Young adult
Swarm by Scott Westerfield, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti
I have been desperately awaiting the next instalment in this series since I finished the first book, Zeroes, late last year, and I have definitely not waited in vain. Flicker, Anonymous, Crash, Scam, Glorious Leader, and Mob have been…
The Otherlife by Julia Gray
Julia Gray’s The Otherlife is an extraordinary read that defies expectations. Norse mythological themes are at work here but this is not a mythic adventure story in thetradition of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. This book is firmly grounded in…
Everything Is Changed by Nova Weetman
There are many ways to tell a story, but reverse chronology must be one of the least common – there has to be a good reason for writing a story backwards. Nova Weetman had one such reason and in Everything…
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland
There’s already quite a bit of buzz about Krystal Sutherland’s debut novel, with comparisons being drawn to John Green and Rainbow Rowell and a movie already in the works. It’s a big vote of confidence in this young Queensland writer…
The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín
It is incredibly exciting to get your hands on a book that you know within the first few pages is going to be talked about by the global YA community and beyond. The Call is just such a book.
Nessa…
Highly Illogical Behaviour by John Corey Whaley
When I started reading this, I was instantly worried that this was going to be a ‘girl befriends troubled boy, they fall in love and she fixes him’ sort of book. Thankfully, it was not at all. Lisa is determined…
My First Lesson by Alice Pung
Teenagers are often written at by adults, but My First Lesson is a rare opportunity for twenty-five teenagers to tell their own stories in their own inimitable ways. Keen young writers were invited to respond creatively to the themes in…
Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
A second-hand bookstore, a love story, and a letter-library: all of these things are mentioned on the blurb of Cath Crowley’s new book, Words In Deep Blue. Really, why wouldn’t you want to read something that has these as…
Promising Azra by Helen Thurloe
Helen Thurloe’s Promising Azra is a powerful human interest story. This work casts a spotlight on the clandestine practise of forced marriage of young women living in conservative sectors of the Australian Muslim community.
For sixteen-year-old Azra Ajmal, a first…
Drag Teen by Jeffery Self
Drag Teen is a really fun novel. Unusually, and quite refreshingly, this is not a coming-out novel, but rather a novel about self-acceptance and body image. JT, a queer teen with secret aspirations of drag queendom, just wants to get…
Browse our reviews by category
