Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear

November 6, 2023
In a world where magic was sealed away generations ago by an enormous rune created by fault lines, only the secretive Guardians can wield its power, which they use to protect the faults. Seventeen-year-old Sid Spencer, who lives in the small tourist trap town of Wellsie, leads a mundane life dodging crowds, avoiding her ex–best friend, and navigating her predominantly white community as an adoptee from Korea. When the fault line Wellsie rests upon splits, and ravenous, soulless zombies pour out, Sid is forced to hack and slash her way toward survival, struggling against increasingly horrific happenings to reunite with her friends and family, as well as grapple with revelations about the magic she’d been living on top of her whole life. Banding with a ragtag group of individuals striving to reseal the fault line, Sid uncovers her own hidden talents amid extraordinary circumstances. Though the plot sometimes feels unfocused, Wasley deftly juggles inventive worldbuilding with introspective ruminations on adoption, found family, and self-acceptance. A large and eclectic intersectionally diverse cast; fast-paced, brutal action; and thrilling reveals round out this genre-bending debut that is at once funny, terrifying, and heart-wrenching from start to finish. Ages 14–up. Agent: Janine Kamouth, WME.