Book excerpt: This is a story for all ages, set in a time and place best known to lovers of fairytales and myths. It is a modern fable, a way of understanding who we are now and how our search for identity affects our perceptions and actions, shot through with the gentle magic of Ben Okri's imaginative prose. ¿Astonishing the Gods is properly worked and exact, and fulfils Calvino¿s prescription for lightness ¿ being like a bird rather than a feather¿ New Statesman & Society