Beneath A Thousand Skies

Summary:

Bad Grains was an incredibly fun read. And I would absolutely have been one of the children snatched from the field (I used to run wild in the fields as a kid – and this spooky tale has me wanting to do so again). While this is a middle-grade horror, and the threat and horror mirror that, there were more than enough elements to make it engaging to me as an older reader – although I would have loved to have had this as a kid. There was a surprising emotional depth to it, that made it much more than just a Halloween spooky story, but plenty of charm and adventure … and I really loved Schmits marriage of traditional folklore with a more modern twist, and the imagery for the Reaper was fantastic.

    Jo was a great protagonist – very well written and true to her age and experiences, and oh my god did I see myself in the girl heading for the mobile library to get her fix. I also loved that we got this girl who was a little out of step with her classmates, and her life in general – and we get to see her really come into her own throughout the story, and not without struggle or fear or doubts. The ending of the book, with her choosing her own path – shaped by what has happened – felt so well earned.

     I adored the parts with her grandmother, both because it added personal depth to the local myth and that necessary validation for Jo that this has happened before, that someone understands; but also for that historical sense of the old tales being handed down. And being used as a warning in the past, but also being woven into the way of life, i.e. by leaving offerings. And I think this element could have been developed a bit further, as I personally – and this may just be me as a reader – felt that Jo should have pushed more to try and get people to remember Hektor and his friends. We had moments of her trying with her father, but it felt like she caved very easily – and I can’t help but feel that in that moment you would push more, rambling about events, memories, trying to find those touchpoints that would remind people.

Aside from that though, I love how Schmidt depicted the relationships in this book. Jo and Hektor were very much siblings with an age gap, and it reminded me very much of my niece and nephew – constantly bickering, but then in the quiet moments doing stuff together. It felt very fitting to their ages, the older brother treating his sister as annoying and prioritising at least publicly his friends, and their activities. However, aside from Jo’s relationship with her grandmother which really did steal the show for me, the other one that I really liked and was incredibly well done was the friendship that blossomed between Daniel and Jo. It wasn’t rushed, we got to see the prickles and square corners and round hole of two very different personalities trying to work together, and we got to see those edges worn down by the situation and what they experienced – an equaliser that neither escaped unchanged; and the ending really showed how far they had changed, especially when the boys who had been taken were still on the previous path.

The other members of the Order of the Strawberry Circle were a little harder to get a handle on because we didn’t spend as much time with them – yet. I’m looking forward to seeing what Schmidt does with them in the rest of the series, because there was so much potential for fun in that disparate group. What I did love about them, was that in the end they pulled in around Jo – they didn’t dismiss her after what had happened – and also how they all chose to divert attention and possible victims away from the field. It was also nice to see Jo’s original desire for more Halloween activities come to fruition, even if by then her priorities had somewhat changed.

The horror elements were well realised, and while they were done for the target audience – Schmidt layered in elements that would resonate with a wider audience, and for me it was the potential for the darker, deeper horror that added an excellent kick to it. And the idea of a deeper threat, one that we still haven’t seen or fully understood was well executed.

A perfect read for Halloween or even now as nighttime seems to have laid claim to most of the daylight hours too, and I really enjoyed the blending of German folklore with a modern twist that put me very much in mind of things like Supernatural. Schmidt has done a fantastic job of hooking me into this story, and investing me in The Order of the Strawberry Circle and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for the rest of the series.