Rachel Anderson |
Barn Owl Books |
1904442714 |
Sept 2006 |
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Growing up in the early years of the twentieth century, Arthur witnesses the disintegration of his family as a series of unfortunate incidents forces them from marginal respectability towards abject poverty. |
Girl, Missing
Sophie McKenzie |
Simon and Schuster |
1904442714 |
Oct 2006 |
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Fourteen year old Lauren is struggling to make an identity for herself, made more difficult by the knowledge that she was adopted as a small child. She soon becomes obsessed with learning more about the circumstances of her adoption and sets out to find her biological parents. Increasingly alienated from her adoptive family, hazy memories and hard evidence begin to emerge, suggesting that she may have been abducted from an American family and illegally adopted. Lauren is willing to risk everything to learn the truth. |
The Fledging of Az Gabrielson
Jay Amory |
Gollancz |
1904442714 |
Aug 2006 |
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Az Gabrielson is a living paradox; a wingless boy born into a winged world. He struggles to live with dignity in a hallowed, ‘Airborne’ society that treats his winglessness as an embarrassing infirmity. Az feels an understandable affinity with the prehistoric Groundlings, who were also wingless and inhabited the dismal and abandoned earth. When the mysterious infrastructure that supports the sky-cities starts to malfunction, Az finds himself the ideal candidate to investigate what really lies beneath the clouds’ |
Imperial Spy
Mark Robson |
Simon and Schuster |
1904442714 |
February 2006 |
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An enjoyable blending of spy and fantasy genres, Imperial Spy follows the fortunes of Femke, an exceptionally gifted young spy who attempts to negotiate the intricate web of plotting and counter-plotting that threatens the Shandese Empire after an ill-advised incursion into a peaceful neighbouring kingdom. Imperial Spy makes entertaining reading for fans of derring-do; it is packed with precisely rendered descriptions of surveillance techniques, military tactics, armed and hand-to-hand combat and the politics of conflict. Interestingly, the existence of magic in Femke’s world is referred to repeatedly, but not shown (unless you count the rather neat alchemical ‘sting’ that features at the end of the book) and the same could be said of the obscure fate of Femke’s mentor Lord Ferrand. Therefore, plenty of loose ends and intrigues to carry over into the sequel Imperial Assassin, due to published in November 2006. |
A Darkling Plain
Philip Reeve |
Scholastic |
1904442714 |
Mar 2006 |
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The fourth and final book in the Mortal Engines series. Six months after the seismic events described in Infernal Devices, Tom and his daughter Wren are working the Bird Roads in their beloved airship, the Jenny Haniver. While Wren thrives, Tom secretly struggles with his weakened heart and his unresolved feelings for his wife Hester, who, in a supreme act of self-destruction, deserted her family and surrendered herself to the stalker Shrike. However, Tom gains a renewed sense of purpose when a serendipitous (or so it seems) series of events lead him full circle, back to the ruins of London. Meanwhile, the uneasy truce between the Traction Cities and the Green Storm proves dangerously vulnerable to exploitation. |
Spy Mice: The Black Paw
Heather Vogel Frederick |
Puffin |
1904442714 |
Jan 2006 |
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While trying to escape from the school bullies who habitually torment him, Oz stumbles upon the existence of the Spy Mice Agency, hidden from human eyes beneath the International Spy Museum in Washington. The Spy Mice are waging a dangerous war of intelligence against the villainous rat community. In their mutual desperation, an unlikely friendship is forged between Oz and Glory, a particularly brave and resourceful spy mouse. |
Gregor and the Rats of Underland
Suzanne Collins |
The Chicken House |
1904442714 |
Jan 2006 |
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Eleven-year-old Gregor has had to grow up fast since the inexplicable disappearance of his father. He develops a strong and protective relationship with his baby sister Boots, so when she crawls into the laundry chute of their apartment building, he doesn’t think twice about following her. They fall into the Underland, a world hidden below New York City. It is populated by descendents of the Pilgrim Fathers, co-existing with intelligent (and gigantic) bats, cockroaches, spiders and rats (with wildly varying degrees of cordiality). A series of remarkable and dangerous encounters with the Underlanders forces Gregor to reluctantly accept his role in the fulfilment of ‘The Prophecy of Grey’, which tells of a quest that will help determine the future of the Underland. Gregor witnesses acts of supreme self-sacrifice and utter betrayal, while some surprising alliances are formed. |
Fly By Night
Frances Hardinge |
Macmillan |
1904442714 |
Oct 2005 |
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Fly By Night is set in an imagined world (both similar to and different from eighteenth century England) and turns upon the fate of twelve-year old Mosca, the incorrigible goose Saracen and unscrupulous, highfaluting Eponymous Clent. For various reasons they are each reviled and so, seeking to escape their straitened circumstances, they become mired in the dangerous political plotting that afflicts the Fractured Realm. |