Yet another young adult heads off to magic school, unaware dark family secrets are going to catch up with her. On first sight, the prospect of another magic school story (this time, set in epic-fantasy-land) didn’t fill me with joy, but this is actually pretty good. It doesn’t try to be Harry Potter, the plot

Enjoyable first part of a space opera. This book suffers from some of the usual issues I expect from anything labelled ‘Episode 1’. The first three chapters introduce three unrelated characters. These character arcs only converge towards the end, and the ending lacks resolution. Despite that, it is an enjoyable read and there are two

On a far future, post-apocalyptic Earth, a disadvantaged young man is determined to reach the city on Moon. The title suggests ‘children’s book’ and the story opens with exposition — but well-written, entertaining exposition, so I read on, and was glad I did. This is an entertaining story, well told, set in an intriguing world.

A father carries his disabled son through an icy wilderness, battling murderous machines and hostile men along the way. Outcast by his tribe, Seven carries his son Erik on a trek to the centre of the world, where he believes the sickly boy will be cured. Erik’s strange clairvoyant abilities and Seven’s steadfast bravery keep

Kids undergo experimental treatment which delivers unexpected results. This book opens with a slightly off-putting wall of text, which is mostly description of the protagonist, Jasper. Jasper is a loser in life’s genetic lottery. At eight years old, he’s smart, but his genetic condition has deformed his face and hands and will presumably limit his

A malevolent machine pursues a lone man across a desert planet. The plot’s simple to describe: the protagonist (unnamed) is for some reason being chased by a huge sentient tank-like vehicle, which relentlessly pursues him across a lifeless desert landscape. Along the way some hints are dropped about how things got this way, but much

Telekinetic kids cause mayhem, are pursued by evil military. As a result of their parents’ dodgy medical experiments, Tilly and Ethan Wolfe have powerful telekinetic abilities. Unfortunately, Tilly is not in control of her powers and tends to leave a trail of corpses and collapsed buildings behind her, especially when she gets upset. So while

A young man survives and fights in a dark vision of America torn apart by fear and hatred. Self-named ‘Holden Caulfield’ is a gay teenager with a minor telekinetic ability. He relates the events he’s witnessed as his world fell apart, his attempts to fight back and his struggle to understand it all. The writing

When an immortal woman falls in love with a charming foreigner, her psycho sister sets an army on the fleeing lovers. Mage Yerikan of Rath is one of the few immortals: he doesn’t age (though he can be killed, just not as easily as normal folk). He’s sent off as ambassador to Jehar, with instructions