Man vs Beast
From Chiki
 | |
| Also Called | MvB |
|---|---|
| Released | October 2006 (UK) |
| Pages | 298 |
| ISBN | 0-340-91169-7 |
| Preceded by | Divine Madness |
| Followed by | The Fall |
| Sample Chapters: | [1] |
CHERUB: Man vs Beast is the sixth book in the CHERUB series, released in October 2006. It centers around the controversial issue of animal testing, with James, Lauren and Kyle infiltrating a radical animal-rights groups.
Robert Muchamore takes a wild leap with this book. Not only is the plot and story line another marvelous piece of work, his style of writing and ability to write has gone beyond his original limitations. One can't argue that this book doesn't flow better than the others, nor that it doesn't pwn.
Contents |
Plot
Lauren blackmails James into helping her and Bethany sneak into the training compound to give Rat and Jake pick-me-up packages. Everything goes to plan, but when James gets back to his room he gets a call from Mac, who had seen everything on the backup CCTV cameras. When Mac sees the three, he reveals staff had discovered details on the plot in Lauren's room and a map of the training compound. James is let off with a warning, but Lauren and Bethany get four hundred punishment laps.
After Lauren goes to apologise to James, he tells her he has a mission coming up with Kyle, who has recently recieved his black shirt. Ther mission is the infiltrate the AFM, with help from veteran animal activist Ryan Quinn. James forgives Lauren and invites her to help.
Kyle befriends two hardcore animal libertationists, Tom and Viv Carter, and even gets off with Tom. Lauren, while not making much progress, befriends Quinn and helps him rescue beagle puppies from a breeding kennel. Lauren adopts one, which she names Meatball.
After Viv decides to leave Quinn's activist group, the Zebra Alliance, James, Kyle, Tom and Viv are contacted by a mysterious woman named Jo, who has heard they want to join the AFM. The AFM has renamed itself the Animal Freedom Army, and recruit the four to torch a carpark used by a company which ships animal to laboratories. Viv gets ill and is unable to help, but the other three are successful and are recruited to help with the biggest animal libertationist stunt yet: kidnap celebrity chef Nick Cobb and force-feed him sink cleaner, all the while televising the attack.
The kidnapping goes to plan and Cobb starts to succumb from haemorraging, but James and Kyle manage to incapicitate the libertationists and take Cobb to hospital. When Lauren discovers that she will soon be returning to campus, she tells Quinn she has decided to become vegetarian, and gives Meatball to the Askers.
Quotes
- "What was that, penis head?"
- James
- "Goat shaggers."
- Viv
- "What, you're gonna shoot me for urinating?"
- Viv
- Viv
Toenail Proof Copy Incident
Lord of the Toenails claimed that he had reciveced a proof copy of Man vs Beast. Most forum members didn't believe him for a second, and demanded a high qualitiy scan to prove its authenticity, something which Toenails did not provide. He also claimed that the title of the third chapter was "Endurance", which he later controdicted.
Early Release
Despite the book's intended release date for October 2006, forum members have discovered that the book was on sale in Hong Kong as early as August 2006. Rob commented on the issue, saying:
- "In an ideal world, the book would be released everywhere at the same time. In a reasonable world, a big publisher should be able to ensure that a book comes out at roughly the same time everywhere. Coming out over two months early is unacceptable IMO. I'm really annoyed about it. It disrespects my most loyal fans and leaves me looking stupid. All I can do is apologise. Hodder won't apologise because they say that this is perfectly normal."
The Borders and Books etc. Incident
Rob announced on the forums:
- "Apparently, on Friday the twenty-fifth of August, Hodder accidentally released 345 copies of Man vs Beast to twenty-five branches of Borders and Books etc. This was a mistake and there should be no more copies released until October."
So far, the only three known to have received the stock are the "Borders" at the Trafford Centre, Victoria Place, London and Solihull.
