Djinn City

On the basis of this (literally as well as figuratively) fantastic novel, Bangladeshi author Hossain (Escape from Baghdad) is a comer. Ten-year-old Indelbed lives like an orphan, ignored by his father, Dr. Kaikobad, in a crumbling mansion in Bangladesh. Whenever he asks his drink-sodden parent how his mother died, the Doctor answers, "Death by Indelbed." When his father falls into a supernaturally induced coma, Indelbed discovers that the Doctor is an important magician, brokering transactions between men and djinn. Something about Indelbed displeases the djinn: they declare a "hunt" with Indelbed the prey. So many, and so fantastic, things happen then that it's hard to keep track in this fast-paced novel of supernatural and natural hijinks. It spans more than ten years, with rock wyrms and an incipient dragon, a mage with no legs, and one character, a djinn, who is a large school of fish. (Think "collective consciousness.") No other author writes exactly like Hossain, but lovers of China Mieville's Kraken may recognize the terrain.