Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds (Archibald Lox Series, book 1)

By Darren Shan

Blurb: 
There is a universe beyond our own, known as the Merge.

A young locksmith called Archibald Lox is about to cross worlds and explore it.

As he learns about these lands of wonders, he will have to face cold-blooded killers, rivers of blood, hell jackals and more...

Book one of the Archibald Lox series, a new YA fantasy series by Darren Shan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.

Review: 
This is the first Darren Shan book that I've ever truly finished! So it must be worth the read if I've finished it. I buddy read this book with my friend Laura who is a die hard fan of Darren Shan, so it was another different experience. 

According to Laura, this book follows all of his key parts if that makes sense. So the first chapter is crazy, has some twists, has some made sense moments and a cliff hanger. 

This book is about a boy (Archie) who has just lost someone and is suffering from grief, he feels that he is invisible. He sets off to school one morning; earlier than usual because the atmosphere in the house is all doom and gloom. He then gets onto one of the bridges in London when this girl randomly appears and then opens up  a borehole with her facial expressions. She is being chased by two submerged people who have a knife and an axe.

Archie then follows the girl (Inez) into the merge and discovers a whole new world and a whole new part of his life. This new world is great and reading about the different zones and realms within the world is amazing. How it links back to the human world is crazy. 

I feel that the characters did develop a bit throughout the book, they started to trust each other more and talked about their pasts with one another. So I do feel that there is a strong friendship developing already.

What made me rate it 4 stars rather than 5 even though I did really enjoy it and it was fast paced, is purely because I didn't feel the story developed much. I didn't know the ins and outs of Archie's friend/relative dying, I don't know why Inez is being hunted. I think the whole point of this first book is to develop the world and the friendships that he is wanting throughout the series. 

Favourite Character: Archie

Read: 03/04/20 - 05/04/20

4 stars out of 5

Written by Sammie

Check out Sammie's review of book 2: Archibald Lox and the Empress of Saunpan