Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover – I spotted this book in a bookstore in DC and was immediately drawn to the artwork, a spectacular Japanese-style print of an octopus lurking just under the surface of the sea.
The book turned out to be just as good: an extremely original story about a scientist and an AI super-intelligence on a remote island off the coast of Vietnam (which is owned entirely by an international corporation who have moved the entire population off it) researching a community of octopuses who have evolved to the point where they have developed a means of communicating with any humans who can be bothered to take the time to learn it – those who can’t, the octopuses have a habit of killing.
Set against this main theme is the tale of a skilled hacker on the other side of the world trying to break into the AI’s brain for corporate sabotage, and an automated fishing vessel stripping the seas of all wildlife, using slave labor to process the fish because they are cheaper than robots and more disposable.
What I loved about this book was that it wasn’t afraid to tackle some really big issues of our times, and that it takes you to so many unexpected parts of the world that it at times almost feels like a foreign-language book that has been translated.
'I loved this novel's brain and heart' DAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS
'A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful, and redemptive' JEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF ANNIHILATION
There are creatures in the water of Con Dao. To the locals, they're monsters. To the corporate owners of the island, an opportunity. To the team of three sent to study them, a revelation.
Their minds are unlike ours. Their bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting. They can communicate. And they want us to leave.
When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Con…
Anthony Doerr is one of the most evocative writers I know – I loved All the Light We Cannot See and this one shows the same ability to conjure up incredible vignettes from across time and space, from the hare-lipped boy pressganged with his beloved oxen into moving a giant cannon for the Ottoman sultan’s assault on Constantinople to a suburban library on modern-day Idaho where kids are staging a play during a snowstorm, or into the future on a space ship bound for a new colony.
Doerr does all this effortlessly, in a series of short passages that immediately drag you in and make each scene completely believable.
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more
“If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a “wildly inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences” (The New York Times…
This non-fiction book takes you to a distant place in what feels like a distant time: the Russian Far East region of Primorski Krai on the Pacific, a giant forest on the Pacific that used to be a part of China and full of huge Siberian tigers, but at the time of the book – the period of collapse following Glasnost – is full of rather down-at-heel poachers and loggers, policed by a small but dedicated team of conservationists.
When one of the poachers wounds a tiger, it tracks him down – apparently as revenge – and eats him, then goes on a killing rampage. Vaillant looks at the Indigenous people’s stories that attribute the tigers with almost magical powers, and the way the wounded tiger seeks vengeance does make you think again about its almost-human levels consciousness.
'An unbelievable tale, expertly told' Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain
'A superb book ' Daily Mail * 'Masterful . . . mesmerising, rangy and relentless' Sunday Telegraph
A man-eating tiger is hunting villagers in the snowy forests of Far Eastern Russia.
A small team of men and their dogs must hunt the tiger in turn. As evidence mounts, it becomes clear that the tiger's attacks aren't random: it is seeking revenge. Injured, starving and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.
As he tracks the tiger's deadly progress, John Vaillant draws an unforgettable…
Scottish psychologist Elspeth McGann thinks her patient Lester Rains—a suave, enigmatic man who claims to be have been alive for 2,000 years and to be part of a team of extraterrestrial 'farmers' waiting on Earth for an alien harvest—is a delusional schizophrenic. But when vast ships suddenly appear over Moscow and vacuum up 50,000 people in a matter of hours, she realizes she must track down the elusive Rains.
With the aliens set to return, and some world leaders complicit in their plans, Elspeth and Trenton must seek out Rains and find a way of escaping the impending apocalypse, a hunt that takes them from Edinburgh to the White House, only to discover the harvest is just the beginning.
My daughter became obsessed with this series of books.
She is hugely into witches and magic and the first inklings of boyfriends and girlfriends and all the varieties of childhood friendships and rivalries. She is also dyslexic, and the fact that this is a graphic novel really helped her get into reading, for which I am eternally grateful.
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This book is for kids age
8,
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11.
What is this book about?
Two twins, one prophecy, and a whole lot of hijinks. From WEBTOON, the #1 digital comic platform, comes a fantastical story about twin siblings Dani and Dorian who have missed the bus to magic school and scramble to find a mentor to teach them before their parents find out. Perfect for fans of The Okay Witch and the 5 Worlds series.
When Dani and Dorian missed the bus to magic school, they never thought they'd wind up declared traitors to their own kind! Now, thanks to a series of mishaps, they are being chased by powerful magic families seeking the…
The rival clans of Wizards and Warriors, sworn enemies in the dark forest, come together when a young warrior princess gets caught by an arrogant young wizard and his gang of fairies and beast, and discover that they are not as different as they feared.
My daughter loved the characters, especially the fairies, and the giant snowcats, and enjoyed the fast pace of the story (plus the illustrations)
From the bestselling author of How to Train Your Dragon comes an exciting high-adventure series - set in an ancient, magical time, full of Wizards, Warriors, Giants and Sprites.
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award
This is the story of a young boy Wizard and a young girl Warrior who have been taught since birth to hate each other like poison; and the thrilling tale of what happens when their two worlds collide.
Perfect for boys and girls who love fantasy adventure...
Once there was Magic, and the Magic lived in the dark forests. Until the Warriors came...
This book has just the right of darkness to keep a kid hooked at night, and my daughter loved the ghosts from across the ages who are fighting the bad guys who want to murder the little boy they have taken under their wing in a cemetery after his family is killed.
When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing his entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?
