The Boys From Manchester review Ó 3

review The Boys From Manchester

The Boys From Manchester review Ó 3 Å Daniel and Brandon appear to be a couple of average teens who like to read comic books make movies with their camera skate outside the local video shop with friends and even play an elaborate version of hide and seek on the sprawling grounds of the botanical gardens after darkBut these two boys from ManchestEy met on their first day of school in the States they share not only an unbreakable bond but a secret destiny as well a destiny that is triggered as if by the hand of fate itself when all American jock and fellow classmate Cody is drawn into their circle And as the fragile facade of boyhood innocence begins to crumble a slumbering darkness stirs to fulfill a prophe. When I first sat down to write The Boys From Manchester I had no idea how far the seeds of the story would grow My initial vision was uite simple an intimate tale of two boys each born with a uniue gift — one who shall control all the lakes and seas while the other holds sway over the sky But at the same time I didn’t want to get caught up in the myriad trappings of grandeur that usually come as part and parcel of stories about people who possess supernatural abilities I was determined to keep it as simple and realistic as possible In short I wanted this story to be about the boys not their special powers As planned the story would be narrated by its 15 year old protagonist a uiet and vigilant lad from North West England who as we learn in the book’s Prelude possesses the ability to control water With this style of narrative I would certainly have no problem conveying the coming of age story But then there was also the back story which would focus on the narrator’s dad as a teenager — an absolute necessity for the success of the story I had decided early on that I would not break from the first person narrative to tell this separate yet critically important part of the story Instead I would simply allow my intuitive teenage narrator to tell the tangential tales of the past as if he were a fly on the wall in that time before he was born It seemed a reasonable approach to take considering that in addition to his ability to manipulate water he also possesses the gift of being able to look into the eyes of another and ‘see’ what that person has seenFrom there the idea of interweaving past and present events only seemed like a natural device — or at least as natural as any device could ever be And with this in mind I deliberately constructed the story like a puzzle in which the chapters particularly those covering past events could be viewed as a series of vignettes whole and complete unto themselves while at the same time adding to the larger picture as their respective pieces fall into placeeffectively setting the stage for the inevitable action packed finale Or to paraphrase that age old axiom of the theatre If superpowers appear in the first act it's a safe bet that somebody will use them in the third act That said of course I suppose some will lament ‘But you took too long to get to the cake’ To which I can only reply ‘The story of the boys is the cake — all that action in the latter part of the book is merely the icing’ Of course by this I don’t mean to downplay the action in this book for it is both critical and necessary to the development of the story And let’s face it you simply cannot have all that buildup without a sweet payoff at the end — that would be like closing a meal without dessertor serving up a slice of cake without any icingBut still at its heart The Boys From Manchester is a coming of age story about welltwo boys from Manchester And in the end I hope the message that I have conveyed is far greater than ‘See how cool it would be to have super powers kids’ I hope that discerning readers will discover the truth inside the fiction — the analogy between possessing uniue powers and being uniuely different I hope that both gay and straight teen readers will see the reflection of their own possibility in Daniel and Brandon those 'uniuely different' boys from Manchester whose commitment to one another transcends not only our often narrow notion of what it is to love and be loved but also what it takes to be a real superheroThis book is intended for readers 15It contains Language sexual situations both M M an