workings of our spirits. Nothing more than that should be needed to qualify as alive.There is darkness to Bachman's story, belied by his clean prose and unhealthily fun cover(I have major peeves). Not only for his characters and putting aside their emotional egressions, this tale has a miscible alchemy of the erratic and fiendish nature of ours, and the unapparent things we take for granted. Or so it appears to me. In the plot section, the Whatnot follows the formula set in the previous installment. There's unrelated mishaps in the beginning leading to future events, which involve seeking missing sister and saving the world. While The Peculiar set about introducing and acclimating us with the steampunk, alternate London of 1850's, the second book takes us deep into the heart of the original faery realm, their ways of the old and the changed ones, rendering the traditional image of faeries and their violent, implausible and extremely fickle personalities, while still not creating entirely immovable, emotionless creatures as faeries have been depicted elsewhere.Bachman's debut novel didn't give him an indelible place in tbr list, but The Whatnot managed that and more. This is not the best series out there, in fact I can name some awesome MG books right off the top of my head(A FACE LIKE GLASS|WHEN YOU REACH ME), but I still am glad, for myself, that I didn't miss out on it.Bubbles of gratitude to Harpercollins for giving me a free review copy. Because they're hollow and pretty so my thanks will be conserved even while I appear very magnanimous in the stead of a miser.

Ein toller Abschluss dieses zwei Teilers. Mir hat es viel Spaß gemacht noch tiefer in diese Welt eintauchen zu können. Dennoch fand ich es ein bisschen schwächer als den ersten Teil.

"A tower of blood," she sang to a wavering, sliding tune. "A tower of blood and a tower of bone. A tower of ash and a tower of stone. Who's at the top of them, who's in the dark? Who climbs the stairs without leaving a mark?"Stefan Bachmann did it again! He created an extremely intriguing and fantastical world that kept me glued to my seat for days. Not only did I get to fall in love with his old characters again from the first book in The Peculiar series, but I also had the opportunity to fall in love and became attached to new ones. By introducing fresh people, he brought together an even greater story. (However, I did wish that I could have heard from Mr. Jelliby a tad bit more.) Full of magic, fantasy, and a great plot, this book created a fabulous experience that included what it means to hope and persevere for what you love and believe in. I was extremely pleased with this installment and have decided that I enjoyed it just the same, if not more, than the first book, "The Peculiar". The ending was quite satisfying with, what I considered to be, a happy and content closing. (I love this series so much that I wish another book would be written!)The Story's Plot:Years after Bartholomew's sister, Hettie, became stuck in the Old Country, a quick trip to a prison on his never ending journey to find her reveals a young street boy named Pikey who claims to have seen his missing sister. Touched with his faery eye, Pikey has glimpsed this changeling girl but for only short periods of time. Desperate to escape his miserable cell, he tells Bartholomew that he can see her again. This promise gets him a chance at freedom, that is if he can still tell Bartholomew about his visions with his branch haired sister. The only problem is that he cannot necessarily see her when he wants to. It's sudden and unexpected. However, this does not stop Pikey from telling him that he can do as he's asked. Hettie, while being stuck in the Old Country, is continually trying to survive in a strange and horrid land. Suddenly and against her will, Hettie is taken in by the persistent Piscaltine, a strange woman who claims she just wants a friend. Hettie goes on an incredible journey to try to find her inner strength and beauty, even though she is surrounded by faeries who call her ugly, stupid, and useless. Consistently switching between Hettie's side of the story and Pikey and Bartholomew's, we get an equal part of adventure and suspense between all the characters. The two boys try so hard to find a door into the Old Country between the lies and and deceit, troubles and worries, and Hettie attempts to believe in her brother who promised to rescue her, and she hopes to find a way out of the Old Country.I strongly advise anyone who read the first book to finish the series. You will not be disappointed! "Why d'you believe the bad things? I don't care if you hate me and if you leave me behind, but you can't GIVE UP!"-Pikey You can read this review and others like it at http://knightingalereviews.blogspot.com(http://knightingalereviews.blogspot.c...

** spoiler alert ** I devoured the first part of this series within days. The first book ends on a suspenseful cliffhanger, so I practically had no other choice than to read the second part as well. All in all, it was a decent continuation of the story, showing new facettes of the author's fantasy mastermind.Especially in comparison to the first, very promising part, this book occasionally showed a lack of consistent suspense over lengthy passages. What most disappointed me personally though was the ending, that, after a long and complicated build up, collapsed into an overly simplistic happy end, leaving the reader with unanswered questions and general dissatisfaction.Bachmann set the bar incredibly high, going through a two part novel with thousands of twists and turns that captivate and mesmerize. In my opinion, this bar was missed by quite a bit when it came to wrapping up an enormous plot in a short and seemingly rushed ending.

