Synopsis: John and Philippa Gaunt are twins. They live in New York with their parents and their lives are nothing extraordinary, until the day when their wisdom teeth begin to come through, not only early, but almost simultaneously. Soon, they find the world becoming a stranger place, especially when anyone around them utters the words 'I wish'. John and Philippa are djinn and are sent to stay with their Uncle Nimrod while he teaches them to use their remarkable powers over probability to maintain order in the world, against the efforts of the Ifrit. Their education is disrupted, however, when the tomb of the heretic-pharaoh Akhenaten is uncovered, for Akhenaten once controlled a force of seventy djinn, and if these could be unleashed in the service of the Ifrit, it would destroy the balance of chance forever.

Review: The first volume of P.B.Kerr's Children of the Lamp series is a clever new take on that old chestnut, the genie in the lamp; he signals the depth of his research by making particular note that the djinn do not like the traditional singular djinni, because it is too much like genie and then everyone expects Turkish pants and three wishes. The idea of a war of probability, with good and bad djinn struggling to control the balance of luck in the universe is both novel and intriguing; far more so than if the djinn were merely fighting for power. His djinn are also a well thought-out race, rather than hackneyed pantomime throwbacks. 

The Akhenaten Adventure - which also provides a snifter of authentic Egyptology with its adventurous hijinks and sympathetic magic - is a splendid romp, although I have slight reservations about the fact that one of the djinn's innate abilities means that they both love and are unharmed by tobacco smoke. Nevertheless, this is a book that should be entered into textbooks under the heading: How to create an interesting modern-day fantastic race.

2006-10-29