Cirrus@Austlit

'A superb YA fantasy set in the near future, full of secrets, high stakes, peril, deceptions and dreamwalkers, from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of the Obernewtyn Chronicles and The Gathering.

'Will Helloran is sixteen years old and lives with his father in the Canberra dome complex that protects its inhabitants from the corrosive atmosphere outside.

'At night his dreams are haunted by his beloved uncle Adam, who unexpectedly died in his sleep almost a year ago. As the nightmares grow increasingly disturbing, Will comes to believe that his uncle's death may have been suspicious - and he begins investigating.

'Meanwhile, his best friend Ender is becoming concerned about her brilliant, troubled twin Magda, who has a top-secret intelligence role. When Magda disappears, Will is drawn into a web bigger than he can imagine. If he and his friends are to survive, he must navigate his way out of the treacherous dreamscape while staying safe in the waking world.

'Featuring a reluctant hero in a near-future city on an epic quest into an alternative dream world, Comes the Night is a thrilling new novel from Australia's queen of YA fantasy.'  (Publication summary)

'This is the post-apocalyptic fairy tale of Princess Rose, who dwells in a strange, complex walled Kingdom, the final outpost of a lost civilisation.

'Ruled by a tyrannical and all powerful despot, the Kingdom of Evermore survives and sometimes thrives in an otherwise devastated world of deserts and ruins inhabited by the plague-ridden descendants of those who chose not to sleep away the poisoned eons that followed the end of the old world.

'Growing up under the watchful eye of her stern but beloved nanny, Pilar, with the loving companionship of the bakers' son Quiet and the strange, enigmatic boy Enzo, Rose pursues two quests. One is to discover the origins of Evermore and the other is to understand the mysterious tragic death of her mother, a beautiful and gifted storyteller who began as a prisoner of the King before winning his heart and being made Queen of Evermore.

'What Rose does not know is that the two quests are linked, and only by learning the truth about the past will she find the means and the courage to walk the difficult and dangerous path that will lead to the redemption of Evermore and a future where love and hope are possible.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Before Elspeth Gordie can continue her journey to find Sentinel and prevent it unleashing the horrors of the Great White, she must fight free of a strange prison, where people are laid to sleep forever or cling to a suffocating existence, believing the world beyond their walls is already utterly annihilated.

'But at the end of her journey, nothing is as she imagined. She is drawn into the struggle for a kingdom, only to find the Destroyer is at the heart of the turmoil, waiting for her.

'Somehow she must do what she has sworn to do, for the sake of the world and all of its creatures. She must complete her quest, no matter what it costs . . .

'The highly anticipated dramatic conclusion to the much-loved Obernewtyn Chronicles from award-winning and bestselling author Isobelle Carmody. Drawing to a close the journey of Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits, The Red Queen will surprise and thrill readers right to the very last page.' (Sourced from publisher's website.)