The Supernova Era | Cixin Liu | $32.99 | HarperCollins
Lewis is a renowned Australian fantasy author and she won the 2018 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for The Witch Who Courted Death. Now The Wailing Woman – set within her paranormal universe’s version of Sydney – takes a hard look into what it means to find your voice, and how to use it. With commentary on today’s society woven through the story of a teenage banshee, this is a book that promises to speak to young women everywhere.
Chinese author Liu takes the concept of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and blows it to a global scale. When a supernova blankets Earth in radiation that is deadly to anyone over the age of 13, adults have only one year to teach adolescents how to govern our societies. What is too young a mind anyway? Will children be able to better the world? Supernova Era is the latest book by Liu to be translated into English. Not one to miss for fans of thought-experiment science-fiction.
— Ayesha
— Sanjo
Warrior of the Altaii | Robert Jordan | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan
After the Flood | Kassandra Montag | $32.99 | HarperCollins
In a 2003 interview with SFRevu, Jordan said of Warriors of the Altaii, ‘You will never see it, or know anything about it. I have not destroyed the manuscript, because it has powerful juju... but in my will I have provisions to have that manuscript burned.’ Now, 40 years after the manuscript was first purchased, Tor is finally ready to publish Jordan’s first novel for his legion of fans. Are they committing sacrilege? Or was the epic-fantasy titan just colourfully masking insecurities about his efforts as a novice writer? I’m very excited to find out! — Sanjo
Climate fiction has never been more relevant or pertinent as it is right now. After the Flood takes place roughly 100 years in the future, after most of the world’s land has been drowned in rising ocean waters due to catastrophic global warming. A stubbornly independent young mother, Myra, must risk everything to find the daughter stolen from her years before. A compelling and intrepid tale, After the Flood combines the poignant, moving story of a mother’s love, grief and will for survival with all the action and adventure of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. — Sarah
SCIENCE-FICTION/FANTASY
The Wailing Woman | Maria Lewis | $32.99 | Hachette
Imaginary Friend | Stephen Chbosky | $32.99 | Hachette In the darkest hours of night while turning those pages at a swift pace, Imaginary Friend truly terrified me! Beginning in comfortable, familiar horror genre territory with a small town, four young boys, a single mum, and an interested sheriff, what happens from this point on is Chbosky’s very own, scary creation. Worlds away from his debut novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, yet he has similarly created characters you adore and want to protect. This is a perfect stay-cation read for anyone who loves a good fright. — Dean
“A PERFECT STAY-CATION READ FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES A GOOD FRIGHT.”
The Grace Year | Kim Liggett | $32.99 | Penguin Random House Tierney James is one of the most strong-willed characters I have ever come across in a work of fiction. This is all the more impressive considering that she has been raised in the oppressive confines of the county, a dystopian village with extremely patriarchal values. Adolescent girls are believed to possess a dangerous power and so, for the safety of the men, they must spend their sixteenth year in the wilderness expelling every last trace of this magic. None of them have been prepared for this year–the Grace Year–for talk of it is forbidden. What awaits Tierney and her peers is a harrowing experience as they spiral into the madness of herd mentality. For in a sexist world, the most damaging thing women can do is turn on each other. This is a gritty tale of survival which will remind you of the importance of unity when faced with injustice. — Angelita
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