The Bad Tuesdays: Blood Alchemy

This third instalment continues the grim and often violent story of Chess Tuesday and her brothers Box and Splinter, all up against the Twisted Symmetry, the name given to the cruel dictatorship operating somewhere out in space in a terrifying, dystopian future. With the first two titles recently re-issued with new covers, it seems that Benjamin Myers has managed to reach out to teenage readers in a way many other authors would envy. But while admiring the fertility of his imagination and the force of his writing, too many clichés and examples of hurried writing work against making these novels truly satisfying.