Gee Dickinson writes a brilliant variety of books - he should be more famous in the US (apparently he's very well-known in the UK). I am going to at least look at every juvenile he writes.

Didn't get far in this one, though, at all; *I* just am not in the mood to read about a little invented country in fractured Eastern Europe, all the war and politics and intrigue - and it's supposed to be a Children's book!