Savannah Grey

by Cliff McNish

Overview

A monster's out there... Only one girl can stop it. But will love get in the way?
 
It's a difficult time for fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey - she's settled into her latest foster placement, but her body is acting oddly.
Then other strange things begin to happen. Birds behave erratically; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. 
And Savannah discovers she has supernatural powers.
Only new boy Reece Gandolfo thinks Savannah's powers are a special gift. No wonder she's attracted to him. But there's another force that wants to lure Savannah from safety into danger...

Nominated for the 2011 Carnegie Medal

Reviews
'It's beautifully written; rhythmic, lyrical ... the prose resonates, blending with its themes to stunning effect. And it's genuinely creepy too ... I made the final page after an evening's breathless reading, and put down the book with a real sense of regret that it was all over.' The Book Bag

'Inventive and menacing ... the novel’s strengths are its clear, unclichéd prose and its power to evoke creepy events without descending into a mere gorefest. It offers a forceful frisson and yet, unlike some books in this genre, it is possible to finish reading it without feeling sullied.'  Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times

'An excellent horror story ... The Ocrassa is an alien which ranks with any of H.P.Lovecraft's monsters.' School Librarian

'It’s remarkably good ... What’s more, the intelligent, tortured Nyktomorph and its child, the ugly, ballet-dancing Horror, are two of the best villain’s henchthings in any recent fantasy ... This is head and shoulders above most other teenage fantasies.' SFX

'This is the strangest eco-warrior story I have ever read and also the most poignant. Savannah Grey is good, solid writing, with characters that sizzle and baddies that pray for a hero to come along and save the day ...' Liz de Jager, SFRevu

'A horror/sci-fi/romance that even the most reluctant reader will be hard pressed to ignore ... it works incredibly well ... it's like opening the door to a breath of fresh air.'  Wondrous Reads

'This is a highly original take on a good versus evil horror story, with a touch of romance. The heroine of the story, Savannah, is a brave and intelligent girl with a mind of her own, but the creepy and brilliantly drawn Horror and Nyktomorph are the monstrous stars of this book.' Write Away

'Cliff McNish has a poetic lilt and literary charm not always seen in the horror genre. Once started, it's a difficult book to put down.' Carousel

'Haunting and powerful prose. What we have here is a genuinely creepy horror story, with elements of science fiction, fantasy and romance, but don't worry boys, although the romance plays an important part in the plot, it is by no means the principle theme — this honour most definitely belongs to the horror.'
The Book Zone

'Almost poetic at times. Add to this a cracking story arc, a wonderful understanding of prose and a tale that’s fascinating from the multiple viewpoints and it’s a tale that I think is perhaps McNish’s best to date.'  Falcatta Times

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154549827
Publisher:	Cliff McNish
Publication date:	09/13/2017
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	704 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

I was born in Sunderland, a city in the north-east of England.
I don’t recall too much about my first 8 years of life other than I loved being outdoors especially in the woods near our house. I came home every night covered in scratches.
My first real book memory is being given C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew by my English teacher, Mrs Baldwin. I loved that, and all the other Narnia books.

So how did I become an author?
As a parent I was used to making up short and funny stories for my daughter, Rachel. When she was about ten, however, she wanted a story about a really, really nasty witch. This time I put pen to paper and what started off as a tiny scrap of an idea got bigger and bigger and BIGGER. It became The Doomspell.
After I finished it, I continued my love affair with fantasy by creating The Silver Sequence which I still think is probably my best and definitely my most original work. Following that, I tried to scare everyone half to death with a couple of ghost novels – Breathe and The Hunting Ground.
 
I could tell you more about myself, but the truth is that perhaps the biggest gift we can give anyone is our imagination and everything important I have to offer you about that is in the novels.

