Sam EnthovenRezensionen

Though the story seems to start off with Charlie as the main character, we end up seeing through his friend Jack's eyes, who is just along for the ride. The book started off well, but lost momentum midway though, I found The world building was interesting and descriptive enough to hold my attention. The last third in, the story not only picks up but is the best part of the whole book, imho, and winds to a sometimes funny but satisfactory resolution.

This book isn't at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be all dark and serious. Instead it falls somewhere closer to the writing of Terry Brookes or Douglas Adams (minus the sci-fi). It is funny. Yes, yes, the universe is in danger of being snuffed out in one abortive act of finality and everyone is in danger, but the characters (Jack especially) are still able to recognise the absurdity of the situation and let an exasperated explicative slip. Jack's insistence that most things in his life are just 'typical,' even when everything around him is most assuredly not is an effective running gag that made me laugh more than once.

Granted, he's a pretty useless hero. I'll admit that for much of the book I lent toward agreeing with other reviewers who disliked him because of this. Even after hints that he might have finally been given a few extra abilities of his own nothing materialises. He remains totally and utterly normal. But toward the the end I started to suspect this was the point. He is the most powerless individual in all of Hell. He is simply below notice of the movers and shakers of the underworld. But in the end he is also unquestionably the hero. As defenceless as he is (and knows he is) he twice marches into the bowels of Hell to rescues his friends..."and apparently the universe." He willingly offers his life in place of his best friend in order to correct the actions of another and save the world. Such courage is almost superhuman by itself, more so since there is nothing but unassuming backbone to support it.

Esme is just plain awesome. I always love a well-honed warrior and just go gaga over a female one. I suppose I should at least mention Charlie. He's a git. He just is.

I got fairly tired of all of the ridiculous descriptions of the different demons. A whole section of the middle seemed dedicated to this. The story seemed to lag a little, bogged down by one description after another. Similarly there seemed to be a lot of 'great black wings wrapping around them' going on. It seems that one description apparently covers a lot of different sounds. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.

This is a Young Adult book, so I'm the wrong audience.
I found the characters rather simplistic and reactions obvious.
A young ordinary boy has a friend who becomes a chosen one in an age-old battle against an ancient scourge. His friend makes rather unwise choices that Jack is unable to dissuade him from.
Wild kung-fu battles, fights against unstoppable evil and a visit to Hell thrown in.
2 1/2 stars

Convoluted and a little messy, but with enough adventure and gross out scenes that boys will love it and most likely want to read the sequel.

This book was nothing like what I expected, the protagonists are much younger then you would think and the cover is definitely overly serious when compared to the actual text of the book. Yes the book is an apocolyptic hell will take over the world kind of thing, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. With running jokes like (God)frey, the archivist/librarian being our God and double headed tape worms who argue at every meal over who's the mouth and who's the bum, this book is good for a laugh. Don't expect one of those whiney the world is ending and it's all up to me books, cause this isn't it.

This book was nothing like what I expected, the protagonists are much younger then you would think and the cover is definitely overly serious when compared to the actual text of the book. Yes the book is an apocolyptic hell will take over the world kind of thing, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. With running jokes like (God)frey, the archivist/librarian being our God and double headed tape worms who argue at every meal over who's the mouth and who's the bum, this book is good for a laugh. Don't expect one of those whiney the world is ending and it's all up to me books, cause this isn't it.

This book was nothing like what I expected, the protagonists are much younger then you would think and the cover is definitely overly serious when compared to the actual text of the book. Yes the book is an apocolyptic hell will take over the world kind of thing, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. With running jokes like (God)frey, the archivist/librarian being our God and double headed tape worms who argue at every meal over who's the mouth and who's the bum, this book is good for a laugh. Don't expect one of those whiney the world is ending and it's all up to me books, cause this isn't it.

This book was nothing like what I expected, the protagonists are much younger then you would think and the cover is definitely overly serious when compared to the actual text of the book. Yes the book is an apocolyptic hell will take over the world kind of thing, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. With running jokes like (God)frey, the archivist/librarian being our God and double headed tape worms who argue at every meal over who's the mouth and who's the bum, this book is good for a laugh. Don't expect one of those whiney the world is ending and it's all up to me books, cause this isn't it.

