Review

15 year old Bell Silverleaf is a Treesinger, gentle first nations peoples dispossessed when the Risen fleet invaded Mistfall, and forcibly removed them from their tree-filled land to Radiance, a city-kingdom of brightstone. Bell’s Silverleaf family grove fell prey to a mysterious sleep four years ago and she, the sole awake Fallen Leaf, has been held prisoner in the temple of the sun god Tomas ever since, where she’s beat up by the vile high priest Alasdar and interrogated by the chief nun. She also has some allies: the archivist and a little blue light spirit she calls Blue, who is actually another god, Ronan. Ronan has written a book about lying, and Bell has taken its lessons to heart. She must lie to survive.

Especially now. The rules of the Queen’s Test, held every 25 years to elect a new ruler, have been changed: for the first time, a Treesinger girl – Bell – will be one of the contestants. The competition will be deadly. But Bell has a few tricks up her sleeve…

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This YA fantasy novel is described by Kwaymullina, a Palyku woman, as Indigenous futurism: it brings an Australian Indigenous sensibility, including a critical view of Indigenous dispossession and oppression, as well as a sense of Indigenous strengths and futures, to an SFF narrative.

I enjoyed Bell’s cheeky first person narrative perspective – she’s not easily impressed, and she’s an excellent liar. And although the idea of a contest that the protagonist must survive is not an original one, I thought those scenes were highly engaging and would appeal to fans of the very popular Prison Healer novels.

However, some aspects of the world building and plot were complicated. There are a lot of characters, including four gods and several characters with name changes. There are many fantasy-style proper nouns and original fantasy elements that are sometimes hard to understand or remember. There are complicated genealogies and cryptic dream/memory sequences that are printed in a harder-to-read font. I think less is more with these sorts of elements, which can so easily lead to readers closing the book and missing out.

Age: 12+

Verdict: engaging Indigenous fantasy sometimes weighed down by complicated details.

> Click here for content warnings – spoilers, enter at own risk!

YA depictions of: perilous situations including some deaths; postcolonial themes, e.g. dispossession, slavery, persecution, socio-political and religious oppression; physical abuse; non-graphic violence; non-consensual drugging; one chaste kiss.

Also, re: the cover, I preferred the US version (see left) – very cute and I think it looks more like its cheeky protagonist. I also love the custom lettering and its intertwined flowers (important in the novel), and the appealing tagline.

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Kwaymullina, A. (2024). Liar’s test. Text Publishing.

> Click here for image details

• Australian edition: Cover illustration by Amanda Wright; cover design based on the Penguin Random House US edition by Angela Carlino.
• US & Canadian edition (Penguin Random House): Jacket portrait © Amanda Wright; Jacket lettering and floral pattern © Alix Northrup.
• Images are used on this blog post under the “Fair dealing for criticism or review” provision of the Commonwealth Copyright Act, 1968.