1. Cherub: The Fall By Robert Muchamore Book Review
The Fall is the seventh instalment in Robert Muchamore’s Cherub book
series. The book starts off with the main character in the series, James Adams, in
Russia. James is part of a spy organization called Cherub which is like MI5 but
then staffed by young people.
Along with two MI5 operatives, when the book opens, James is on an
undercover operation to put the tyrant Denis Obidin behind bars. The target was
the mayor of Aero City, built in the period of the Soviet Union. Aero City’s
purpose was to supply the army with missiles and other weapons. After the fall
of the Soviet Union, most residents left Aero City in search for work. The result
was that Aero City effectively turned into a ghost town. The residents who
remained were almost all workers of Obidin, or homeless gangs. The occupation
of Chief of Police was given to Obidin’s brother, Vladimir, who has a reputation
for using dentist tools as torture devices. After the MI5 operatives kill Denis
Obidin, they fail to escape successfully. James Adams is hunted down by Vladimir
and the rest of the police.
In a subplot, James’s sister Lauren, back on Cherub campus, has received a
mission briefing informing her that she has been chosen to take the lead on a
mission that if successful will uncover the brains behind a human trafficking
system in the U.K. She will be sent to a care home in Brighton to befriend Anna, a
Russian girl shipped from Russia to be bought in England by a gang of
paedophiles. The gang is captured after Lauren and Anna escape after being
kidnapped and call Lauren’s controller.
When James does finally get home, he is suspended from missions
because he is falsely accused of lying about what really happened in Russia. To
clear his name, James along with help from his friend Dana Smith conducts an
investigation into the reasons behind the accusation. James soon finds out things
that are deeply troubling.
I thought this book was good because it focuses on three different plots
one after another. I haven’t read a book where this has happened before. Though
in Double or Die by Charlie Higson the author tried to do this, it didn’t turn out so
well; there were a few things happening in the first two hundred and fifty pages,
approximately. Then in the last fifty pages major events of the book happened.
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare managed to plots and sub-plots well.
There wasn’t very much I didn’t like in The Fall; the one thing that was
slightly disappointing was that the main character wasn’t at the centre of the
story as he was in the previous books. The book was more about his sister
Lauren.
I would recommend any one else to read this book because the different
happenings in the book will appeal to a wide variety of audiences.