The best YA fiction for the summer break – The Scotsman

Amy Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s genre-defying, gender bending Lady’s Knight (Electric Monkey £9.99) follows the sharp-tongued and fiercely independent Lady Isobelle of Avington as she is offered as the unwilling prize in Darkhaven Castle’s annual Tournament of the Dragonslayers. Meanwhile Gwen, the daughter of a local blacksmith, has always dreamt of becoming a sword wielding knight. A quirk of fate brings the two together and they quickly hatch a cunning plan: Gwen will disguise herself as a nobleman, enter the tournament, flip dragon slaying conventions on their heads and save Isobelle from a forced marriage – what could possibly go wrong? A hilarious and heartfelt feminist revision of familiar medieval legends.

Geraldine McCaughrean’s explosive World War Two novel Under A Fire-Red Sky (Usborne, £8.99) explores the harsh reality of being young in 1940s London. Set during The Blitz, it follows four teenage friends as they navigate adolescence and the daily fight for survival in their war-torn city. Having evaded evacuation, their bonds deepen as they encounter hope, love and loss during the very darkest of times. In short, punchy chapters, McCaughrean captures both the horrors of war and the importance of friendship.

Technology’s great… until it isn’t, as we find out in Josh Silver’s new thriller Traumaland (Rock The Boat, £8.99). Following a near-fatal car crash, 17-year-old Eli has been emotionally distant from friends and family and as the anniversary of the accident approaches he stumbles upon Traumaland, an underground club where people experience virtual reality simulations of nightmarish scenarios. At first Eli feels that this could be his ticket to finally coming to terms with his trauma, but things take a dark turn when he begins uncovering secrets that blur the line between reality and illusion. Silver paints a richly detailed picture of an alarmingly relatable world, examining how people cope with trauma in a digital age.

Set in a near-future London, Augmented by Kenechi Udogu (Faber, £8.99) follows 16-year-old Akaego as her fairly normal life is turned upside down upon discovering that she has a rare gift – she can project vocal frequencies that accelerate plant growth. In order to maintain a utopian existence in a world where extreme weather makes every day a bitter challenge, society has turned to surgical enhancements in order to ensure its survival, and Akaego finds herself suddenly thrust into a prestigious academy to nurture her gift. However, as an underground anti-enhancement rebellion gains traction and the sinister truth about augmentation is made known, she choose whether to embrace her supposed destiny or stand with those trying to abolish the enhancement movement for good. A gripping tale of self discovery, political conspiracy and ethical uses of technology.

In the futuristic, time-twisting thriller Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue (Walker Books, £14.99), Margo finds herself inadvertently travelling through parallel interconnected worlds while making her way to a new boarding school. She discovers that time operates very differently in these worlds, where salesmen use it as currency and the highest bidder can experience extended youth. Margo encounters Moon, a travelling salesman, and the pair’s fates become entwined, with Margo posing as a fellow salesman in order to survive. But in a harsh, unforgiving environment where skipping through time risks succumbing to a condition called Skipshock, they must both be careful of who they can trust, including themselves. A sophisticated and vibrantly detailed romantic fantasy.