Does the lowly individual stand a chance against the blunt force of the mass? Anita Desai’s novella collection, The Artist of Disappearance, celebrates the wish to be left alone, and the raw agony of the desire to be seen.

A.B. Yehoshua never writes the shortcut phrase “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” in Friendly Fire, his most recent novel, newly translated into English from Hebrew. It’s as though the veteran Israeli author is mining a seam so deep that its boundaries do not need to be explored or examined, or picking up a thread of conversation that Israelis have already been engaged in for 60 years. That isn’t to say, however, that Yehoshua has no comment on the matter.

Cashore’s debut is an engaging, action-driven fantasy that will please young adult and adult readers alike. In a genre populated with Gossip Girls and A-Listers, Graceling’s heroine Katsa–who struggles with a terrible gift–stands out for her strength, intelligence, and will to live life on her own terms.