Witch Crag

Growing up in the hill fort amongst a community of sheepmen, Kita grows up accustomed to hard work, hardship and rigid routine. Life since the Great Havoc has been tough, and the sheepmen are struggling to survive, but Kita chafes in a brutish culture in which women are treated as chattels, friendship and kindness are frowned upon, and every day is dominated by endless, monotonous hard work. 

Lurking always in the background is the threat of the sinister and dangerous community of witches that live on the mountain-top, flickering strange green and purple lights by night - witches that are said to use their evil powers to abduct girls and brutally murder sheepmen. But Kita is no longer convinced by the whispers about Witch Crag, and becomes intrigued by the rumours about other young women who have previously escaped the hill fort for good. Finally she makes up her mind to leave in secret, taking her two best friends Raff and Quainy with her. But can they escape the hill fort undetected - and what will they really find waiting for them at Witch Crag?

Set in a post-apocalyptic future in which technology has failed, former cities lie in ruins and society has reorganised itself into a series of tribes, Witch Crag stands out as a more imaginative and credible dystopian novel amongst numerous bland Hunger Games imitators. Pacy, tense and with a compelling heroine it certainly packs in plenty of action, following Kita to Witch Crag and far beyond: it's refreshing to read a dystopian novel that is satisfyingly complete in itself,  and doesn't leave the reader dangling on a cliffhanger until the next installment.