2021 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel (nominee)
A Monster Calls meets The Shining in this haunting YA dark fantasy about a monster that breaks free from a story into the real world.
Sean hasn’t spoken a word since he was put into care. When he is sent to live with his grandad, a retired author and total stranger, Sean suddenly finds himself living an affluent life, nothing like the estate he grew up in, where gangs run the streets and violence is around every corner.
Sean embraces a new world of drawing, sculpting and reading his grandad’s stories. But his grandad has secrets in his past. As his grandad retreats to the shed, buried at the end of his treasured garden, The Baku emerges.
The Baku is ancient, a creature that feeds on our fears, and it corrupts everything it touches. Plagued by nightmares, with darkness spreading through the house, Sean must confront his fears to free himself and his grandad from the grip of the Baku.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Sean hasn’t spoken a word since he was put into care. When he is sent to live with his grandad, a retired author and total stranger, Sean suddenly finds himself living an affluent life, nothing like the estate he grew up in, where gangs run the streets and violence is around every corner.
Sean embraces a new world of drawing, sculpting and reading his grandad’s stories. But his grandad has secrets in his past. As his grandad retreats to the shed, buried at the end of his treasured garden, The Baku emerges.
The Baku is ancient, a creature that feeds on our fears, and it corrupts everything it touches. Plagued by nightmares, with darkness spreading through the house, Sean must confront his fears to free himself and his grandad from the grip of the Baku.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Praise for this book
"Eerie, tense and relentlessly inventive, The Book of the Baku haunts and delights in equal measure." - J S Barnes
"An engrossing read about a mythical creature that devours nightmares... but they sometimes come back to haunt you. An inventive use of Japanese lore with a few surprises in store for the reader." - A J Elwood
"The Book of the Baku quickly hooks the reader with its compelling protagonist: a boy without a voice, caught in a web of dark mysteries stretching into his past and future. R.L. Boyle paints a convincing portrait of a teenager growing up special in an indifferent world full of flawed adults, and also reminds us of the importance of the stories we tell, not just to others, but to ourselves. A dark tale with a big heart, and a masterful debut." - Shaun Hamill
"An engrossing read about a mythical creature that devours nightmares... but they sometimes come back to haunt you. An inventive use of Japanese lore with a few surprises in store for the reader." - A J Elwood
"The Book of the Baku quickly hooks the reader with its compelling protagonist: a boy without a voice, caught in a web of dark mysteries stretching into his past and future. R.L. Boyle paints a convincing portrait of a teenager growing up special in an indifferent world full of flawed adults, and also reminds us of the importance of the stories we tell, not just to others, but to ourselves. A dark tale with a big heart, and a masterful debut." - Shaun Hamill
Used availability for R L Boyle's The Book of the Baku