This is so good…….. I wouldn’t call it YA, I call it great sci-fi ! In depth characters, twists and turns, page turning wonderness. I can’t wait to see what the author writes for book 2. Thank you so much to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Emma Lord's Anomaly is a gripping YA dystopian thriller that successfully blends post-apocalyptic survival, science fiction, horror, and emotional character development. As the first book in the Children of Fate trilogy, it delivers both a satisfying standalone adventure and an intriguing foundation for a larger series. Anomaly is one of the strongest recent Australian YA speculative-fiction debuts.

I don't read a lot of YA sci-fi, but Emma Lord's writing had me hooked 30 pages in.
The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, building tension and anxiety from the outset, and I ended up devouring the book in a single sitting.
The unapologetically Australian setting is one of the book's greatest strengths. The vernacular, weather, food and familiar details make the near-future world feel creepily real, evoking memories of Tomorrow When the War Began.
Shifting perspectives and flashbacks steadily build both the suspense and the mystery.
I could genuinely see this working as a film tomorrow.
The characters felt authentic, particularly Piper, whose grief, shame and uncertainty made her compelling to follow. Seth remained more mysterious, but that suited his role in the story.
My only real criticism is that the ending felt a little neat compared with the gritty tone of the rest of the book.
Anomaly is easily one of my reads of the year.

Anomaly by Emma Lord — ★★★★★
Emma Lord's debut delivers a post-apocalyptic YA thriller with real teeth. Seventeen-year-old Piper Manning survived the virus that wiped out most of the world, but she didn't come out unscathed. It left her with an uncontrollable power she can't risk unleashing around other people. When an injured boy named Seth turns up at her isolated mountain hideout, Piper is forced to break her self-imposed isolation, and quickly learns that whatever hurt him is now hunting her too.
Lord's pacing is relentless, layering in flashbacks and slow-drip reveals that kept me guessing. The twist involving Seth genuinely caught me off guard. No spoilers, but it recontextualizes everything that came before it, and I love a book that can pull that off without it feeling cheap. Piper herself is easy to root for, guarded and traumatized in a way that makes sense but never passive, and her dog Griff was a total scene-stealer. He added warmth and levity to a story that otherwise leans dark.
Worth noting: this is marketed as YA, but it sits on the older end of the category. The horror elements have real bite and the themes (grief, isolation, bodily autonomy) are handled with more weight than a lot of YA attempts. Don't go in expecting a light read.
This is a debut that reads like it wasn't one. It has that same can't-put-it-down quality as The Hunger Games or Divergent, but with a sharper horror edge. The ending sets up the sequel (Scion), and I'm already impatient for it.
5/5. An instant favorite. Highly, highly recommend, especially for older YA readers who want their horror to actually feel dangerous.