STORM THIEF

Come visit Orokos, an ancient metropolis in serious decay from previous technological heights. The city, controlled by tempests that create chaos in all its sectors and populations, also endures a dictator who maintains a shaky hold between probability storms. Once again, Wooding takes fantasy and science-fiction conventions and gives them a good twist. Descriptions of this closed world as witnessed by teen thieves, Rail and Moa, by a golem escaped during a probability storm and by the head of the secret police himself, make very real the nature of Orokos’s dystopia. The two teens, having committed an unforgivable offense against their thief mistress, join with the golem Vago in a quest for freedom from the fetid prison their world has become. Changing points of view, cliffhanger section endings, hair-raising escapes and a bitter betrayal lead to a slam-bang climax and a satisfying, lyrical and surprisingly touching ending. Although strikingly different from The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray (2004) and Poison (2005), this stunning work of speculative fiction will appeal to Wooding’s fans and earn him new ones. (Fiction. YA)