Girrrl power rules

The girls give the boys a run for their money in this week’s roundup.

Sadie

Author: Courtney summers Publisher: Wednesday Books, crime thriller SADIE practically raised her 13-year-old sister herself thanks to an absent father and a drug-addicted mother. So when Mattie is found dead, the 19-yearold Sadie is determined to find the killer. She hits the road on her quest, leaving behind a worried “honorary grandmother”, who gets a radio reporter involved.

West McCray becomes obsessed with finding Sadie, and starts a podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey across the country.

Pride

Author: Ibi Zoboi

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, contemporary fiction AUTHOR Ibi Zoboi remixes Jane Austen’s classic, Pride & Prejudice, bringing the story into the present, setting it in New York City and changing the cast of characters from white to people of colour (Haitian-Dominican, specifically).

Zuri Benitez (the Elizabeth Bennet of this version) is getting more and more agitated by the gentrification of her beloved neighbourhood – and then the Darcys move into an expensively renovated house across from her! Darius Darcy is a snob, of course, sniffs Zuri dismissively, but then she discovers he’s a poet like her, and maybe, perhaps, knows where she’s coming from ....

An Assassin’s Guide To Love And Treason

Author: Virginia Boecker Publisher: Little, Brown Books for young readers, historical adventure IN Elizabethan England, the young Lady Katherine’s Catholic father is murdered by a royal assassin. Swearing vengeance, she disguises herself as a boy and tries to get access to Queen Elizabeth I – and the perfect chance comes in the form of one Will Shakespeare’s play that will be performed within feet of the queen.

Katherine, now calling herself Kit, the boy actor, gets a role and finds herself acting opposite the gorgeous Toby. She’s attracted but Toby thinks she’s a he. And, she discovers, Toby has his secrets too ... in fact, could he be the queen’s spy about to entrap Katherine/Kit?

Analee, In Real Life

Author: Janelle Milanes Publisher: simon Pulse, contemporary fiction WHEN real life gets too bleak – mum died, dad has a new girlfriend, and your BFF dumped you – online gamers tend to retreat into their fantasy world. Analee Echevarria tries to spend as much time as possible as her game avatar, the dark elf Kiri.

But real life has other plans, like pairing her with school football star Seb for a science class project. And suddenly, Analee finds herself liking real life a little better. But Kira likes Harris, the online gaming partner who lives across the country. So who’s going to win, Analee or Kira?

Skyward (Skyward #1)

Author: Brandon sanderson Publisher: Gollancz, science fiction ON the world of Detritus, humans live underground, driven there by mysterious aliens called the Krell. The planet’s only hope are the starfighters flown by the Defiant Defence Force. It’s 16-year-old Spensa’s dream to join the force, not only to fight aliens but also to redeem her father’s name after he deserted in the midst of battle.

But some don’t want her to succeed. Struggling to stay alive during the brutal training, Spensa discovers things aren’t as simple as she thought, not the aliens, not her father, and not the old starfighter she comes across.

The Raging Storm (Warriors: A Vision of Shadows # 6)

Author: erin Hunter Publisher: HarperCollins, children’s fantasy IN the multipart series on clans of wild cats and their adventures, the Vision Of Shadows arc comes to an end with The Raging Storm.

The beleaguered ShadowClan has a new leader, Tigerstar, but the clan still faces problems as all the others around the lake get defensive in turn. SkyClan’s place among the Clans is about to be decided once and for all, as the story returns to the era of Bramblestar’s ThunderClan, after the events in the Omen Of The Stars arc that was published from 2009 to 2012.

Warriors is a collectively written series by six authors using the Erin Hunter pseudonym.