Falling Kingdoms

Author: Morgan Rhodes

Publisher: Razorbill, 400 pages THEY gave up magic in exchange for peace, or so they thought. But now, three kingdoms are grappling for power and brutalising their citizens in the process. Could the old, forgotten magic be the answer?

Four young people are caught up in the threatening chaos: a princess, a rebel, a girl discovering her supernatural gifts, and a warrior taught only to conquer, never to love. They each begin journeys, both literal and metaphorical, as they discover their strengths and weakness even while grappling with the dire situation their countries face.

Bittersweet

Author: Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 400 pages

SHE’S a master baker at only 17, so what is Hudson doing keeping her head down and baking cupcakes for her mother’s struggling diner? Well, there was her parents’ divorce for which – like most teens – she feels responsible, and then there’s the friendship issue that she’s struggling with after a huge betrayal. It’s enough to make any girl stick her head in the sand and take cover.

But what happens if opportunity comes a-knocking again? Will Hudson have the courage to lift her head and grab life with both hands?

When We Wake

Author: Karen Healey

Publisher: Little Brown Us, 304 pages

IT is the year 2027 and teenagers are still pretty much teenagers: 16-year-old Tegan Oglietti is balancing friends and a new boyfriend, playing her guitar, and protesting the world’s ills. And then she dies. And wakes up 100 years in the future.

Tegan, you see, is the first person to ever be revived from being cryonically frozen, which makes her an instant celebrity. But this future she’s seeing is an ugly one and when deadly secrets come to life, she has to decide if she wants to keep her head down and simply survive or rise up and fight for a better world.

The Archived

Author: Victoria Schwab

Publisher: Hyperion Books, 336 pages

IN a world where the dead are called Histories and their stories can be read like books by people called Librarians, Mackenzie Bishop takes over from her father as a Keeper of the Archive.

Not only is her job a constant reminder of the loss of her father, it’s also very dangerous as she has to keep the often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out.

To make things worse, someone is changing the Histories that should never be touched, taking out important chapters. Mac has to piece together what is left before the Archive itself crumbles and falls.

Etiquette And Espionage

Author: Gail Carriger

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 320 pages

GAIL Carriger, author of Victorian comedy of manners series, The Parasol Protectorate, begins a new series with Etiquette And Espionage set in the same steampunk era she’s famous for.

Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality isn’t your typical finishing school, 14-year-old Sophronia finds. After being sent there by her mother because of her tendency to favour unladylike pastimes, Sophronia gleefully welcomes the discovery that this school not only teaches a girl how to curtsy properly but also how to throw a knife while doing it!

Shadows

Author: Paula Weston

Publisher: Indigo Books, 388 pages

HOW do you recover from losing a twin? It has been a year since Gaby Winters lost twin brother Jude in a car crash and though she’s physically healed, her emotions are still raw.

It doesn’t help that the 20something keeps having unsettling nightmares about a strange guy and of battling demons, either.

Then the stranger from her dreams appears in town. Rafa has stories to tell Gaby, about her brother, about how her life is not what she thinks it is, about the Rephaim .... – Compiled by Natashya Khoo and Wu Yee Pheng

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