This book was amazing. Compliments to Sam Enthoven. I wouldn't recommend this book to beginner readers. This book for me was a bit of a challenge. But, overall It's just an outstanding story.½

Back Tattoo was an okay book. I didnt really like it because it was a challenging read and was such a big book i found myself lost some of the times while i was reading. People who can keep track of the book and can comprehend whats happening would have an easy time reading this book. I though this book was supposed to be about something else so when I read the book it was something completely different. I didnt reallly like this book because its not really what im into reading.

The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven was a thrilling and entertaining book that I could read over and over again enjoying each time. It is about A young boy Charlie and his best friend Jack. They do not fit in very well with people along with the fact that Charlies parents are divorced and he hates his father. They then are sucked into a supernatural adventure where charlie gets "magical" black tattoos going down his back. These then give him supernatural abilities that he uses for bad. This genre of books are very new to me so reading this was a fun experience, but I wish more could have been done with it. What I mean by this is that I feel like the author could have tossed in more characters and important acts by the characters to give this book an over all better feeling.

This book reads as though it is written for young adults, but I would recommend saving it for the older teens in your life. This book would definitely be too scary for the young'uns. This is a classic alien mind control type story, typical for young adult novels, it is so much better written than most. You will experience thrills from beginning to end. And what an ending - very creepy! I recommend this book to anybody over the age of sixteen.½

This book has a lot of supernatural action. Most of my friends would like this, and the characters can relate to some of them too.
4Q, 4P; Cover Art: Awesome!
This book is best suited elementary on up through highschool students.
It was selected due to the cover art and title.
Grade: 9th
AZ-AHS-NC

Schlock Horror! With it's revolting cover, this is one of the more popular books in my school library. The story is your classic zombies attack scenario - group at a large theatre are taken over by a parasitic queen and her drones that attach themselves to the back of your neck and tap into your spinal cord with their probes to do the queen's bidding. A group of school kids escape and barricade themselves in the security camera control room, but perhaps one of their number is actually infected and they don't know.

eh i just wasn't impressed. i've read this same plot in so many other books and enjoy it but this one was a little dull for me. Not enough soul just writing on paper

This was a very boring and long book. All the events were predictable and there was nothing new. I hated this book because it was really cheesy, and the plot was boring as you progress into the book. when I first started out reading this book, i was somewhat hooked, thats why i gave it half a star! =D½

A very good book. detailed and action packed mixed in with fantasy brilliant. Definately a great book to read.

It’s full of demons and the devil. It’s full of adventure and magic. AHS/MHW

I would tell them it's fast paced and lots of action. Q5P4 AHS/Austin Y.

I very much enjoyed this book. Great debut novel for the author. Charlie and Jack are two ordinary best mates, that get sucked into an extraordinary superhero adventure. Charlie is possessed by a demon called the Scourge who offers to make him Emperor of Hell. Jack has to convince Charlie that the demon is really using him to unmake of all Creation. Esme is a girl who has trained her entire life to fight the Scourge, and although she doesn't really get enough facetime she is a great character.

The book was a little long, but well detailed and quite philosophical at times. I really liked that the entity who created our world (as an experiment) was named Godfrey - or "God" for short.

I really recommend this book for those that like YA and superhero stories, with some great martial arts/sword fighting bits thrown in.

Bought for me by Rhinoa, this is not a book that I had come across, nor do I think I would have picked it up. Billed as a book with good vs evil, kung fu and vomiting bats, I was intrigued though more than a little wary.

The Black Tattoo is a highly fantastical tale of friendship, family, epic battles and above all...hell. Jack's best friend Charlie is singled out by a mysterious man in the street and encouraged to take a special test, one that would change his life. After this Test, Charlie finds his body covered in a Black Tattoo, a determination to take up his destiny in the way he chooses with an increased and sometimes violent temper.