"The city became a beast after dark; the streets were its throats and the graveyards were its bellies, and ever since things had started going rotten between the English and the faeries the beast had gotten hungrier."Even in an alternate universe where the plot of The Whatnot was lacking, or its world didn't enthrall, Stefan Bachmann's bewildering mastery of prose would still make his second novel worth a read. I'm sure he's sick to death of people mentioning his age by now, but that's what makes his excellence so baffling. It isn't that he's good for a teenager (well, former teenager now), it's that he's good for a human being. Spectacular, even. One of my favorite current writers period, and if were in his forties he still would be. If anybody somehow doubted Bachmann's skill after The Pecular, his magnificent debut, then The Whatnot will put such worries to rest. This is no novelty. Like Gordon Korman, Stephen Crane and Mary Shelley before him, youth has little to do with his success.Fortunately for us, the plot is not lacking, and Bachmann's world doesn't just enthrall but astounds: both brilliantly blend bitter truths of life in the nineteenth century British underclass with the wonder and mystery of the Fae. As in The Peculiar, Bachmann's creatures veer toward the darker side of whimsical, their violent capriciousness and alien morality in keeping with more traditional depictions of faeries (think Puck, not Tinkerbell). The story follows the lead of its unpredictable denizens, twisting through two distinct plots connected by a street boy's stolen eye. An intentionally vague time lapse between The Peculiar and The Whatnot (as well as differing flows of time between England and the magical Old Country) further lends to novel's mysterious feel, as does the conspicuous initial absence of The Peculiar's eponymous protagonist, the naive but stouthearted Bartholomew Kettle.But yes, to top it all off, Bachmann's prose sets The Whatnot apart from its contemporaries. There are many fantastic stories in middle grade and young adult these days, but few are written with such unpretentious, utterly un-purple beauty. I wish he would narrate my life. Or at least my commute. Seriously. Read this book.

liked this more than the first one! it was as magical as I expected and also fast paced. I love Hettie and Pickey Thomas they're both such adorable and strong characters. was a little bit sad tho that Mr Jelliby wasn't really in this one anymore. 4/5 stars

While I don't think I enjoyed this book quite as much as the first, it was still a very well-written book and it did bring me to tears near the end. Hettie is a fantastic character, and I felt so bad for everything that she, Bartholomew, and Pikey had to go through in this story. Bachmann's writing was beautiful and tragic and heart-wrenching, painting each scene and creating a fantastic atmosphere that suits the story. (view spoiler)[That being said, while the epilogue was a wonderful reunion, it also felt a little bit rushed. It was hard to enjoy, because we literally just came from these descriptions of all the prisons breaking London and wrecking England, and like,,, now I'm just supposed to feel happy because Barthy and Hettie are reunited??? Idk. I was still reeling from the destruction of the city and the difficult choice that Hettie was facing. Also Jelliby really got shorted in this story, and I would like to know if his wife Ophelia is okay, as well as Bartholomew and Hettie's mom. Hope she's doing alright. (hide spoiler)]

Many years have passed since Barthy's sister Hettie opened the portal and disappeared into the fairy world. Her Brother Barthy and a poor outcast with a special gift named Pickey are now on their journey of finding Hettie.Meanwhile, Hettie is trapped in the fairy world where she fights for survival with gruesome creatures and, in between, discovers a whole new side to her. Is she able to stop the war and make it out alive to be reunited with her brother?This time again, Stefan Bachmann took me away into a vivid world full of wonders and nightmares.His writing style is unique and detail-loving and I feel like, every creature in this book has a special place in his heart. I liked the first part of it more, however, I must say that the overall atmosphere in this book matched the topic very well. It was very eerie and unique.

I read this in German. Usually i prefer to read books in whatever language they were written but this one was translated very well. The story is amazing and full of fantastical creatures. I do have to mention that this is the second one though! I accidentally read it first and many things didnt make sense. But i just finished the first one and now its all clear. Great books, definitely a recommend!

Nice sequel :) love Hettie

Epic!

A second book when the first was amazing and new and fresh is a tough act to follow. Loved this book nonetheless.

Granted, it has been years and a thousand plus books since I've read the first book in this series, The Peculiar, but this book had some moments that were very empowering for kids (and for this adult) that, while I remember liking the first, I don't recall feeling in the first.Example: "What is this liking? If you liked everything that happened to you, you would be a feeble person. A thousand things will happen to you, and some of it will be good and some of it will be bad and some of it will be utterly dreadful, but they all..." The fairy butler paused, "They all lead somewhere."There were a final few quotes on that were noteworthy on always keeping hope near the end of the book that I adored. Unfortunately, the book was borrowed and the timing was to tight to return it. so I missed them.Ultimately, the world that Bachmann creates is amazing and believable for this skeptic. It was really the messages that shone through though and I can't wait to push this series on the few kids of the right age I know. I really wish that I hadn't let so much time fall in between the two books.