LIAR'S TEST

The latest from Kwaymullina (Palyku) weaves Indigenous Australian culture and experiences into a tale of conquest, resistance, and renewal.

Bell Silverleaf, 15, is a Treesinger. Falling Leaves, her community of interconnected humans and trees, is one of six groves created by the Ancestors—“living worlds of green amongst the hard shine of Radiance,” the city-kingdom that powerful alien deities forcibly relocated them to. The Risen, the gods’ human followers who arrived in Mistfall centuries ago, treat Treesingers as inferiors. After a sickness spread from its Birth tree four years ago, Falling Leaves went dormant. Bell’s granny, her grove’s Matriarch, sent her to seek a cure, but Bell was captured, brutalized, and confined to the sun-temple. Her only companion is Blue, the bright spark of the spirit of the twilight-god. Lying is Bell’s survival skill, keeping her safe. She feigns acceptance when she’s chosen to compete against six girls from across the social classes in the deadly Queen’s Test that will determine Radiance’s next ruler. Bell has support from her Ancestors, Blue, and Tricks, a Traveling, or little flowering branch she wears in her hair who speaks to her in the green language. But to succeed, Bell needs human allies. She knows that “Silverleaf secrets were for Silverleaf women and Silverleaf trees”—yet trust requires reciprocity and honesty. Bell is a smart, scrappy teen with emotional scars and a sense of humor. Tucked into a twisty, fast-paced narrative that explores legacies of colonialism are subtle messages about the ever-changing, symbiotic web of life.

Intriguing and imaginative.