I am really pleased to have been invited to participate in the blog tour for the third action-packed book in The Inventory series. The first two stories were gripping so I knew this one would be too – I wasn’t disappointed!
In this newest title, we find the World Consortium recruiting more teen agents to work with them, helping Dev and the team to recover and defend an ever-growing arsenal of ultra high-tech devices. The problem is, that there are plenty criminal organisations who would like to get their hands on it and are prepared to go to nearly any lengths to do so.
After an ancient and long-forgotten artefact is stolen from The Louvre, in Paris, it becomes clear that someone, possible the sinister Shadow Helix organisation, may be planning to use it to trigger a Victorian super-weapon which could change the world as we know it. But somebody else seems equally keen to get their hands on the Black Knight. Someone who knows all about Dev’s past and his team.
The introduction of new team members to this story added another level interest, particularly when it seemed that one of them may be a mole. I also liked the clever use of flashbacks via Dr Liu’s Telepath device to help explain what was happening and give tantalising glimpses into Dev’s past.
Frustratingly, we don’t get to find out what secrets are lurking behind the hidden door to The Black Zone. Secrets about Dev’s past and his future. I guess we’ll have to wait for book four…
In the meantime, we are very lucky to have the ponderings of Mr Andy Briggs on what he would be doing if he wasn’t an author…
If I weren’t an author I’d be…
A question I often get asked during school tours, and have been asked on this very blog, is what I would do if I wasn’t an author. Well, I’d probably be asking if you’d want fries with that…
I blame creativity.
Growing up offered a plethora of opportunities for future Andy Briggs. The space shuttle first launched when I was in school, offering numerous astronaut positions when I grew up. You could play Frogger on a com-put-er. The excitement of the unexplored Amazon or Congo also beckoned. The future was limitless!
Sadly, when these opportunities didn’t readily materialise as heady career opportunities – (my school careers consultant said I was destined be a fencer. Not somebody who fought with swords, but the guy who literally put up your garden fence. True story) – I ended up in the glamorous world of call centres. What a joy that wasn’t. That crazy adventure was rapidly followed by a stint as a teacher and running my own media empire.
One thing was clear. I was terrible at them all.
To be fair, the world around me was not quite living up to the promise it once did. Sure, it’s great to escape in a good book – something I did, and still regularly do. But I didn’t want to be just a passive participant in that story (I was raised on Fighting Fantasy choose your own adventure books), so before burger flipping became a viable career choice, I thought I’d do something about it.
Luckily, I had been writing since leaving school so I decided to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and start a little world creation. That is the marvellous thing about writing, you not only get to create every detail and character, you also get to be as surprised as your readers when those plot twists suddenly occur. It’s as close as you can get to exploring an undiscovered world and living those childhood dreams which would otherwise sadly go unfulfilled. I don’t write for children, I write for the optimistic me in school.
On the plus side, as an adult I got to go to the Amazon and Congo so it’s not all bad. Writing can make those adventures come true after all. I suppose that means space travel still awaits!
www.andybriggs.co.uk @abriggswriter
So there’s proof that you should never give up on your childhood dreams or believe you can only do what people tell you, you can do.
If you’d like to find out more about the first book in the series,’The Inventory: Iron Fist,’ and an exclusive question and answer session with the author, Andy Briggs, then click HERE.
To read about the second title, ‘The Inventory: Gravity,’ click HERE.
Keep away from those Tunnel-Bikes!
Library Girl.
*Many thanks to Scholastic for sending me this copy to review*
