The Gardener
by S. A. Bodeen (Feiwel and Friends, 2010); audiobook read by Luke Daniels (Brilliance, 2010)
The Gardener starts well, mixing SF conspiracy with teenage romance. Mason makes for a likeable protagonist, burdened (but not cripplingly so) by circumstance, and determined in the face of uncertainty and helplessness. The story, however, funnels off into an information dump cul-de-sac.
The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness (Walker, 2008); audiobook read by Humphrey Bower (Bolinda, 2011)
A young adult quest with genuine moments of high emotion but also a relentless, dour futility that cries out for—yet in this first book of the trilogy, doesn’t afford—resolution. Bower’s audiobook reading is grist to the grimly dystopian first-person narrative.
Spellslinger
by Sebastien de Castell (Hot Key Books, 2017); audiobook read by Joe Jameson (Bolinda, 2017)
Sebastien de Castell delivers a fully realised magical world with perils and pitfalls aplenty, an unobtrusive moral, and a quick-thinking young protagonist. Joe Jameson’s audiobook reading gives excellent voice to the characters. With all due respect, this leaves Harry Potter for dead.
Lifeline
by Abbey Lee Nash (Tiny Fox, 2018)
Not all readers will find intrinsic appeal in the subject matter (teen overdose and rehab) but Lifeline is one of those rare books that are worth picking up anyway. The characters feel real and the story holds its integrity without being depressing.
Playing Beatie Bow
by Ruth Park (Thomas Nelson, 1980); audiobook read by Kate Hood (Bolinda, 2012)
Ruth Park mixes time displacement with coming-of-age in a classic of Australian literature. 14-year-old Abigail Kirk, having fought with her mother, finds herself transported back to Sydney of 1873. Amidst the historical realism unfolds a beautifully told tale of hardship and self-discovery.
How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero
by Cressida Cowell (Hachette, 2013); audiobook read by David Tennant
High above a publishing landscape devastated by gormless, plotless, half-illustrated fluff, Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon series soars majestically. How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero is thoughtful, exhilarating, vivid and fabulously fun, with David Tennant putting in a full-on acting performance.
Galactic Warlord
by Douglas Hill (Gollancz, 1979)
As an introduction to Hill’s ‘Last Legionary’ series (or to MG/YA SF in general) Galactic Warlord is hard to fault: the main character is austere but morally unambiguous and easy to cheer for; the threat is serious and the story clearly told.
Only You Can Save Mankind
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 1992)
The aliens in Johnny’s computer game are real, in eye-opening contrast to his dissociated home life and the Gulf War’s televised entertainment. The concept entices but the execution feels hurried. Moreover, Pratchett’s twelve-year-olds remain in now incongruous accord with the early 1990s.
The Last Vampire
by Willis Hall (The Bodley Head, 1982)
A quintessentially middle-class English family encounters the last (vegetarian) vampire in this YA comedy of happenstance and misunderstanding. By fleshing out every character — even the wolves! — Willis Hall both draws attention to, and disabuses his readers of, the vampire tropes of legend.
The White Mountains
by John Christopher (Simon & Schuster, 1967)
Almost half a century on, John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy remains a page-turning standout in young adult SF. The White Mountains depicts a society kept in post-invasion, pre-industrial subjugation, and embarks us on Christopher’s action-light yet well-paced, never less than compelling quest narrative.