The Faerie Wars

Henry and Pyrgus are literally worlds apart and they are both having a really bad day. Henry finds his cosy 2.4 family life a myth, and Pyrgus realizes someone wants him dead. Could it be a demon, or someone who uses kittens to make Miracle Glue? Pyrgus is sent through a sabotaged portal in his father's palace and winds up being rescued from a cat by Henry. Confused? Not as much as the boys are: they come from parallel worlds, where, unknown to humans, the use of portals has introduced to their world what they call fairies and led to the conflict in Pyrgus's world between the Faeries of the Light and the Faeries of the Night, whose secret plans involve an awful lot of conquest, loot and pillage. Pyrgus will have to use all his wits and the help of Henry and old Mr Fogarty, 'batty but not stupid', to work out a way to get home and discover exactly what is going on. The Faerie world has its own different believable logic; there are magic weapons, spells, a golden phoenix and the conjuring of demons, and the contract with one particularly huge, ugly, loud, smelly, malevolent - and smiling - one will cause problems for everyone. The Faerie baddies are splendidly bad and dangerous, and the good Faeries of Light include Pyrgus's formidable younger sister, who runs a brilliant network of spies and who has a surprising effect on Henry. Mr Fogarty has his own secrets, too, and Henry still has his own personal problems to sort out. In his hugely enjoyable and imaginative novel, Herbie Brennan has created characters and adventures that will satisfy readers of all ages. Ages 9+ (Kirkus UK)