Book Review: Silver by Chris Wooding

Silver
Chris Wooding
Scholastic Press, March 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-60392-8
Hardcover

Take a boy who is already feeling emotional isolation and drop him into a private school in a remote English countryside, add monsters,  conflicted friendships, a bully and mix well.

This is the situation Paul finds himself in. His parents vanished in a South American plane crash and his aunt and uncle never wanted kids, so he’s felt the double sting of loss and rejection. He’s been polite and friendly at Mortingham Boarding school and has a crush on popular, athletic Erika, but she’s not interested. Caitlyn, however has it bad for Paul and, as the fourth of a group of sisters, has always felt less than in everything. Erika thinks Caitlyn is her best friend, but the opposite is true, although well hidden. Adam is big and a bully because he’s secretly afraid that any sign of weakness will cost him dearly. Quiet, very intelligent Mark realizes he’s outgrown the nerd clique and wants new friends, but has no clue how to do so.

When most of the kids have gone home for the weekend,  those remaining come under siege. It starts innocently enough with the discovery of an odd and very large beetle by the campus pond. Adam intimidates the boys who found it and after it’s dropped, he steps on it. Paul retrieves the crushed insect and takes it to their science teacher who shows the class that this bug is really different. Under a microscope, it looks like it has transistors and silver wires integrated into its body.

Kids go looking for more of the odd creatures and the fun begins. A boy is bitten and hordes of the beetles start after the now terrified students. When kids and faculty members who have been scratched or bitten begin morphing into glowing-eyed,  silvery monsters, those students remaining must put aside petty things and join together or die. They’re trapped in the science building and every time they come up with a defense, the monsters quickly adapt.

What ensues is fast-paced and creepy-scary,  typical Chris Wooding fare. He’s able to take a small part of the world and spin it into something frightening and complex. He does it again in Silver. You’ll want to set aside sufficient time to read it in one sitting because you won’t want to put it down.

Reviewed by John R. Clark, MLIS, February 2016.