Un Lun Dun

This author, already twice winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award for adult Science Fiction, has now written his first children’s book. But what might have been a promising debut turns out to be hard to read. That special moment when a fantasy really takes off, with readers suddenly able to accept everything that is going on while also wanting to find out what is going to happen next, never really happens. Battling umbrellas, paper cartons that turn into devoted pets, books that talk and lecterns that betray are just some of the many characters who fail to come to true imaginative life. This is all such a pity, since the central concept of this ambitious but flawed work is an interesting one. Most of it takes place in the shadow alternative London of the title, pictured as knee-deep in throwaway detritus and haunted by a rampaging and murderous Smog. Only young Deeba has the power to deliver its inhabitants from final environmental burn-out. Although she finally succeeds, descriptions of her adventures, hovering between high drama and low comedy, too often finish by sounding merely facetious. Copiously illustrated by the author, this novel hints at a powerful talent yet to come to terms with writing effectively for a younger audience.