A finger-scorching page-turner

This is Kennedy at his brilliant best

If you haven't discovered Douglas Kennedy yet, it's about time you found out what you've been missing... Where Kennedy excels is in creating fundamentally flawed characters who are still likeable

Kennedy is a clever learned writer, with a beguiling lightness of touch

Kennedy proves himself an agile and entertaining storyteller. His love stories are mature... and informed by a sympathetic sensibility that would not be out of place in a John Irving novel

A racy page-turner, peppered with moral dilemmas... Kennedy has a knack of bringing his characters to life and sitting them right down next to you

Robertson's achievement is to make the dialogue flow without losing the unsettling poetry of the original

It's 2,400 years old, yet it is so compelling and absolutely modern

One of the main virtues of this fine translation is Robertson's ear for the verbal brutality committed by the estranged Medea and Jason on one another during their confrontations. Another is Robertson's sensitivity to the seascapes and imagery of Euripides that dominate the play... Closer examination reveals how much thought has gone into its making...These subtleties support Robertson's claim, in the introduction, that his main concern was "to provide an English version that is as true to the Greek as it is to the way that English is spoken now..." It certainly deserves to be staged. It would provide a more attractive basis for a performance text of the original play than anything else currently on offer

In Robertson's translation poetry abandons its usual mellifluousness for pithy simplicity...The combustion of language and sound is enough to release the beauty in the text

[Robertson's] version of Medea feels newly minted thanks to the pitch perfection of his linguistic choices. Robertson's skill lies in bringing the words of a long dead Greek to life, not merely to live but to cavort in the mind's ear

Author pictured at the launch party.

Pratchett's searing novel for teens combines his unique brand of humour with a classic survival adventure to become a piercing inquiry into the nature of faith.

Without pretension or crusading auto-didacticism he has spent a quarter of a century creating a fantasy worl that does its bit to make this world a better place. It is a splendid achievement.

This is Pratchett operating at the peak of his powers. Nation's often very funny, the characters are adorable, the plot intriguing... Nation is wryly hilarious throughout.

It's a wonderful story, by turns harrowing and triumphant, and Mau and Daphne are tremendously appealing characters. It's a book that can be read with great pleasure by young readers-and not a few of their parents, I suspect-as both a high-spirited yarn and a subtle examination of the risks and virtues of faith.

Gr 7-10-A tsunami has hit Mau's island home and washed away everyone he has known. Daphne is from the other side of the globe and is the sole survivor (or so she thinks) of a shipwreck on the island. The two come together and each of them brings wisdom, intelligence, and sense of humanity to their dire situation. An absorbing novel of survival and discovery liberally infused with Pratchett's trademark wit.

This culture clash comedy gives way to growing understanding and there is much to ponder on the merits of faith and tradition.

... a unique, exhilarating tour de force

... a very funny and well-written story. The characters and plot are both imaginative and thought-provoking.

A South Seas island adventure with an assured comic edge from Pratchett... This culture clash comedy gives way to growing understanding and there is much to ponder on the merits of faith and tradition.

I think this is - just possibly -the best book Pratchett has ever written.

This is a novel for all ages from (say) 11 to (say) 90, and its narrative exuberance will lure its younger readers to 'strange seas of thought'.

Pratchett writing at the height of his powers.

A serious work, but one written with humour and a lightness of touch that embraces big questions...it is a book about the faith of our times.

Terry Pratchett's use of language here is funny and exciting. This book delivers adventure, philosophy and satire. Pratchett has written of a very different world from his Discworld series. This is one of the cleverest novels I have read in years.

Nation is a modern tale of enlightenment that can be enjoyed by teenagers and aduls alike. An exceptional read, highly recommended.

An ebullient and entertaining novel of ideas.

Nation, published in 2008 (this year's award catchment runs from August 2008-September 2009), is an extraordinarily complicated tale about God, tradition and loss. Yet it is told with beautiful simplicity and rollicking readability.

Funny and profound, Nation is much more than an adventure story, pitting reason against religion and offering an alternative perspective on world history and culture.

As Pratchett says: "Thinking. This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you." His wit is on every page; his world surpasses ours, his writing is weird and wonderful. No, weirdly wonderful. It is gripping but put the book down to ponder the thoughts inside to unearth a parallel universe. Terry Pratchett is worth more than his idiom; his teachings contain more philosophical thought than I would have ever thought possible.