Rock War by Robert Muchamore

There’s nothing like a good Robert Muchamore book, and this is nothing like a good book.

Rock War is Muchamore’s newest work, the first in a new series which concerns – rather unsurprisingly – rock bands. Having already reached number-one-best-seller status with the CHERUB series, Muchamore has set himself high standards: standards that Rock War doesn’t live up to. One could be mistaken for believing that the first two hundred or so pages are merely an introduction, as nothing whatsoever seems to happen. Indeed, the whole book reads like a brief catch-up at the start of another novel. The characters are ill-developed and the story-line is unbelievable and weak. The only redeeming features are the cover, which is nothing short of eye-catching, and a rather entertaining South African rugby coach who provides a welcome diversion from the cumbersome main story in the form of a laugh-out-loud sub-plot. But otherwise this is a slow, boring, slang-filled wait for action, punctuated by long conversations following Muchamore’s typical emphasis on teenage sociality.