Young adult sci-fi and fantasy books

Looking for a new adventure this winter? Or a new fantastical world to discover? Take a look at our recommended sci-fi and fantasy books for teens and young adult, free to borrow with your library card!

Iron Widow

The boys of Huaxia dream of the celebrity status that comes with piloting Chrysalises - giant transforming robots that battle the aliens beyond the Great Wall. Their female co-pilots are expected to serve as concubines and sacrifice their lives. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, her plan is to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But on miraculously emerging from the cockpit unscathed after her first battle, the Iron Widow sets her sights on bigger things. The time has come to take on the entire patriarchal military system.

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War of the Worlds: A Graphic Novel

In 1894, across space, this Earth was being watched by envious eyes, and plans were being drawn up for an attack. What seems to be a meteorite falls to Earth, but from the debris, unfolds terrifying alien life. A young man called Leon records his observations and sketches. 'Those who have never seen Martian life can scarcely imagine the horror' - he tells us. 'Even at this first glimpse, I was overcome with fear and dread. The Earth stood still as we watched, almost unable to move'. As war descends, Leon and his scientist wife race against the clock to discover the science behind these Martians in the hopes of ending this war of all worlds.

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Aurora Rising

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch. A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm. A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates. A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy's biggest chip on his shoulder. An alien warrior with anger management issues. A tomboy pilot who's totally not into him, in case you were wondering. And Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem - that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth.

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The Knife of Never Letting Go

Imagine you can hear everything the town of men say about you. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit into their plans. Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run.

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The Space Between Here & Now

Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to time travel to a moment in her life when she smells something linked to that memory. Her dad is convinced she'll simply grow out of it if she tries hard enough, but Aimee's fear of vanishing at random has kept her from living a normal life. When Aimee disappears for nine hours into a memory of her estranged mom - a moment Aimee has never remembered before - she becomes distraught. Not only was this her longest disappearance yet, but the memory doesn't match up with the story of how her mom left - at least, not the version she's always heard from her dad. Desperate for answers, Aimee travels to Korea, where she unravels the mystery of her memories, the truth about her mother, and the reason she keeps returning to certain moments in her life.

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Sabriel

Sabriel is sent as a child across the Wall to the safety of a school in Ancelstierre. Away from magic; away from the Dead. After receiving a cryptic message from her father, 18-year-old Sabriel leaves her ordinary school and returns across the Wall into the Old Kingdom. Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible challenges whilst discovering her own supernatural abilities – and her destiny.

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Scythe

In a world where disease, war and crime have been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed by professional scythes. Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythes' apprentices, and despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation, they must learn the art of killing and understand the necessity of what they do. Only one of them will be chosen as a scythe's apprentice and as Citra and Rowan come up against a terrifyingly corrupt Scythedom, it becomes clear that the winning apprentice's first task will be to kill the loser.

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

16-year-old Jacob has discovered the ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores the abandoned building, he realises that the children were more than just peculiar - they may have been dangerous. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive.

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The Upper World

The story of two teenagers, a generation apart, connected across time by one bullet about to devastate both of their lives. 2020: Close to getting expelled and caught up in a deadly feud, the tensions surrounding Esso seem to be leading to a single moment that could shatter his future. 2035: Stripped of everything, football prodigy Rhia has just one thing left on her mind - figuring out how to avert a bullet that was fired 15 years in the past. Everything changes when Esso gains access to a mysterious world where he can see glimpses of the past and future, and when Rhia starts understanding the physics of it. The two must work together to master the secrets of the Upper World and seize control of their own destinies before it's too late.

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The Giver

It's a perfect world, where everything looks right. But ugly truths lie beneath. In a future society, life appears civilised and ordered. But when 12-year-old Jonas is given the job of 'Receiver of Memories' he realises the horrible truth that lies behind the perfect facade.

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