The Disappearance of Ember Crow

Gr 7 Up—In this second installment of the dystopian series, Ashala Wolf's closest friend Ember Crow has disappeared. The series is set in a postapocalyptic Australia where humanity's abuse of the environment has caused societal and environmental chaos called the Reckoning and where young people who have developed strange abilities evade the government by hiding in a wilderness area called the Firstwood. As the story opens, Ashala must return from the wolf world to protect her Tribe and go in search of her missing friend. Her mission is complicated by a cryptic vision in which Grandfather Serpent tells her to "beware the angels" and Ember's own warnings that she hasn't told Ashala the entire truth about her past. As the protagonist and her friend Connor search for Ember, they discover hidden secrets about legendary inventor Alexander Hoffman, who predicted the Reckoning, and Ember's origins, secrets that endanger their Tribe and other people, which will force them to consider what it means to be human. Readers will need to be familiar with The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (Candlewick, 2014) to understand the events in this one. However, Kwaymullina's rich world-building, which incorporates the worldviews and ancient stories of Australia's indigenous people, makes this series stand out in the crowded field of YA dystopian fiction.