The Pinhoe Egg
The latest book in the revived Chrestomanci series is a sequel of sorts to the Guardian Award winning classic Charmed Life.
In this story Cat Chant (protagonist of Charmed Life) has settled into life at Chrestomanci Castle and finds himself drawn into events caused by a dark secret held by the magical families living in the surrounding villages.
Typically of DWJ this is a thoroughly enjoyable book, with engaging characters and a twisty and fun plot.
The simple fact is that there's not a better writer of children's fantasy out there and for my money she may well be the very best ever.
Thoroughly recommended.
Only Forward
Smith's debut novel is one of my favourite science fiction books of all time.
It starts of as a far future noir detective story with the lead character, Stark, full of wisecracks and "I'm smarter than you" confidence. That it ends up being an incredibly moving piece is testament of Smith's ability to shift the story around underneath the reader without them ever feeling cheated.
Part of that is the fact that it is made plain within the first couple of pages that Stark is a rather unreliable narrator, more than willing to lie, omit facts or completely fabricate things if he thinks it's amusing or suits his needs.
By the end when the layers have been stripped away and there are no more falsehoods you are in no doubt of how brilliantly the tale has been told.
After more than a decade, after numerous re-reads, this is still a remarkable piece of work.
I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending it to anyone to read.
Ringworld
Ringworld is considered a classic in the science fiction canon. It's rich with concepts, quickly paced and absorbing.
The story is of Louis Wu, a 200 year old human, who is getting bored with the lack of novelty in his life. Hijacked on his birthday by a member of the secretive alien race known as the Pierson Puppeteers he is offered a place on an expedition with no more explanation than a look at a picture of of a star with a ring around it and the offer of plans to a new incredibly fast spacecraft. Taking the opportunity the Puppeteer, Nessus, builds up a team consisting of a member of the feline, warlike, alien race known as the Kzinti and another human the bred for luckiness Teela Brown.
Via an excursion to the rather odd Puppeteer homeworld this motley crew head on to what the now know to be the Ringworld, a gigantic artefact with the land area of hundreds of planets, the product of an unknown and incredibly powerful alien race.
While it's quite mindblowing in concepts, the book falls down in terms of characterization and the plot falls apart in the last third destroying the momentum built up.
Definitely worth reading at least once if you have any interest in science fiction, it really doesn't suit a re-read (as this was for me).
Mrs Frisby & The Rats Of NIMH
This classic children's book was one of my favourites when I was young.
I continue to be very glad to this day that I read the book before I ever saw the film adaptation (a typically clumsy Don Bluth animated thing). It's quite a brief read, but still quite enjoyable.
The story is of an anxious field mouse with a sick child who will not be strong enough to leave the family winter home before the farmer ploughs up the field and destroys it.
After a desperate search for help she's directed to a group of odd rats living beneath a giant rosebush on the farm. These are the rats of the title and their story is the single best thing about the book.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this little book and it remains a really good piece of kid's writing and I have no hesitation in recommending it for what it is.
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