A sensitive boy who frequents graveyards. Who sees the spirits of the recently departed. Who displays extraordinary artistic gifts. Who finds it hard to make friends when he starts a new school. And a boy whose father has mysteriously disappeared and a mother who is seriously ill. In other words, a youngster who fulfils many of the prime requirements for the outsider protagonist of a novel. This is Ben Harvester, who is drawn into a world of ghosts and demons and, in the process, discovers the latent abilities he has arising out of that sensitivity, a sensitivity that encompasses both his artistic gifts and his concern for those less well off than himself.

Through a rather odd stranger, Mr October — whose name conjures up that witching period of Halloween or Samhain, with its feasts of the dead — Ben is introduced to the secret Ministry of Pandemonium. As you might expect from a word coined by Milton for Paradise Lost, this synonym for disorder and chaos simply means “all the demons”. It transpires that the Ministry’s job is to locate lost souls and open the door to another world for them before demons gets to them — no easy task given the magnitude of the task. Will Ben manage to put off his inquisitive new friend Becky Sanborne before she discovers his unlikely calling? And what is the secret of his mother’s exhaustion and the explanation for his father’s disappearance?

Ministry of Pandemonium is set in a modern London with a supernatural underground familiar from China Miéville’s Kraken and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. The boy who haunts cemeteries recalls Bod from Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. The brick wall near Camden Lock giving access to the Ministry is reminiscent of Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station from Rowling’s Harry Potter books. And yet, despite some of the parallels one can easily make, there is a largely a consistent but individual use of these motifs. It’s not a perfect book — Ben, who himself narrates his tale, seems extraordinarily literate for someone of his age (twelve or thirteen, I would guess) and, despite loose ends (this is apparently the first novel in a series), the ending is a little pat, albeit redeemed by some pragmatic touches such as a solution for his father’s absence.

I wasn’t totally satisfied by Ministry of Pandemonium: I didn’t find the terrors very horrific for example, and supporting characters often seemed either a little predictable (Ben’s friends and foes always manage to find him wherever he runs to in the capital) and, for a boy who supposedly cares about people, he seemed singularly prosaic about the several deaths that are occasioned by the novel’s apocalyptic ending (there always is an apocalyptic ending in books such as these, aren’t there, usually set at Halloween). Why too does a West Yorkshire lad like Chris Westwood need to fall into the media cliché of London as the centre of all things? ( )

I think that the plot was intriguing when I read the synopsis and it did not disappoint. For a children's book, I found this compelling and found it difficult to put down. I found the monsters frightening enough to make me want to read on and see what happened.

The characters were my favourite part of this book. The protagonist was interesting and had enough back story to make him a well-rounded character that is impressive for a children's book character. Mr October was a highly mysterious character who I was unsure about throughout which made the book even more exciting.

The writing style is basic because it is a children's book but it is still compelling and I really liked this book.

Overall I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars and although it is a children's book, it may be suitable for teenage readers too and I would definitely recommend it. ( )

If you like Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series or Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, you will like this book about another world that exists parallel to ours and involves the process of helping souls "move on" after death.
Ben is sitting in a graveyard sketching when he first encounters Mr. October, who, seeing Jim's special talent, recruits him into a clandestine operation that sees Ben and Mr. October knowing when someone is about to die, heading to the spot and trying to help the often bewildered departed soul to move to the next life. Sounds simple enough except there are all sorts of creepy nasties who want to keep the souls on Earth and drain them for power. This is the case with 2 children who die in a house fire and "appear" in Ben's classroom crying for help just as he is addressing the class! This gets him labelled as weird by his classmates except for one of the "cool" girls who says she "sees" ghosts too. And then there is the disappearance of Ben's own father and a frightening teletext that tells him his mother is next on the list to die (she has cancer)! Ben is determined to stop this even if it means breaking the highest rules. This book also reminded me of Garth Nix "Keys to the Kingdom" series and Skulduggery Pleasant series and Harry Potter. ( )

Teenager Ben Harvester likes to get away from it all by taking his sketchbook into Highgate Cemetery. His Dad left his Mum several years ago, they’ve had to move into a new flat and Ben will be going to a new school. Added to that, his Mum has to work all hours to make ends meet and she gets so tired.

One day he meets an old man in the cemetery and helps him with a drink of water. Mr October seems to know things about his family, and Ben will soon see him again at the funeral of his aunt, after which he keeps a lookout for him. They meet again back in London, where Mr October introduces him to the Ministry of Pandemonium. The Ministry is an organisation dedicated to helping ghosts of the newly departed across into the afterlife, thereby saving them from getting into the clutches of dark forces with their monstrous minions. Ben, a helpful sort, has been selected to join the Ministry – and so begins his new other life …

The fantasy elements of this novel contrast well with those of the struggles of everyday life, new house, new school, missing Dad and tired out Mum. Ben grows to relish his new skills, and even though the job requires empathy and calmness, he soon has to battle evil creatures who want the souls for their own devilish uses. Indeed, some of the monsters are horrific enough to scare adults, let alone teens. You know however, that the forces of good will ultimately prevail.

Ben is a different kind of hero – caring, observant, quiet and artistic. These qualities made this adventure into the supernatural a much better and definitely more interesting read than almost all of the other YA fantasies I’ve read in the past few years – and I have read a lot of them! This novel will be enjoyed by teenaged boys and girls alike too which is a great advantage, and I found it a jolly good read. (8.5/10) (Review copy from Amazon Vine) ( )