What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn�t stop. What couldn�t you do if you could make a toy like that?
From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Doctor Leiter and his devilish toys, Mathias finds himself on a quest to uncover a deadly secret.
�The Toymaker� is one of those books that had me wondering why I don�t give Young Adult books more of a chance...very much a book that I would have loved when I was a lot younger and one that I am glad to have discovered now.
Very much a contender for surprise find of the year.
http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com
The Toymaker is beautifully written by Jeremy de Quidt. It's deeply dark and disturbing with touches of the macabre that will scintillate younger and older readers alike. The action is vivid and moves the story forward as much as the quest to find out the secret of the scrap of paper. The ending is a twisty turning thing that had me re-reading it because it took me that much by surprise.
Liz de JegerMy Favourite Books
The Toymaker is wonderfully atmospheric, with a decidedly gothic feel, and an almost tangible sense of mystery and suspense. The locations and settings are imaginative and the characters are believable and deserving of empathy.
www.fantasybookreview.co.uk
Children's books don't come darker or more exciting than Jeremy de Quidt's gothic tale of hidden identities, dangerous secrets and murder most horrid.
With a cast of outrageously evil characters and an atmosphere so chilling that it makes your spine tingle, The Toymaker is a scintillating debut novel.
The Toymaker is an intriguing maze of twists and turns, good and bad, villains and heroes, and Gary Blythe's stunning illustrations, with their almost photographic quality, bring to life de Quidt's cast of incredibly vibrant characters.
A wonderfully scary read that you wouldn't want to miss ... whether you're a child or an adult!
Lancashire Evening Post
This is most certainly for the upper age limit of the 9 � 12 age group, but if you share this story with them they will be enthralled and enchanted, both horrified and uplifted, and you will give them something to both dream about and have nightmares over for a very long time. It is an outstanding work.
MUSE thoughts from Litopia
I highly enjoyed reading this book.
Fantasy Book Critic
An intriguing and atmospheric plot...The story is pacy, exciting and inventive with strong and interesting characters. It's violent in places too, with threats, torture (fingers snapped 'like dry twigs'), and death. The hero, Mathias, seems to be constantly sustaining new and painful injuries. The plot is essentially a race to uncover a secret: a battle between good and evil and shades of grey in-between, but the revelation of the secret is really worth waiting for. This is no MacGuffin, here simply to justify the chase. It is a dark and dirty secret at the very heart of what the story is all about.
The Guardian
The sense of menace is maintained throughout and culminates in a chilling climax. Simply and effectively written and very visual, it all fits together like clockwork.
The Children's Bookseller
Classic tale for long winter nights.
The Bookseller
Fantastic story set in an imaginary world.
School Librarian
This is a world of shadows and terror told with the utmost conviction. A remarkable debut novel.
Enid StephensonCarousel
Although it ends on one of those maddening cliff-hangers now too common in children's fiction, this is beautifully produced, and worth reading aloud to 9+.
Amanda CraigThe Times
The Toymaker is fast paced and beautifully written.
Junior Education Plus
A superb debut!
Achuka
This is a new, strong and distinctive voice. More please.
Books for Keeps
The Toymaker is refreshingly readable with some downright creepy moments...The ending is as dark as the story deserves, though a little sudden; you'll definitely be left wanting more.
SFX
This is an edge of the seat thriller that will stay in the mind long after the book finishes.
Irish Examiner
Toys are given the hearts of sparrows, an exquisitely sinister polygraphic doll, a heart-thumping scary dwarf tracking down his prey through scent are some of de Quidt's brilliant inventions in this tale of a boy being hunted for a secret he has yet to discover.
Sunday Telegraph
This is not a book for the squeamish. There is a great deal of bloodshed, killing and torture and an unexpected ending. It is a difficult book to categorise but should appeal to good readers of 10 plus who enjoy adventure stories.
INIS
The Toymaker is a pacy thriller with just the right amount of intrigue and horror to make the reader want to finish it in one sitting...The Toymaker is a delightfully dark and intriguing children�s adventure that should have younger readers on the edge of their seats and keep them guessing until the last.
Erin Brittonwww.bookgeeks.co.uk
Jeremy de Quidt�s 'The Toymaker' was a surprise read that crept in at the end of the year.
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Jeremy de Quidt
