One of the best parts of my job is ordering new books for the Edge–reading the reviews, seeing what popular authors come up with next, or finding out about an upcoming sequel to an old favorite. Read on to find out about some of the new YA fiction titles coming to our shelves this month.

-Kat, Teen Librarian

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson
Grades 8 and up
Library Catalog

“As war looms between dragons and humans in an alternate 1923, one girl is forced to work as a codebreaker to save her family. Vivien Featherswallow loves languages: She’s studied “three human languages and six dragon tongues” and hopes to become a Draconic Translator. A Second Class resident of London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood, Viv wholeheartedly supports the Peace Agreement made by Prime Minister Wyvernmire and the British Dragon Queen as well as the Class System that stratifies people into three tiers. So, when the rest of her family is suddenly arrested for their resistance group activities, Viv struggles to understand what’s going on. She bargains with Chumana, a rebellious dragon imprisoned in a University of London library: her release in exchange for burning down the prime minister’s office (and any evidence of her family’s wrongdoing that it contains).” –Kirkus Reviews

The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting by Natalie C. Parker
Grades 9 and up
Library Catalog

“A thrilling combination of superhero and crime fiction. Tru, 17, has grown up in a secret community of assassins and bounty hunters who live seemingly normal lives when they are not getting gigs through the BountyApp. This community shares a set of Talents; everyone has a superpower. Tru is already hiding many secrets for a teenager: the assassination of her parents that sent her to live with her uncle, that she holds the forbidden Talent of invulnerability, and last (but not least) that she has a huge crush on her best friend's older sister. Her life becomes even more complicated when a simple babysitting job gets interrupted by a bounty—on the baby. Tru and her friends will have to protect the newly orphaned baby while trying to untangle a mystery at the very heart of their community, one somehow tied into Tru's past.” –School Library Journal

Under the Light of Fireflies by Lee Sanders
Grades 6 and up
Library Catalog

“Debut author Sanders delivers a powerful, coming-of-age novel set in 1981 Texarkana, Texas. Twelve-year-old Noah Ellis is looking forward to summer, though he’s still coping with his father’s accidental drowning earlier that year. Early into vacation, Noah spends a day with Connor, a local misfit, which proves to be unexpectedly pleasant until a tragedy leaves Noah in the hospital with no memory of what happened. Fearing for Noah’s mental health, no one will tell him how he ended up in the hospital. The tragedy thrusts Noah into a courtroom fiasco involving a Russian zookeeper, an escaped tiger, a sleazy lawyer, and a towering judge.” –Booklist Reviews

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold
Grades 9 and up
Library Catalog

“Elizabeth Liz Flannery is doing her best in a postapocalyptic world—she’s set up a trade system in the bookstore she occupies, getting just enough human contact to maintain her sanity. One of her regulars notes a second Storm is coming, potentially causing more damage than the first that set the apocalypse going. Liz panics, unsure of how to manage the endless list of repairs that need to be done to the bookstore so she can survive the new Storm. Luckily, Maeve breaks in one fateful evening, and the two girls form a tentative, strained relationship, since Maeve has the skills Liz needs to make the repairs. The closer they get, the more threats appear amid the ruins, and they’ll both have to decide what’s worth sacrificing to survive.” –Booklist Reviews

This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz
Grades 9 and up
Library Catalog

“A rising senior struggles with her life path and her twin sister’s recent death. Julieta Villarreal, 17, can’t imagine working toward building her future while the world falls apart around her. Set in a near future where the climate crisis has turned her Florida home into a dangerous and increasingly uninhabitable hellscape, the story follows Colombian American Juli as she weathers her grief, depression, and feelings of hopelessness alone. She refuses to open up to her friends or therapist and avoids answering questions from caring AP English teacher Ms. Hawthorne and from her Mami (who’s also struggling to avoid ‘falling into the darkness again'). Eventually, Juli considers leaving the world behind and launching herself into the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the corporation StarCrest’s inaugural Cometa Mission, which will send 15 U.S. seniors into space for five years to establish a base camp on the moon.” –Kirkus Reviews

Sequels:

Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer
Grades 9 and up
Library Catalog

“Following a royal kidnapping and amid widespread fear of magic, the tenuous alliance between Emberfall and Syhl Shallow is tested by violent attacks on both sides of the border. In this sequel to 2022’s Forging Silver Into Stars, the three narrators are separated, and the stakes are even higher.” –Kirkus Reviews

The first book in the series, Forging Silver Into Stars, can be found here.