Blog Tour Review - Bad Grains by Susanne Schmidt

 Blog Tour Review - Bad Grains by Susanne Schmidt

In the quaint German town of Fels, Halloween takes a dark turn for eleven-year-old Jo when her annoying older brother, Hektor, goes missing. Jo suspects he's playing a prank, but then both her father and grandma forget Hektor's name, and his stuff mysteriously disappears from his room.

With the adults of no help whatsoever, Jo starts her own investigation and uncovers a gruesome legend: A monster lives in the rye fields and it has been preying on the children of Fels for centuries, ensnaring them into its world under the roots. Now Jo will have two days until the gates between worlds closes on Halloween night.

Armed with a trusty turnip lantern, and her brother's obnoxious best friend as her only ally, can Jo outsmart the ancient monster, or will the rye fields claim even more innocent victims?
Join Jo an experience a spine-chilling adventure that combines the darkness of German folklore with the magic of spooky season.

I never got to read Bad Grains during the scoring stages of the BBNYAs, so I was really interested in picking it up for a blog tour afterwards.

It's a really interesting little book. It tells a familiar story, one in which a creature from the fairy realms steals away a child from our world, and their sibling has to go into fairy to rescue them. But it tells this story well, with its own spin on it that definitely had me hooked.

One interesting shift from the familiar tales is that this time it's a younger sibling who has to be the hero of the tale and go to rescue her brother. Jo is an excellent protagonist, with an appealing combination of being scared and being brave. After her brother Hector goes missing, everyone else forgets about him. It's as if he's been erased from existence, leaving just her and his best friend aware that anything is amiss. 

The setting is also really interesting. It's set in Bavaria, giving us a different type of folklore to what we're more used to here in England, and I really enjoyed that. There's a useful glossary too, telling a little more about some of the creatures encountered. The story is really infused with a uniquely Bavarian flavour that really helps it to stand out.

The supporting characters are often really good too. The Order of the Strawberry Circle is a great device for learning more about what's going on, and I loved that this ancient society is put on a par with a lot of other local community groups rather than being something big and mystical, it really gave it a down-to-earth feel. Jo's grandmother is also one of my favourite characters. I wasn't so keen on Hector, who spent most of the town grimacing and being decidedly unhappy about being rescued, and his two friends weren't particularly well brought to life. Daniel is more fleshed out, and is another character with interesting contradictions. 

One element I loved is the hints that there's something bigger, and nastier, coming. The dilemma this creates is quite delicious and I'll be looking for further books in the series to see what repercussions are coming.

Bad Grains is a fun and interesting take on folk horror with a fascinating setting.

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Bad Grains by Susanne Schmidt is out now. I was given a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review and participation in this The Write Reads Blog Tour.