Editorial Reviews

Fifteen-year-old Savannah has bounced around among foster parents all her life and is plagued by constant uneasiness (and, lately, a sore throat). When Savannah meets the mysterious Reece, she soon discovers that there's more to her—and to her throat—than she realized. Savannah has superhuman strength, speed, and healing abilities, but even more powerful is the bansheelike stream of sounds that project from strange growths in her throat, which click and "billow" of their own accord and lash out destructively when threatened. Savannah's first-person narration alternates with a third-person history of the monsters she has been designed to destroy. McLish (Angel) has his horror movie–ready details and twists down pat, but he's most interested in his monsters—the story's most complex and intriguing characters—from the Horror, gruesome yet childlike, to the Ocrassa, which has used the animal kingdom like a smorgasbord, picking useful traits to become the planet's most dominant creature. Savannah, Reece, and the other humans feel like exactly what they are: pawns in an eons-old battle, as nature itself attempts to root out the ultimate invasive species. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"McNish has a gift for portraying characters undergoing disturbing transformations to battle ancient evils. Savannah Grey's throat is perpetually sore, and her sudden protective urges mean she can't get close to anyone. Worse, her throat makes weird noises sometimes: clicks and music. Then Savannah meets Reece, who's experiencing the same things. They discover strange growths in their throats; while Reece’s aren’t functional, Savannah’s are capable of producing powerful, unearthly sounds, a sonic weapon nature designed to fight the invading Ocrassa. Narration alternates between Savannah and the Lovecraftian monsters hunting her, building the tension between them and giving the monsters an unexpectedly intriguing story. Savannah's transformation is fascinating, though like any truly surreal idea, readers who can't immediately suspend disbelief might find it silly. The love story between Savannah and Reece provides a nice foil to the tension and gives weight to a surprising plot twist. A shockingly abrupt ending will leave readers reeling, but lovers of weird horror should enjoy it regardless." —Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 7 Up—Savannah Grey's throat has felt very strange for a long time. Her foster mother tells her that she's been making unusual sounds in her sleep—squeaks, clicks, even an odd liquid sound. Things might be looking up for her, though, because her friend Nina has a boy that Savannah just has to meet. Reece is different from other boys her age and he, too, has something wrong with his throat. During a hospital visit, Savannah suddenly has on overwhelming desire to protect her throat, striking out at the doctor and then fleeing the building. With the aid of Nina and her phone's camera, she finds brown lumps and yellow stripes in her throat. She feels certain that these unusual structures are a sonic weapon meant to keep her safe from a monster that is lurking nearby. She has, in fact, already been visited by a monster with a doglike body but star-shaped head. To top that off, the Horror has donned a blonde wig and yellow dress and attempts to confine its movements to those of ballet. Interspersed with the chapters focusing on Savannah, her struggle to understand her new powers, and her growing relationship with Reece are others that focus on the real villain, the Ocrassa, a creature alien to Earth that has evolved over time to be a nearly perfect killing machine. While McNish writes action well, he just doesn't sell the weird throat-as-weapon concept. Neither weird noises as weapons nor ballet-loving, star-headed dog monsters are convincing.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

School Library Journal

Fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey discovers that she can bench press 725 pounds, outrun anyone in her school and has a mysterious growth in her throat that instills a killing power. At first Savannah is confused and frightened by her powers, but then she meets Reece, a boy with a similar condition of the larynx, who tells her who she is and what she's meant to do. Together the two wage a battle against a cadre of ill-named, Scooby-Doo–esque buffoons/beasts (the Horror! the Nyktomorph!) in order to save themselves and the world. McNish's latest is chock-full of clunky plotting, cheesy one-liners and hokey supernatural nuances. If teen readers can make it past the first chapter, in which a slobbering, toothy monster—aka The Horror—sneaks into Savannah's room to spy on her, without laughing out loud, then they might make it far enough to discover the back story behind these foolish monsters. The tale struggles with audience: While the theme and the action sequences seem to suggest that the work is written for teens, the tone, dialogue and descriptive passages lack edge and read as if they were written for middle graders. The supernatural theme could pique the interests of reluctant readers, but they really deserve more than this work could ever offer. (Horror. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews