An Absolutely Remarkable Thing; A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour, by Hank Green

Remarkable is the right word! Everything about this dynamic duo of books was exciting, enlightening, unexpected, and daring. But also weird. So very, very weird. I loved every single moment of them. Unfortunately, if I tell you even the tiniest morsel too much, I will ruin the whole story for you, so I am going to tread lightly…

April May – yes, that is her name – is stuck in the mundane. Being an arts graduate isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and things are just plodding along. Until she sees Carl. And I know what you’re thinking: another sappy, romantic Young Adult book. Well, you’re wrong! Because Carl is a 10 ft tall Samurai robot statue that appeared out of nowhere in New York City.

And in Beijing.

And St Petersburg.

And Buenos Aires.

In fact, Carl appears in 64 cities across the world in the blink of an eye. No one knows where they came from, who built them, or if they have a purpose. But since April May saw them first, and posted them on the internet, she is the new co-star of the universe, shoulder-to-shoulder with Carl.

And things just get more bizarre from there. Carl starts to change things, societally, psychologically, economically, politically, philosophically. This story is a sci-fi, technically, but it’s set in the world exactly as we know it today. No 'if's or 'but's. This is how we as a race would respond to Carl if he turned up tomorrow morning. And it is freaky accurate!

Too real, and too surreal to make sense, and yet it does. And after the cliffhanger of a lifetime in the first instalment, you’ll be racing to get the second one! So good. So, so good! Read it.

- Sian

Paperbacks, £8.99 each - Hardback sequel available. Find them in the Young Adult Fiction section!

Civilisations, by Laurent Binet

I’ve long wondered what the world would be like had Europeans never colonized the Americas. Would the original tribes and nations have grouped together into countries with distinct borders as they did in Europe? Would modern history have taken radically different directions? How would art and science, music and medicine look today? What would the Americas be called?

Laurent Binet takes this thought and goes a step further, turning history it on its head by asking how the Renaissance world might have developed had Europe been colonized by Atahualpa and his Incas. Written in four parts, with each taking a different literary style, the background to the discovery of Europe is entirely plausible, and by using characters from history throughout, the whole story is quite believable.

What fascinated me most was the Inca perspective on European behaviour – I remember being taught at school that the first Christians in Latin America found a brutal people who sacrificed humans to pagan gods. In this story, the Incas find a brutal people who fight and torture one another for worshiping their god in different ways, and whose god allows the poor to suffer greatly while the rich live in luxury. The explanations of how the Incas bring peace and prosperity to the ordinary people of Europe really make you stop and think.

I enjoyed this book, though I didn’t find it a particularly easy read, as there are so many Inca words to contend with! I imagine for readers more used to fantasy epics, historical sagas or narrative history this would be an easier read, and I’d be fascinated to know what experts in the pre-Christian Americas make of it. A fascinating counterfactual history, and definitely a book that makes you think… what if?

- Paul

Hardback, £16.99. Find this in the Fiction section!

Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

Dora has decided to die. We know this from the beginning. Haig paints a picture of a woman in her 30s; a woman who could have been us all at some point in our lives. Dora, like anyone with depression, cannot see the value of her life, and every aspect seems like a lost cause. She has stopped searching for a reason to live. To die would quite simply be easier. For everyone, in Dora’s opinion.

In that very moment she makes her decision, she gets her first glimpse of the Midnight Library, and discovers its strangely morphic powers. She also meets Mrs Elm, the Librarian. For those who have been to any form of counselling, the librarian is a familiar figure. Compassionate but deeply probing. Quiet but supportive. A guide to oneself. Or in the case of Mrs Elm, a guide to the unopened books of Dora’s life. Dora’s path is not always easy, but it is necessary.

This is a fantastic book for anyone who has forgotten their own magic and focuses too hard on the "what if"s of life. A truly uplifting read that will spur you on to read more from Matt Haig.

- Anara 

Paperback, £8.99. Find this in the Fiction section!