GARRISON GIRL

RELEASED 7 AUGUST 237 pages | Paperback

Author rachel aaron Publisher Quirk Books

Now this is unusual: a YA novel by an American author, spun off from a Japanese animation franchise. For the uninitiated, Attack On Titan envisions humanity living behind huge walls, besieged by the titular man-eating giants and defended by soldiers who use cables to swoop and swing into battle like Spider-Man. Both the manga and anime are still ongoing.

Rachel Aaron’s enjoyable spin-off boldly opts to create a new cast of characters, relegating the series’ established heroes to just a few glimpses. The book’s set early in the Titan story (around the time of the third and fourth episodes of the anime), and its heroine is 16-year-old Rosalie. She’s an aristocrat whose wedding has already been arranged by her cash-strapped family, but is determined to have a few months of freedom first. An army school graduate, she forces her way into a garrison posted at one of the walls, where she experiences the horror of fighting the giants for real, and clashes with a sergeant who hates her guts from the start.

From there, the story follows a very familiar trajectory, but crucially the fact that these characters are original means that their fates are uncertain. Many of the supporting cast are insubstantial, but Rosalie is likeable and engaging, and the later action scenes are terrifically exciting.