The Prince of Nowhere

Twelve-year-old white-cued Roda lives with her mother and Aunt Dora in an Aerland city bordered by a paralyzing mist. Everyone knows that, while the mist is dangerous, it’s meant to keep them safe; it petrifies anything that touches it, preventing the terrifying monsters of the wild from entering their town. After Roda rescues a small crow who seemingly tumbled through the mist, the bird turns out to be a shape-shifter named Ignis, a boy around her age who has no memory of what he was doing before he fell. Gathering up a series of letters, which Roda has been receiving from an anonymous source, the pair follow the notes and their ostensibly prophetic instructions beyond the mist and into the outside world, called Nowhere. Roda and Ignis travel across Nowhere’s perilous landscape, populated by dangerous creatures such as gryphons, hoping to encounter Kader’s Comet, which only appears once every 10 years and is rumored to be a portal between the past and present. Hassan grounds complex worldbuilding and characterizations with easily digestible writing and fluid dialogue. This keenly plotted fantasy debut blends a tranquil contemporary world with an epically time-rending adventure. Ages 12–up. Agent: Erica Bauman, Aevitas Creative Management. (May)