Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher

Stoneheart, the first book in the Stoneheart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher features a cast of three main characters. George, a 12 year old boy, has a hard home life. His father died in a car accident, his mother is a self-absorbed actress who is physically and emotionally absent most of the time, and he’s a social outcast at school. When he gets unfairly blamed for an accident on a school field trip, he lashes out by breaking the head off a stone dragon carved on the outside of the museum. And then the pterodactyl carved next to the dragon comes to life and starts chasing him.

George has dropped into UnLondon, and into the middle of an ongoing war between the taints — the statues of gargoyles and monsters and such — and the spits — the human statues — that dot London. Joined in... Read More

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher

Charlie Fletcher, previously best known for his Middle Grade STONEHEART trilogy, makes his adult debut with The Oversight, the first book in his OVERSIGHT trilogy. I listened to Hachette Audio’s version read by the illustrious Simon Prebble, an Audie-winning narrator who always brings out the best in the books he reads.

The story is set in a supernatural Victorian London where five gifted people who call themselves The Oversight attempt to protect the world from the paranormal baddies that live in another dimension and are trying to break through. The Oversight used to be a much larger group, but sometime in the past they were decimated by an event that is related to us bit by bit throughout the story. As long as there are at least five people (a “hand”) left, the border between worlds will stand, but the group is now so... Read More

The Paradox by Charlie Fletcher

The Paradox (2015) is the second book in Charlie Fletcher’s OVERSIGHT trilogy. I loved the audiobook version of the first book, The Oversight, when I read it four years ago. Despite its crawling pace, I loved it for its grungy Victorian setting. The audiobook narration by Simon Prebble, an award-winning superstar of the audio world, was so spectacular that I titled my review “One of the best audiobooks I’ve read this year” and I said that I’d be picking up The Paradox as soon as it was available.

But, alas, when The Paradox came out a year... Read More

The Remnant by Charlie Fletcher

“No more hope. No more heroes.”

The Remnant (2017) is the third and final book in Charlie Fletcher’s OVERSIGHT trilogy. You need to read the first two books, The Oversight and The Paradox, before opening this one, or you’ll be hopelessly lost. I’ll assume you have since I won’t be able to avoid some spoilers for the previous books in this review.

The Oversight is still struggling to maintain the balance between the old and new worlds. Its headquarters has been destroyed and its few remaining members are scattered across the world. Cait (a new charact... Read More

A Boy and His Dog at the end of the World by C.A. Fletcher

A Boy and His Dog at the end of the World (2019), by C.A. Fletcher (aka Charlie Fletcher) bears no small resemblance to Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, which, it turns out, is not a bad thing. Both are quiet, elegiac stories set in a post-apocalyptic world and focused on a main character who sets out with his faithful dog on a journey that becomes less about finding what is sought and more about learning about oneself. Both had me unsure at the start if I’d finish, and both won me over, though Fletcher somewhat less fully than Heller. If you’re looking for a typical post-apocalyptic story with c... Read More