TEEN & YOUNG ADULT
BURN by Patrick Ness (Walker £12.99, 480 pp)
BURN
by Patrick Ness (Walker £12.99, 480 pp)
It’s 1957 and the Cold War between Russia and America provides a tense backdrop of suspicion and prejudice — racist, sexist and homophobic — for this extraordinary story of fate, power and redemption. Kazimir, a rare Russian blue dragon, is hired by Sarah Dewhurst’s widowed father to help clear their farm.
An uneasy peace has held between humans and the fire-breathing creatures for 200 years, but Kazimir has secretly arrived because of a prophesy — one which could destroy the world if he doesn’t intervene.
Cue dragon-worship cults, a hired assassin, FBI agents who aren’t all they seem, a time-slip where the same characters appear in different circumstances and even a love story . . .
Ness brilliantly juggles these multi-layered themes and twisting plot lines while creating a world where dragons are as richly imagined as humans and engage our emotions just as forcefully. He is a remarkable talent.
NIGHTSHADE By Anthony Horowitz (Walker £12.99, 384 pp)
NIGHTSHADE
By Anthony Horowitz (Walker £12.99, 384 pp)
He’s back! Alex Rider, schoolboy superspy, had hung up his gadgets in favour of A-levels, but Mrs Jones, Head of MI6 Special Operations, discovers that Nightshade, a dangerous terrorist cell, is using child agents to launch a lethal weapon on the world — and only Alex can infiltrate the organisation.
Ignoring official advice, she shares her most preciously guarded secret with him to persuade him to comply.
Impersonating his former enemy and identical clone, Julius Grief, Alex penetrates deep within the fanatical group to uncover a plot to unleash deadly biological warfare (how timely is that . . . ) while also confronting uncomfortable truths about friendship, families and loyalty.
Anthony Horowitz is on cracking form here: the plot is gripping, the characters — both familiar and new — are fully fleshed, and it sparkles with his characteristic wit. We could do with Alex Rider now . . .
FIG SWIMS THE WORLD by Lou Abercrombie (Stripes £7.99, 352 pp)
FIG SWIMS THE WORLD
by Lou Abercrombie (Stripes £7.99, 352 pp)
Lanky, awkward, 15-year-old Lemony ‘Fig’ Fitzherbert is relentlessly criticised and manipulated by her high-achieving, controlling mother and humiliatingly bullied at school — her only friend is the loyal Stella.
Academically gifted, Fig struggles with social situations and finds comfort in lists, which is how she devises a New Year’s resolution to ‘swim her way around the world’ at 20 different open swimming locations in 365 days.
Tiny fly in the ointment — she’s scared of water . . .
What ensues is a funny, empowering, touching adventure which proves that concentrating on what you can achieve, rather than what you can’t, is surprisingly liberating.
Fig is such an endearing and determined character, and her back-up team so warm and inspiring that they more than compensate for the slightly unlikely plot. By the end of this you’ll be desperate to pull on a wetsuit and plunge into the waves.