Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

Daniel faces dastardly Number Two, who has slowly been amassing an underground army of aliens to help him enslave Earth's population in preparation for the arrival of Number One, the most powerful alien in the universe and Daniel's arch-nemesis.

Reluctant teenage-spy Alex Rider, on a routine mission at the Wimbledon tennis championships, gets caught up in Chinese gangs, illegal nuclear weapons, and the suspect plans of his Russian host, General Sarov.