What do you get if you combine Dickens, Bond and Harry Potter? The best Children's books out now - Shadow Thieves by Peter Burns, Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel, Heir of Storms by Lauryn Murray
The world is ruled by French, Japanese and Prussian Empires and, in alternate reality London, Tom Morgan has escaped from the workhouse and is surviving by his wits on the streets.
When a mysterious man claiming to represent The Shadow League recruits him for an international Thieves School, Tom is forced to accept.
He learns not only extraordinary skills, but that the League maintains the balance between the powers – yet members can be hired as mercenaries.
After an inter-house competition, Tom is unwillingly roped into a major operation that turns out to be a complex web of double-crossing.
A mix of Dickensian atmosphere, Bond-like stunts and boarding school rivalries, this is a must for Harry Potter or Percy Jackson fans. Age 9+
BEST OF ALL WORLDS by Kenneth Oppel (Guppy Books £14.99, 256pp)
I love Kenneth Oppel's control of menace, and there's deep disquiet in this dystopian thriller.
Teenage Xavier, his father and pregnant stepmother visit their country cottage but wake up to find the house apparently transported to an isolated setting with no one else around.
The nightmare scenario nevertheless provides food, water and a peaceful, if lonely, existence until another family, with an attractive daughter, turns up.
The father is a conspiracy theorist who clashes with Xavier's parents and, as escape plans are hatched, tensions build and the inevitable question is asked: are they trapped or saved? Age 13+
HEIR OF STORMS by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (Penguin £9.99, 464pp)
When Blaze was born, a tremendous storm swept the realm, drowning many – because, unlike her twin brother Flint, Blaze was not a Flameborn, she was a Rain Singer, the last of her kind.
Having been reviled all her life, 17-year-old Blaze and popular Flint must compete in The Choosing Rite to select leaders of each of the four kingdoms: Fire, Water, Earth and Air.
The handsome Crown Prince appears to fall in love with her, so why does Fox, his outlaw brother, also follow her? Who can she trust as her powers grow? With a nod to The Hunger Games, this Young Adult fantasy also conjures up witty dialogue and romance. Age 14+
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The Guardian
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‘His beauty was a curse' — Terence Stamp's five best films
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