The Prince of Mist, the first novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (author of The Shadow of the Wind), is now in an English translation by Lucia Graves. Like Ruiz Zafón's worldwide bestseller, The Prince of Mist (Orion Children's Books £12.99) is set in the 1940s, somewhere – or anywhere – in mainland Europe. While the war has led 13-year-old Max's family to move to a small seaside resort, it is not connected explicitly with what follows except in the pervading sense of anxiety and longing for escape. Max's guide to his new home is Roland, who has been brought up by a lighthouse keeper since his parents drowned. Part mystery, part rite-of-passage tale and part doomed love story, The Prince of Mist will chill the bones long after reading.
Marcus Sedgwick, whose cold-climate novel Revolver must surely have just missed the Carnegie medal, has set the edgily disturbing White Crow (Orion Children's Books £9.99) in a scorching summer on the crumbling Suffolk coast. Rebecca's dull holiday with her unhappy father improves when she meets bright and enigmatic Ferelith, who turns manipulative and controlling as the girls challenge one another to extreme dares. The account of their destructive friendship is interwoven with extracts from the journal of a local minister who, in the late 18th century, joined a French doctor fresh from revolutionary Paris in gruesome experiments.
Ruby, the silly but likable antiheroine of Hilary Freeman's perceptive and fast-paced Lifted (Piccadilly Press, £6.99), comes from a more recognisable contemporary teen world, where insecurity and boredom are the sources of most ills. Displaying the common sense and warped desire for fame of a Big Brother evictee, Ruby creates a blog to publicise her serial shoplifting in the persona of Robyn Hood, who donates stolen goods to charity shops. If parents are anxious about the shoplifting tips, rest assured that this is a truly cautionary tale.
Blending in as a regular high school guy in the Midwest spells survival for John Smith, the fourth of nine refugees on Earth from the more evolved planet Lorien who are being killed off in sequence by invaders from the baddie planet Mogador. Just as John's number comes up, his superpowers kick in and he falls in love. The result is I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Penguin Razorbill £12.99), a tense and exciting story that's full of energy.
Being a teenager isn't just tricky for aliens, as Matt Haig's The Radleys demonstrates. This joint crossover publishing venture by Walker and Canongate (£10) is a witty introduction to present-day vampire lore, set in a North Yorkshire village. Mr and Mrs Radley are abstinent vampires bringing up their children to deny their heritage and avoid their uncle Will, an unreformed bloodsucker who stocks up on his preferred nutrient at a Manchester nightclub. For the young Radleys, vampirism is a blessed relief from the travails of adolescence. Highly recommended.
