Waywalkers and Timekeepers - Catherine Webb

Catherine Webb's Waywalkers and Timekeepers form a two part series centred around Sam Linnfer who works part time at a London University. He's a quiet chap with only a few friends and an amazing skill for languages, especially old and obscure ones. He's also immortal and the illegitimate Son of Time. He's also known as Lucifer or Satan. Fortunately for humanity the Bearer of Light is far from the nasty guy whom he's been portrayed as by history; with all the Gods (including Thor, Jehovah and Odin) in Heaven about to go to war. One of Sam's brothers, Seth, intends to set Cronus free - and Cronus will stop time: there will be no more death or birth, change or progress - everything will just become static, and the only one who can stop Cronus is Sam, if he releases the Light he bears. The problem is that if Sam fully discharges the Light, it will send him insane or kill him (he's not quite sure which), and with more and more of his allies being taken over by the Pandora spirits of Hatred, Suspicion and Jealousy, and more and more of his brothers selling their souls to War, Night and their co-conspirators, Sam is running out of options that will keep him alive.

These books are very good, more so because Webb wrote them whilst she was still a teenager and taking her A Levels. (Her first novels, Mirror Dreams and Mirror Wakes were published when she was just 14/15). I read the whole of Waywalkers before discovering Webb's age in the "About the Author" section at the back of the book, and I honestly could not tell that she was not in her 20s at least, since her writing style is so mature.

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Film News 1: Open auditions will be held to cast the lead for new Philip Pullman film The Golden Compass, it has been reported by the BBC. Producers will scour the UK to find a young actress to play the role of Lyra Belacqua, said Screen Daily. The casting calls will have open queues from 1000-1200 GMT and will end at 1700 GMT. The locations are Cambridge's Corn Exchange (4 April), Kendal's Castle Green Hotel (6 April), Oxford's Examination Schools (11 April), and Exeter's Great Hall at the University of Exeter (13 April).

Film News 2: Kate Kellaway in the Guardian reports on a meeting with Anthony Horowitz about the summer film of his Stormbreaker novel.