Black Hole Cinema Club

Lucas and his friends, Finn and Ash, are heading for their local cinema, known as 'The Black Hole', for a state-of-the-art experience movie marathon experience in 4Di- cinema, with another dimension! Armed with plenty of snacks (First rule: bring enough supplies), the boys join their friends, Caitlin and Maya, already there, and sit back to enjoy the film. However, they quickly find themselves launched into a thrilling adventure, propelled from one terrifying situation to another with the fate of the world depending on them.

Black Hole Cinema Club lives up to the inventive, full-on adventures we have come to expect from Christopher Edge. The action is fast-paced and furious, making for a compelling, highly engaging read which it is impossible to put down! Perfect for film lovers, the book itself would make an incredible film and even has its own soundtrack.

The opening brilliantly captures that sense of excitement and anticipation which a trip to the cinema can evoke, as well as giving the reader a glimpse of each character before the action starts. As the lights go down and darkness envelops them, there is no hint of the adventure to follow.

Each personality is so well developed and friendship, loyalty and trust are all tested as the children find themselves facing challenge after challenge, forced to make decisions, take risks and, often, hope for the best as the tension mounts and the story hurtles to its very satisfying conclusion.

Black Hole Cinema Club would make an excellent class read, offering much to enjoy and is sure to tempt children to read more by this engaging author!

256 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+

Have you ever watched a film wishing that you were a part of the action, the hero, the person who saves the town, saves the day, saves the world?  You need wish no more. Welcome to 4Di, the fantastical immersive cinematic technology, technology that (so far) can only be experienced at the Black Hole Cinema Club. 4Di, dear readers and film watchers, is 'immersive, interactive, improved'. It is where you become the star of the screen, the hero of the film, the one who saves the day.

It is an ordinary Saturday and Lucas, Finn, Ash, Caitlin and Maya are off to the Black Hole Cinema to immerse themselves in a back-to-back film marathon. Sat in (almost) their favourite seats, popcorn in hand, they wait in eager anticipation for the brand new 4Di film technology all-day movie marathon. Within seconds of the lights dimming, an overwhelming tsunami of intense jet blackness gushes out of the screen, surrounding them and drawing them into the most immersive experience…ever!

They are thrust at breath taking speed from one terrifying adrenalin-surging adventure into another: adventures that seem so very real, not just 4Di. Through jungles, vast oceans, lost cities, space, the reader will discover whether the young explorers can save the world, or not.

I'm a huge fan of Christopher Edge's children's novels. They are original, exciting, and well crafted, exploring such important themes as friendship, trust, responsibility, and sacrifice. And they are always thought-provoking, inviting readers to question, think and understand. Black Hole Cinema Club is no different. It is a brilliant concept which will hold the reader in its thrall from the opening page to its fantastic conclusion. It will have most readers holding their breath and turning its pages at the speed of light, and most definitely, it will not disappoint.

Once again, Christopher Edge has created a pacy, genre-jumping, mind-bending, thought-provoking, thrilling blockbuster of a read. This is an exciting adventurous read for upper key stage 2 children that will keep them on the edge of the seats right up to the last page…and possibly beyond!

256 pages / Reviewed by Tracy Parvin, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+