LitPick Review
Tom Tin is a convict. And so are all the other passengers on the boat taking them to Australia where they will be shackled for the rest of thier lives. Tom also has another problem. His own dad is the unwilling captain! As the boat rounds the Cape of Good Hope, Tom and his blinded friend Midgely create an idea formed by their knowlege of 'The Cannibal Islands' that they learned in a book. Hatching a plan to escape with the captain's help, the kid's plans are thrown out of whack when other convicts unleash their own plan to get free. Now with a headstrong convict thinking he's the captain steering them off course, the boat heads toward the first sign of land the 'captain' sees. Now Tom has to get off this unknown island and venture into the Cannibal Islands to meet his dad! The Cannibal Islands are full of danger, as Tom will quickly find out. Cannibals, headhunters, and pirates fill the islands and Tom will have to survive them all if he wants to meet up with his father. Will he survive? Read The Cannibals by Iain Lawrence and find out.
Opinion:
The Cannibals by Iain Lawrence is a sequel to The Convicts which is a story also focused around Tom Tin. Although being a sequel, The Cannibals is easy to understand without first reading The Convicts. But by reading The Cannibals, I will definitely have to read The Convicts. Lawrence writes excellent novels. I love how much he looked into geography books to write this. By using real landforms like the Cape of Good Hope, and cities in England like Devon, it gave the story a realistic feel. Lawrence's great use of vivid verbs like shinnied and stormed also kept me involved. After almost all dialog he uses a great speaker tag, including gasped, grunted, scoffed, and cried. Lawrence's amazing description of his characters made them come to life. He explains Tom's dad as, "his face was sunburnt and bright, wrinkled round the eyes into a never-ending smile." I can picture him exactly in my head! This book's only problem to me was how hard it was to get into it at first (it takes about 20-35 pages at best), but other than that this book will always keep you on the edge of your seat.
