Catherynne M. Valente uses this inventive basis to weave in and out of tales that are part nouveau mythology and part fairy tale, inter-flowing in a river of dreams. Her use of language is often quite beautiful, and the basic elements with which she works are further enhanced by knavish twists of standard fantasy archetypes. Elements from a variety cultures are expertly mixed and peppered with Valente's intriguing creative sparks. Each character and situation the narrator reveals feels as if it has a life of its own, yet mingles with others in ways that enhance the whole. In the Night Garden also shares at least three traits with the ubiquitous Harry Potter. The spellbinding descriptive almost forces readers to continue just a few pages more, the stories can be appreciated equally by children and adults, and both good and evil are vividly defined in the mind's eye. As if this feast wasn't quite enough, the unstoppable creative force of the book is given an extra burst by a series of evocative black and white illustrations, from veteran comic book artist Michael Kaluta.

Every tale told by the narrator brims with the stuff of life. At turns poetic, sumptuous, beguiling and numinous, the tales are interspersed by sly glimpses of the growing relationship between the storyteller and her prince. The overall effect is to make reading In the Night Garden as close to a genuinely magical experience as it's possible to get, and elevates the work above most other contemporary fantasy. One day in the not too distant future, it could easily come to be regarded as a literary classic. Savvy school librarians should add it to their lists right now. Cover to cover, this is an astonishing work which reinterprets and redefines the definition of a modern classic fairytale.