I have just finished reading the latest novel by Tauranga writer Deryn Pittar. It’s a post-nuclear future tale for young adults that really packs a punch.
Calista Waterman lives in a community under the Southern Alps in a world ravaged by nuclear warfare. As a fertile female of 18, she has given birth twice and is scheduled for a third artificial insemination. Breeders are highly prized in a post-nuclear world.

In the tunnels her community lives safely from the radiation above ground – but do they? When Calista is offered a life on the outside by her outlaw father, she learns that all is not what it seems. Forced to return to the tunnels, Calista has seen and learned too much to settle for life underground again.
The story moves at a cracking pace and the main character Calista has much to contend with. She is both naïve and worldly, and her stubborn nature leads her into risky and rewarding situations alike. The setting draws on the landscape and the post-quake aspect of Canterbury and it is exciting to read about a place that is familiar and uniquely New Zealand.

The dialogue is a little clunky in places and a magic cape is an intriguing but slightly random element, but these are small issues against an exciting story. I’d be happy to recommend it to young adult readers.