Pure dead wicked by Debi GlioriPure fun. Probably aimed at about 10-year olds – and those older who can enjoy the light touch. It is the second one in a series, but each can be read separately. The stories concern a very eccentric Strega-Borgia family, living in an ancient run-down castle StregaSchloss in Scotland. In this adventure the family home is threatened by demolition. The roof is collapsing. The family moves into the local hotel over Christmas time while repairs are to be done. Unfortunately the builders are corrupt – Hugh Pylum Haight’s plan is to destroy the house to the extent that the family will be forced to sell it so that he can then build new developments on the site. He is in cahoots with a lazy pair of estate-developers – Vinnie and Vadette. Some of the highlights are: Damp accidentally changing Titus’ clone programme; the dragon-teeth soldiers; the beasts’ escape from the hotel quarters; Ffup discovering she’s a female dragon; and of course the great denouement... Let me rather give you a summary of the characters:Signor Luciano Strega-Borgia: father of the household. Attempting to keep the house together.Signora Baci Strega-Borgia: apprentice witch. Very touchy about comments on her spells working (or not)Titus: 12-year old hero, computer besotted. Attempts to create clones using a rotten geese carcass and some other unmentionables. Plan goes rather not as planned.Pandora: 10-year old heroine. She has some unconventional pets who need rescuing from Strega-Borgia. Saves various sticky situationsDamp: 18 month old sister. Causes unwitting trouble, esp. when, well, damp.Strega-Nonna: great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother cryogenically preserved in the freezer, occasionally appearing to save the day.Mrs Flora McLachlan: nanny, the good help that was hard to find. generally appearing with wonderful baking and hardly anyone (esp. not Signora Baci) noticing her magic.Latch – the butler. drinks a bit too much whiskey on occasion.Sab, Ffup and Knot – mythical beasts living in the Schloss dungeon (dragon, gryphon, yeti)Tock – crocodile living in the Schloss moat, a vegetarian (though when faced with possibility of surviving on the wild road he realised it would be rude to refuse food offered to him by his companions on the basis of it being a lamb)Tarantella: one of Pandora’s pets – a spider with lipstick and attitudeMultitudina: another of the pets: rat, mother to multitudes
just when the Strega-Borgia think its safe to relax in their ancestral castle.... it isn't. first their roof collapses, forcing them into the Auchenlochtermunchty Arms- the local hotel that will accommodate three mystical beasts and a crocodile. then Titus accidentally creates five hundred tiny naked pink clones. but thats not all. There are also a few evil contractors plotting to destroy their home. Perhaps the miniature kilted warriors arising from the spilled magic potion can help....i really liked the book it was a total page turner and just when you think there is going to be a slow part it gets so exciting i would recomend this book to people who like twists and turns and never would have put it together.
