The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

The brutal religious zealots the Redeemers have raised a monstrous boy who carries the name of Thomas Cale.  It isn't the birth name that was ripped from his as a child but that of a martyr.  The Redeemers take young children and indoctrinate them to become soldiers in their holy war against the Antagonists in the trenches on the Eastern front.  The boys are routinely brutally physically punished to the point of near death, fed rancid and disgusting food, indoctrinated by an endless round of sermons and rules, isolated from the outside world including any members of the opposite sex and exposed to terrifying lessons such as the burning alive of transgressors.

Cale is utterly brutalised but something of a human spirit lies under the trained killer, and it comes to the fore when he comes across a Redeemer dissecting a girl, kills him and saves Riba, another girl in the room with him.   So begins a wild escape across the desolate Scablands to the fortified city Memphis, home of the Materazzi people, with the archer Vague Henri and sniper Kleist.  Hoffman introduces a fascinating cast of peoples, costumes and places whilst never losing hold of character and the driving force of a great plot of intrigue, warfare, fundamentalism, coming of age and first love that leaves you wanting more.

I love the very first sentence of The Left Hand of God.  It is a single word: Listen.  It is a word that recalls fireside stories, being read to as a child, a word that can be a brutal order or a gentle call to hear.

The Spider Moon by Kate Brown, Book 1

Fascinating and beautifully drawn fantasy but much too short!  Bekka is a young girl, a diver with webbed hands who collects oil-bearing sea urchins which her community trade with the bird folk, the ruling elite.  When her mother, a village elder, is arrested for failing to trade with the oil company Bekka and her mentor Kaye go after them. 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

A story about a young girl Meggie who is devoted to books and her father, who she calls Mo, who hides a secret about the disappearance of her mother 9 years earlier. They live in a remote farmhouse surrounded by books until the arrival of the mysterious Dustfinger and his oddly horned marten Gwin which hurls her into a world where fantasy and reality begin to bleed into each other. I loved the internal references to other classic and modern children's fiction but found the plot a bit repetitive and dry.

Nation by Terry Prachett

A good story, quite funny and a little odd, but a good read: AZ: "Finding himself alone on a desert island when everything and everyone he knows and loved has been washed away in a huge storm, Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He's also completely alone - or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird and gives him a stick which can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She's certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship's parrot. As it happens, they are not alone for long.Other survivors start to arrive to take refuge on the island they all call the Nation and then raiders accompanied by murderous mutineers from the Sweet Judy. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things - including how to milk a pig and why spitting in beer is a good thing - and start to forge a new Nation. As can be expected from Terry Pratchett, the master story-teller, this new children's novel is both witty and wise, encompassing themes of death and nationhood, while being extremely funny. Mau's ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone's lives!"

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The extended edition of Gaiman's short story in M for Magic, Gaiman is always, to me, better when he's writing for children, brilliantly imaginative and gripping

AZ: "When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family."

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

AZ: "The iron wheel began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The room grew darker. As the light lessened, so did the sound. Deeba and Zanna stared at each other in wonder. The noise of the cars and vans and motorbikes outside grew tinny ...The wheel turned off all the cars and turned off all the lamps. It was turning off London. Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondon, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up ...and some of its lost and broken people too. Here discarded umbrellas stalk with spidery menace, carnivorous giraffes roam the streets, and a jungle sprawls beyond the door of an ordinary house. UnLondon is under siege by the sinister Smog and its stink-junkie slaves; it is a city awaiting its hero. Guided by a magic book that can't quite get its facts straight, and pursued by Hemi the half-ghost boy, the girls set out to stop the poisonous cloud before it burns everything in its path. They are joined in their quest by a motley band of UnLondon locals, including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas, Obaday Fing, a couturier whose head is an enormous pincushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. The world of UnLondon is populated by astonishing frights and delights that will thrill the imagination."

Completely bonkers, hugely imaginative, witty and entertaining. I love the idea of a world where MOILs (Mostly Obsolete in London) find a new life, broken umbrellas, old red routemaster buses and all manner of discarded items. The carnivorous giraffes were truly terrifying. On a brilliant par with Barker's Abarats

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

A collection of short stories for children, some of which I've encounterd before. Gaiman's imagination never fails to entertain, and here where he's writing for children he writes less self consciously, children don't need to be asked to suspend disbelief! In this collection of short stories I most loved the short story about the boy born in a graveyard but wanted more of it, luckily Gaiman also felt the same and expanded it into his The Graveyard Book. I particularly liked reading again 'The Price' which is about a family who are adopted by a mysterious black cat who sustains terrible injuries night after night.

Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman

AZ: "A small bundle of material that has somehow slipped between Lyra's universe and our own. The book includes a wonderful new story by Philip Pullman, fully illustrated intricate maps and other ephemera from Lyra's universe. The text is illustrated throughout in beautiful black and white wood-blocks by the highly acclaimed engraver, John Lawrence, together with specially printed three-colour pull out maps of "Lyra's Oxford". This publication could have come from a parallel universe. The short story contained within "Lyra's Oxford" finds Lyra with her daemon Pantalaimon a couple of years after the end of "The Amber Spyglass". Sitting on the roofs of Oxford she sees a bird, the daemon of a witch, a storm petrel flying towards her pursued by a huge and angry flock of starlings. Birds play a big part in this story. And gradually a mystery unfolds.."

Set after the end of the Dark Materials trilogy, this is a short story about Lyra encountering the mystery that is the universe, in this case that her Oxford and its birds are protecting her couched within a visitation from a witch's daemon. Beautifully presented in a little hardback book with tantalising 'extracts' from newspapers and other ephemera a small story perfectly crafted.

Being by Kevin Brooks

"Sixteen-year-old Robert lies anaesthetized. A routine operation has just gone wrong. 'What the hell is that?' 'That, Mr Ryan, is the inside of this boy.' 'Christ . . . It looks like some kind of plastic.' As Robert slowly wakes, he can hear, he can feel, but he can't scream. The operation isn't over. But life, as Robert knows it, is. Robert goes on the run, terrified and desperate for answers. But what if the answers are too terrifying to face?"

The Snow Spider Trilogy (The Snow Spider; Emlyn's Moon; The Chestnut Soldier) by Jenny Nimmo

The Snow Spider has just been made into a film although the book is much older, written in the 80s I think, and reading the three books was a joy. Although fairly short because written for younger children Nimmo's books don't lack in imagination and they have the ability in spades to send a genuine chill down your spine as the snow spider grants a peek at the crack between worlds.

Dragonfly by Julia Golding

An excellent teenage fantasy fiction book, unfortunately all her other books are for younger readers, but this story of princesses, rebels and slaves was captivating

Halting State by Charles Stross - great fun

AZ: "It was called in as a robbery at Hayek Associates, an online game company. So you can imagine Sergeant Sue Smith's mood as she watches the video footage of the heist being carried out by a band of orcs and a dragon, and realises that the robbery from an online game company is actually a robbery from an online game. Just wonderful. Like she has nothing better to do. But online entertainment is big business, and when the bodies of real people start to show up, it's clear that this is anything but a game. For Sue, programmer Jack Reed, and forensic accountant Elaine Barnaby, the walls between the actual and the virtual are about to come crashing down. There is something very dangerous and very real going on at Hayek Associates, and those involved are playing for more than experience points. No cheats, no extra lives, no saving throw - make a wrong call on this one and it'll be more than game over."

Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

AZ: "Time is big business, and whoever gets control of time controls life as we know it! In a house called Tanglewreck lives a girl called Silver and her guardian Mrs Rokabye. Unbeknown to Silver there is a family treasure in the form of a seventeenth-century watch called the Timekeeper, and this treasure holds the key to the mysterious and frightening changes in time. When Silver goes on the run to try and protect herself and the Timekeeper"

Was interested in this because I like Winterson's fiction anyway and my mum brought Cj Winterson's book The King of Capri which is beautifully illustrated and has a lovely mythical quality. Tanglewreck is like Pullman but also has those lovely mythic qualities, deliniating the connections between old and new magic (science) and raises the interesting question of the implications of the increasingly frenetic pace of 21st century life.

137: "In New York City the tops of the buildings tear the sky. When the snow falls the tops of the buildings look like mountain peaks. The most important people in the city live and work as high as they can on their man-made mountains. When they want to travel, a helicopter lands on the roof and carries them away, just as enchanters on glass mountains whistled for eagles."