Pandora Jones doesn’t remember much of what happened before she woke up in hospital. Small, terrifying flashes of memories fill her brain, giving her only slight clues as to what has happened to the world. She’s been told that only 10,000 people are still alive and that the place she has been brought to, known as The School, is where survivors are quarantined and guarded from the devastated outside world. Everyone is asked to name their strengths before being paired with a mentor who will help harness these, but why? What are they being guarded from and what are they up against? Pan starts to question what the higher beings of The School are up to, and exactly what it is they are not telling the students.

Pandora Jones: Admission is a gripping, creative first novel in an exciting new series from Australian author Barry Jonsberg. From the get-go the reader is hooked in by Pan’s terrifying visions of the past and is wholly taken in by the captivating world of The School. Pan’s character is perfectly written and the twist at the end was something I never saw coming, making me terribly excited for book two. For ages 13 and up.

Katherine Dretzke