A tale of plagues and perfumes

Twelve-year-old Nia keeps her extraordinary sense of smell secret, worried that widespread knowledge of her ability would brand her as a Sinsory, a group of people with supernaturally strong senses who use their gifts to save the world from periodic plagues. But as whispers of a new outbreak spread throughout Nia's city of Yerat, Nia is summoned to the Cloister, a windowless desert tower in which Sinsory children train to hone their skills. There, Nia befriends Lime, a girl with uncanny taste, and Lowe, a boy who can read minds through touch. When the rumored plague strikes, Nia must help develop an antidote by determining the right blend of scents, but after her first attempt goes awry and her test subject dies, she and her friends escape the Cloister in a bold gambit to uncover the plague's source and its cure. In this relentlessly paced adventure, previous collaborators Halpern and Kujawinski (Edgeland) explore a water-starved desert setting that's seemingly perpetually on the edge of disaster and home to a society seized by paranoia, desperation, and fiscal inequality. A wealth of sensate details grants the story a vivid atmosphere against which intrepid heroes quest to save their friends, family, and home. Nia is described as having tan skin; other characters read as white. Ages 10--14. Agent (for Halpern): Charlotte Simms, WME. (Jan.)

A girl must use her supernatural sense of smell to stop a plague. People born with magically powerful senses are known as Sinsories, a corrupted form of the original word, Sensories, which reflects superstitious views that they're "sinful and evil." Fear of violence has made Nia hide her powerful nose her entire life--conveniently, the masks people wear as protection against sand and dust keep others from noticing when it twitches. But when the Ghost Ship brings a new plague, Nia is recruited to the Cloister, a Sinsory school that uses students' gifts to combat plagues. This new scent-based plague requires Sinsories to identify and counter its component odors to create a curefume. The worldbuilding is phenomenally enjoyable, inventive, and thought-provoking while providing plenty of tension; scientific approaches to combating illness as well as supernatural versions of the real world, including sensory experiences (synesthesia, eidetic memory), coexist in a society that's heavily rooted in superstition. Further tension comes from the Cloister's interpersonal politics. When the first attempt at the curefume tosses additional obstacles in the way of Nia and her Sinsory friends, they're forced to undertake drastic measures to find a cure in time to protect loved ones on the outside. The suitably heroic ending protects the young characters despite the plague's death toll. Black-haired, tan-skinned Nia has experienced extreme poverty. Sometimes the book's plentiful racial diversity is linked to in-world geography, which doesn't map to real-world parallels. A refreshingly original magical medical mystery that's also just plain fun.(Fantasy. 9-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.