A gripping young adult novel about a future England which has devolved into a sort of city-country apartheid dictatorship. The class system and the monarchy in present-day little Britain make the suspension of disbelief all too easy. A rebellion against this oppressive system is inevitable for a decent character, and becoming that person is a big part of the journey for the protagonist in this excellent little book.

The first section of the book, which describes the bleak urban drudgery of the city's workers, reminded me of the dismal London of the 1970s, which spawned the punk rock movement. I wouldn't claim that "The Guardians" is in the same class as "The Handmaid's Tale" (especially because John Christopher has a poor record of female representation in my reading so far) , but I was also reminded of Margaret Attwood's classic as I was reading "The Guardians".

If you are the type of reader who enjoys books written for old and young people, you win. In fact books for young readers like "The Guardians" are better thought of as books for everyone in my opinion.