Alongside the sharp plotting, the poetry is exhilarating to read...The book's emotional register is similarly expansive, moving from the drily witty to the horrific and, often unexpectedly, the very moving. But beneath growls an unbroken note of menace...A love story so taut that you could floss with it

Violent...Tender...Cool...Ambitious...it's about identity, community, love, death, and all the things we want our books to be about

Forget any reservations you might have about werewolf stories or verse novels. This is great, engaging, wonderful stuff. Sondheim should make it his next musical

The blending of urban heat and gothic savagery is blackly funny - and it works beautifully. The idea of lycanthropy has never been so hypnotically lyrical. And the romantic relationship between the human dog handler Anthony and secret shape shifter Sasha is drawn with real tenderness. There is biting comedy, too

Daringly original... A wonderously strange story. His evocation of urban werefolf underworld is both inventive and probable

A hot-tongued, howling wolf of a book, strange and tender, luscious and cool, frisky as a pup but with a mouthful of fangs. Once bitten, I was smitten by its beauty

This free-verse novel about the lusts and longings and furies of a group of lycanthropes in Southern California may just turn out to be one of the literary highlights of the decade. It's odd, intriguing, absorbing, at times beautiful and always unique. At last a writer has appeared who is unafraid to do something new with an old form. I wolfed it down

Toby Barlow is a true original. Sharp Teeth is darkly funny, witty, philosophical in its quirky, deceptive way, technically accomplished and strangely moving. It's eccentric and original, but it might just get the readership it deserves. It's a fine book

Not for the faint-hearted

Gripping

Vigorous, enjoyably bloodthirsty, Sharp Teeth would make a stunning graphic novel

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.