Young Adult (ages 14-18)

Material appropriate for young adults

A Darkling Plain (The Hungry City Chronicles)

The once-great traction city of London is now just a radioactive wreck, a ruin haunted by electrical discharges and the dashed hopes of the people who once called it home – people like Tom Natsworthy. Twenty years after he fled, intending never to return, he discovers that something stirs in the remains of the old city.

Tom and his daughter, Wren, aren’t the only people interested in London. The desperate armies of the Traction Cities and the Green Storm are also closing in, certain that whatever is taking shape within the city holds the key to victory in their never-ending war.

But it may be too late. Even as Tom and Wren hurry to uncover the mystery of London, Hester Shaw – estranged from her husband and her daughter – tracks the resurrected Stalker Fang, who has found another way to end the war and all life on the planet once and for all.

Time’s Chariot

THE HIMALAYAS, 5000 BC:

Commissioner Daiho is dead, but there’s no question of foul play. The murder of a Home Timer is about as likely as unauthorized interference with the work of a Correspondent. . . .

Isfahan, Arabia, 1029:

Abu Ali was startled. He hadn’t heard the stranger enter. The Correspondent was even more alarmed—his enhanced senses would have picked up the arrival of any normal human. Then the stranger spoke, and it was the language of the Home Time. Seconds later, Correspondent RC/1029’s world went dark.

The Home Time, 2000 Years Later:

Field Operative Rico Garron is about to have a very bad day.

The Devil’s Breath

When fifteen-year-old Max Gordon’s environmentalist-adventurer father goes missing while working in Namibia and Max becomes the target of a would-be assassin at his school in England, he decides he must follow his father to Africa and find him before they both are killed.

Black Rabbit Summer

Thoughtful Pete, tough Pauly, twins Eric and Nicole, strange Raymond: As kids they were tight; now they’ve grown up–and apart. They agree to get together one last time, but, twisted by personal histories and fueled by pharmaceuticals, old jealousies surface. The party’s soon over, and the group splinters off into the night. Into the noise and heat and chaos of the carnival. Days later, a girl goes missing. The prime suspect in her disappearance? One of their own, one of the old gang. Pete doesn’t know what to believe: Could one of his childhood friends really be a cold-blooded killer?

Babylonne

Exotic and exciting, this unflinching coming-of-age tale featuring a headstrong heroine weaves a vivid tapestry of life in the Middle Ages.Early thirteenth-century Languedoc is a place of valor, violence, and persecution. At age sixteen, Babylonne has survived six bloody sieges. She’s tough, resourceful, and — now that her strict aunt and abusive grandmother intend to marry her off to a senile old man —desperate. Disguised as a boy, Babylonne embarks on an action-packed adventure that amounts to a choice: trust the mysterious Catholic priest — a sworn enemy to her Cathar faith — who says he’s a friend of her dead father, Pagan. Or pursue a fairy-tale version of her future, one in which she’ll fight and likely die in a vicious war with the French. Though Babylonne never knew her irreverent father, fans of Catherine Jinks’s novels about Pagan Kidrouk will be sure to see the resemblance in his feisty daughter.

The Last Apprentice: Wrath Of The Bloodeye (The Last Apprentice)

“I’ve already drunk my fill of blood, so live a little longer. Breathe for a while and watch what’s about to unfold.”

Thomas Ward has spent two years as the Spook’s apprentice. He’s faced unimaginable peril, and survived. But a new danger has emerged: an ancient water witch, Bloodeye, is roaming the County intent on destroying everything in her path. To strengthen his skills, Tom is sent to the far north to train with the demanding Bill Arkwright. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge of a treacherous marsh, and his training methods prove to be harsh and sometimes cruel. Will Tom’s new bag of tricks be enough to overcome a critical mistake that leaves him confronting Bloodeye on his own?

Daylight Runner

Asking questions in Ash Harbor can get you killed. Sol Wheat is asking a lot of questions . . . especially after his father vanishes and is accused of murder. Outside the huge domed city, an Ice Age has transformed Earth into an Arctic desert. But inside, the Machine, protected by the Clockworkers—a fearsome police organization—has become the source of the city’s energy and a way for industrial leaders to wield enormous power. When a rogue organization begins posting messages warning of the Machine’s impending failure, civil unrest grows. As Sol begins to uncover the city’s deepest secrets, the Clockworkers start targeting him. Now he’s on the run in Ash Harbor’s underground, where gangs rule and danger lurks in every corner. His life and the survival of Ash Harbor are both at risk. In Oisín McGann’s thrilling adventure, only the truth can help Sol Wheat escape the darkness.

The Door of No Return

Zac Baxter’s grandfather has always told him that he’s the descendant of African kings, whose treasure was stolen when his ancestors were sold into slavery. Of course, Zac brushes this off as a tall tale — until his grandfather is murdered and their apartment is completely ransacked. Clearly somebody is after something. Heeding his grandfather’s dying words, Zac is off to Ghana to track down his family’s history. Following every clue he can find, Zac begins to suspect that the treasure is real, and hidden in one of Ghana’s old slave forts. Too bad the killers always seem to be one step ahead of him. With no one he can trust and with everything to lose, Zac races against time as he tries to uncover the truth about the past and a fortune in gold.

Bonechiller

WELCOME TO NOWHERE. Danny’s dad takes a job as caretaker at a marina on the shore of a vast, frozen lake in Harvest Cove, a tiny town tucked away in Canada’s Big Empty. If you’re looking for somewhere to hide, this is it. It’s the worst winter in years. One night, running in the dark, Danny is attacked by a creature so strange and terrifying he tries to convince himself he was hallucinating. Then he learns about Native American legends of a monster that’s haunted the lake for a thousand years. And that every generation, in the coldest winters, kids have disappeared into the night. People think they ran away. Danny knows better. Because now the beast is after him.

Chalice

As the newly appointed Chalice, Mirasol is the most important member of the Master’s Circle. It is her duty to bind the Circle, the land and its people together with their new Master. But the new Master of Willowlands is a Priest of Fire, only drawn back into the human world by the sudden death of his brother. No one knows if it is even possible for him to live amongst his people. Mirasol wants the Master to have his chance, but her only training is as a beekeeper. How can she help settle their demesne during these troubled times and bind it to a Priest of Fire, the touch of whose hand can burn human flesh to the bone?

Robin McKinley weaves a captivating tale that reveals the healing power of duty and honor, love and honey.