The Word Cubby reviewed my latest release, Archibald Lox and the Forgotten Crypt (book 4 of the series) and noted in their summation: "Two days after reading this installment, I am still smiling and eager for more."

I think that's how every writer loves to leave their readers -- grinning and wanting more!! :-)

The reviewer also noted the following during the course of the review: "There are so many questions swirling in my head after reading this installment that I can’t wait to read the next books to see if they get answered. Things happen in this book that only Family can do, yet Archie is not Family. An apprentice locksmith once again outpicks the greatest Lox in Sapphire. Oh, so many questions swirling, and all I can say without giving anything away is to ask if Archibald is really who he thinks he is?"

Heh heh heh!!! Fans of my previous series are well aware that I like to weave convoluted plots, and come up with convoluted characters, where nothing is quite as simple as it might at first appear. There can be a throwaway line in book 1 of a series, which comes to have huge significance in book 5 or 7 or 9. Sometimes what looks like a mildly amusing side-story can buckle and twist and become a key, driving part of the overall plot. A character who doesn't seem to be that relevant when first introduced can out of the blue transform into one of the most important cast members.

Archie probably seemed a bit overly straightforward in the Volume 1 books, a nice guy, with a talent for picking locks, but not the brightest spark in the fireworks box. Well-meaning, and brave of heart, but nothing more than a rather one-dimensional hero. It's not unusual for main characters to be a bit on the likeable but dull side, and for other characters in the stories to be the complicated, challenging ones. Since you're asking your readers to identify with your main guy or gal, it's not a bad idea to make him or her an easy character to get on with, to in essence cast tham as an avatar that the readers don't have to think too much about, a skin that they can slip into, eyes that they can see out of, their bit of normal in a world of weirdness and wonders.

Not a bad idea at all... but it's an idea that I set out to subvert with these books, as I've done in some of my other main series. The thing is, with those series, the subversion was often quite up front and open -- we could tell that B Smith had issues right from the get-go. There was nothing "everyday" about Grubbs Grady when we first met him. But Archibald Lox... he seemed like a quiet, modest, uncomplicated kind of guy, right? And he is... but also he isn't. As The Word Cubby and other reviewers have noted after reading book 4, there seems to be more to Archie than at first met the eye, and this series is as much about Archie working himself out as it is about Archie going on adventures and picking locks and trying to stop the villains from winning.

There were some subtle hints in the first Volume books that things are going on with Archie that even he isn't aware of, but it's in this Volume that he really starts to realise that there's something seriously different about himself, and to wonder at what that might be, and why. There won't be any immediate breakthroughs -- we're not going to get to see the full picture until book 9 next year -- but I'm going to be dropping little hints and clues and pieces of the puzzle all the way along the line, basically challenging the more eagle-eyed readers among you to see how much of the picture YOU can put together before I lay out my stall completely in the final book. I doubt anyone will hit the nail square on the head -- I've been even more devious than usual with my construtcion of Archie! -- but it will be interesting to see how close some can come with their theories...

To read the full Word Cubby review, click here: https://thewordcubby.com/review-archibald-lox-and-the-forgotten-crypt/

And to find out more about the book, and where you can buy it (or the first three, if you haven't yet started the series -- the eBooks are currently on sale at a big discount) click here: https://darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly