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If a frequent objection raised against fantasy writing is that it is infantile (and goodness knows enough of it is), it is cheering to report that children's fantasy can be very grown up. Or at least in China Miville's remarkable Un Lun Dun (Macmillan, pounds 9.99, pbk), which feels like an instant classic. A minor classic, maybe, because it will appeal only to a certain kind of imagination; but any child who loves the bizarre, the grotesque and slightly creepy comedy, and especially any child who loves books - it's full of nods to other books - should adore this.
Two girls, Zanna and Deeba, find themselves pulled into UnLondon, an "abcity'' (others include Parisn't, Lost Angeles and, brilliantly, Sans Francisco) where the evil Smog threatens to choke the inhabitants. Miville's powers of invention are evident in his adult novels, but he has even more fun with them here: New Crobuzon could not accommodate the wonderful silliness of the Binjas, a group of martial arts dustbins.
This is a menacing tale in parts, and a subversive...