Dirty Magic

December 18, 2006
British novelist Hughes (Jack Black and the Ship of Thieves
) imagines a dark fantasy world where bureaucracy reigns supreme. Ten-year-old Joe, in a fit of rage, tells his four-year-old sister, Hannah, "I wish you were dead!" Soon he has a vision of her lying in a hospital bed, and Joe is whisked away to a grey landscape by Katherine, who says she is his "fetcher" and must take him to his "guide." They fall into the care of the enigmatic Spider, an elderly blind man who knows far more than he lets on and harbors a major secret. Spider tells Joe he is in "a place between heaven and earth," scarred by a decades-old war between the clans of rival sisters. Joe must get to the Long City, where he can pass "back to your world or on to another." Along the way, he helps Katherine break her brother Tom out of a monolithic prison called the Druckee. But Tom too has secrets—connected to the oppression of a society of brilliant inventors called the Heathermen, and the missing third sister, imprisoned by the power-hungry machine-builder Orlemann. Hughes has a lucid imagination and paints a vivid, bleak and ruined world—magnetic mountains that can drive men mad, a lake so polluted it corrodes iron ships in seconds—and wraps up her challenging story with a well-concealed twist. Ages 8-12.

February 1, 2007
Gr 5-7-When Joe's four-year-old sister, Hannah, ruins his favorite magazine, he screams, "I wish you were dead!" That same night, an ambulance arrives at his house and Joe begins to dread that his hasty words are coming to pass. So when a girl named Katherine appears out of nowhere and offers him the chance to get Hannah back, Joe follows her into Asphodel, a realm between life and death that is locked in an ongoing war between two sister queens. The dreary, industrialized landscape is populated by deadly mechanical beasts and has a surreal aspect to it. Themes of war, propaganda, and profiteering are laced throughout this dark, intriguing Neil Gaiman-like fantasy that will have readers on the edge of their seats."Christi Voth, Parker Library, CO"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2006
Ten-year-old Joe Brooks sometimes wishes his annoying little sister, Hannah, would disappear. But waking up after a terrible headache, he discovers her bed is empty and an ambulance is outside. Then, to his surprise, he finds himself mysteriously transported to a shadowy, war-torn world, where ill children are held captive--including, perhaps, Hannah. Aided by a fetcher called Katherine, and a cantankerous blind man, he navigates dangerous landscapes and encounters people who aren't what they seem in an effort to locate Hannah. This dense but quick-paced fantasy offers suspense; inventive and plentiful though sometimes graphic details (Joe is tortured); and a dizzying array of plot turns, including a surprise-twist conclusion. Supporting characters are intriguing, and though Joe occasionally seems oddly older than his years, he's an engaging protagonist who gains new perspective on what matters. Give this novel, which is less about magic than about power of imagination, to fans of edgy, intricately layered fantasies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)