Perhaps the most interesting facet of this novel was Enthoven's vision of hell. Not what I expected at all, it managed to embody all the creepiness you would expect from hell, yet with a fair amount of humour. Enthoven's vision certainly is not a typical one, but he manages to maintain the suspense right throughout the book, so even at the end, I was not sure who would prevail.

A highly entertaining if a little odd read!

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Jack Ferrell wishes he would have listened to his instincts, to have made his friend, Charlie, turn away. But since Charlie was already having a bad time, what with his dad leaving, he went along with it.

He met Nick, a guy who just casually asked if the boys wanted to take a test that they supposedly were fit for. Without hesitation, Charlie accepted, making Nick lead them to the beautiful Esme. Turns out Nick is part of a brotherhood that had to look after a demon that was captured, making sure that it didn't escape. Unfortunately, they weren't successful, since one of their members betrayed them and let the demon take over his body.

Which means Charlie and Jack were their new recruits.

Even though Charlie was showing great progress, developing powers, and getting close to defeating the demon, something unexpected happens and he lands himself in Hell.

Jack then finds himself in Hell, too, even though he would rather be somewhere, anywhere else. It is the perfect opportunity to save his friend. At least he has Esme by his side, but can he save Charlie before the demon fully controls him -- or will this be a battle both boys will lose?

THE BLACK TATTOO isn't only creative but also adventurous and gripping. Every page is full of detail, causing the reader to feel like they are on the adventure with Jack, which is a scary thought. Sam Enthoven is in a league of his own, and definitely knows how to create a thriller that would be a blockbuster hit.

Definitely a fun read. I picked it up because I liked the way it sounded and I loved the central idea behind it. Probably the single most original book I've ever read.

It was a little too colloquial and at times tended to veer a little younger than the intended audience but overall a wonderful start from a first time author.

this book was RAD! i love this author. authors from the U.K. are interesting to me i don't know why. i love the different types of monsters and the plot. i heard about this book from a friend she didn't like it so much. but i think that if you are into fantasy and characters like monsters and a boy dropping into hell then i think that you would enjoy this book.

I only discovered this book by chance. When I was in the library picking up my collection of Garth Nix books, this was on display on the shelf above the Teen section so that the cover was visible and as it's such an eye-catching cover, I was intrigued. I thought the blurb sounded quite promising and so I took it home.

It's written in a very casual style which doesn't always work. Sometimes the lack of proper sentence structure would detract from the story and either bring me out of it or occasionally it would make the reading difficult. Having a story written in a casual tone is all well and good provided the reader doesn't have to re-read parts several times in order to work out what the author is going on about! There was also much use made of formatting: demons speech was given in bolded type in a large font size, and towards the end of the book, there were great sections of type in large black font. It was like being shouted at for several minutes and I found reading it quite tiring. Again, it was something that detracted from the story. It seemed to be like set dressing, like the author was making sure that the stage was all nice and pretty so that you didn't realise the actors were dreadful.

The plot was fairly decent and some of it was new but there was so much of it that was copied from other sources that it spoilt it. There were several scenes of supposedly superfast fighting, obviously taken from The Matrix and not in a particularly good style. They were rather done to death in those films and the same went for this book too. The idea of a rift into Hell seemed to be lifted directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as were possibly a lot of the inhabitants. Locating said rift in an ordinary London pub was obviously taken from Harry Potter. I seemed to spend more time spotting other books plot devices than actually reading new stuff.

There are 4 main characters in this book and I found them all to be really flat and 2 dimensional. I didn't especially care about any of them and found most of them to be quite irritating. Jack was marginally a bit better than the others, more rounded and with a little more to him but that doesn't seem to be saying much.

On the whole, a rather disappointing book which is probably why it took me a good two weeks to read. It was really slow and difficult going, even though the story itself isn't all that taxing. It's very much a book that has so much in it that detracts from reading it: the constant text formatting, the blatant copying of other books and TV programmes, the characters that annoyed me... There are some things in it that are promising but on the whole, it's not a great read. I'd advise trying it only if there's nothing better to read and only repeats on TV.