Cirrus@Austlit

'From bestselling Australian author Lynette Noni comes a dark, thrilling YA fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.

'Here at Zalindov, the only person you can trust is yourself.

'Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.

'When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.

'Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: Don’t let her die. We are coming. Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

'But no one has ever survived.

'With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva's heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can't escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.' (Publication summary)

'Two sisters. One dangerous secret. Twenty-four hours to uncover the truth.

'Seventeen-year-old Tempest was born into a world of water. The most skilled diver on the Equinox Reef, she searches drowned cities with her older sister Elysea, seeking out old world treasures to trade for Notes. After Elysea mysteriously drowns, Tempest scavenges the ruins alone, driven to collect enough Notes to buy her sister's life for 24 hours, and to finally learn the secret she had kept until her last breath.

'However, once revived, Elysea convinces Tempest to break her out of the Palindromena research facility and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents' death. But they're pursued by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea's time is up and prevent them from uncovering the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored lives.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'SAM KINNISON IS A GEEK, AND HE'S TOTALLY FINE WITH THAT.

'He has his horror movies, his nerdy friends, World of Warcraft - and until Princess Leia turns up in his bedroom, worry about girls he won't.

'Then Camilla Carter turns up instead. She's beautiful, friendly and completely irrelevant to his plan. Sam is determined to ignore her, except that Camilla has a plan of her own - and he seems to be part of it.

'Sam believes that everything he needs to know he can learn from the movies. But perhaps he's been watching the wrong ones.

'Life in Outer Space is Melissa Keil's brilliantly sweet and funny debut YA novel. It's also the first book ever to be signed up through the Ampersand Project, Hardie Grant Egmont's initiative for emerging YA writers.' (Publisher's blurb)