Way of the Argosi
by Sebastien de Castell, Hot Key Books £14.99
De Castell returns to his witty Spellslinger series with a prequel featuring one of its most alluring characters, the enigmatic Ferius Parfax. It means we won’t be meeting the series’ downbeat hero, Kellen, or his squirrel cat sidekick, but Ferius’s passage from oppressed girlhood to kick-ass heroine provides plenty of thrills.
Tsunami Girl
by Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada, Guppy Books £9.99
Told in prose and manga, the story of teenage Yuki, who loses her grandfather in the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, is moving, unsettling and thoroughly original. An aspiring manga artist herself, Yuki calls on her own creation, a boy superhero, to help her navigate the choppy waters of grief, alienation and romance.
The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne
by Jonathan Stroud, Walker Books £7.99/Knopf $15.99
She is a fearless bank robber in league with a shadowy criminal fraternity; he is a timid runaway from a terrifying medical institution. These unlikely allies must make their way to safety across a broken and flooded future England, full of monsters, spies and villains. Explosions, daring escapes and shoot-outs are served up in Stroud’s inimitable style.
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