Waer

This brilliant young adult fantasy debut from young Australian writer Meg Caddy sees the emergence of an exciting new talent in speculative fiction.

As night fell, something stirred the darkness. Birds shrieked, rising into the air as the peace cracked and fell apart. Flashes of crimson uniform cut the smothering black of the woods. The smell of smoke lifted through the boughs and choked the leaves. A drum beat out a steady pulse as soldiers tore over the dead leaf matter, hacking their way through the web of forest. The prisoner ran.

When Lowell Sencha finds the strange girl lying as if dead on the riverbank, he is startled to find that she is like them: waer. Human, but able to assume the form of a wolf. The Sencha family's small community has kept itself sequestered and unnoticed, free from persecution. The arrival of a fellow traveller, and a hunted one at that, threatens their very survival.

Sure enough, the soldiers of the blood-purist Daeman Leldh soon descend on the village searching for her, burning and slaughtering. Lowell and the mysterious stranger are among the few to escape. And now they must find their way to the city of Luthan where, she says, they will find people to help them bring down Daeman Leldh.

If she can persuade them not to kill her.

'A new world of shape-shifters and a time-honoured battle between good and evil come alive in Caddy's debut fantasy for teens.' Kirkus

'This is a tale of, among other things, righteous revenge, told in alternating chapters by the two main characters, whose perspectives convey the impact of the difficult circumstances on even the most gentle people...Love wins out in this well-constructed world, mapped literally and figuratively by the author.' Booklist

'This book does not let you go once you start...Incredibly addictive and fast paced.'
Readers in Wonderland

'This novel has all the fast-paced action and enjoyment of the first Eragon novel, but it is far more layered and original.' Incredible Rambling Emily