Flickerstate
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Aug 4, 2026
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A Study In Drowning meets Neverworld Wake in this debut YA fantasy filled with lush world-building, heart stopping romance, and high-stakes competition that could be the key to everything.
Norah Sullivan has just discovered she’s a navigator: a person who can manipulate probability. The same day Norah’s navigation manifests, she and her father are swarmed by flickerbeasts. When a flickerbeast bites you, your risk of death skyrockets. And pretty soon, her father gets sick.
Desperate to find a cure, Norah applies to the Academy of Navigation, where there are rumors of restricted information on beast bites hidden in research archives. Once on campus, Norah learns that only senior research assistants are allowed in the archives—and you can only become one by winning a team trial designed to push your navigation abilities to the brink.
She'll need to rely on her roommates, as well as her peer mentor, the handsome Vik Souza, to win the competition. But trouble arises at every turn. There are tensions in the group, romantic complications, and unexplained student disappearances. As Norah gets deeper into the competition, she realizes not everything is as it seems, and the stakes are much higher than she ever could have imagined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Davidson presents a unique and enthralling spin on magical school fantasy in her fresh debut about a 17-year-old's determination to save her father's life. After hyper-independent, pale-skinned Norah Sullivan, 17, learns that she's a navigator—someone capable of influencing probability by accessing a realm of the future called the flickerstate—she and her father are attacked by flickerbeasts, creatures from the flickerstate that feed on futures. She applies and is accepted into the Academy of Navigation, hoping that a navigator education can help her find a cure for the flickerbeasts' deadly bites. Though she's adamant about pursuing her quest alone, Norah realizes that, to access the information she needs, she must join forces with fellow students in a team competition to gain entrance to the archives. Begrudgingly aligning herself with her white-cued roommates—Candace, a fashionista, and people-pleasing Bree—along with her aloof, brown-skinned student mentor, Vik, Norah delves deeper into the Academy's secrets, uncovering more about navigation and the flickerstate at every juncture. Organically rendered interpersonal relationships leap off the pages of this sparkling adventure: Candace and Bree endear themselves to Norah with attentive care and calming compassion, characteristics that skillfully juxtapose Norah's pragmatic, self-aware persona. It's a top-notch blend of thrilling action, atmospheric worldbuilding, and keenly wrought prose that champions community and its ability to offer life-changing support. Ages 12–up.
