Flickerstate

by F.A. Davidson

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 a person who can manipulate probability. The same day Norah's navigation manifests, she and her father are swarmed by possibility beasts. When a possibility beast 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.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romantasy, Romance

400 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication July 28, 2026

Reviews

[Sophie ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

✎ᝰ.┊My thoughts: This story really surprised me. I found myself unexpectedly invested in these characters, and by the end, I was completely rooting for them! The plot was well paced, and I stayed intrigued the whole way through. I needed to know what was going to happen to the people I’d grown so attached to.

Norah, our lead, is incredibly stubborn and intense, but she’s also afraid. Afraid of letting her family down, afraid of being vulnerable, and afraid of dying. She makes plenty of bad decisions, like not trusting her friends when she clearly needs them, that made me want to shake sense into her. This girl drove me absolutely insane, but I also related to her so much.

˖᯽ ݁˖┊What worked for me:
⇢ I honestly didn’t expect to love Vik this much, but here we are! He’s that quiet, reserved type who feels things so deeply, which makes him so likable to me personally. Ahhh, he’s the best.
⇢ The side characters felt fleshed out and real, not just background noise. I loved the found family aspect.
⇢ The story is well balanced between action and emotional stakes.

˖᯽ ݁˖┊What didn’t:
⇢ I know it’s YA and the romance is a subplot, but I’m still so salty that we only get crumbs of them together. I admit I might be a little too obsessed with Vik.
⇢ I struggled with Norah’s secrecy. I understood her being closed off with Bree, but keeping Candace in the dark for so long felt a bit forced and didn’t make sense to me.
⇢ Since it’s an Academy setting, I wanted more actual classroom moments.

✔ ┊Read this if you like:
⇢ Rivals to friends to lovers
⇢ Contemporary fantasy (modern tech meets magic)
⇢ High-stakes competition

I wish this was a duology so I could have more time with these characters.

─ ✦ ────

✎ᝰ.┊pre-read: Heart stopping romance, and a high stakes competition? I’m so ready to dive in.

⬫ ⬪ ⬫
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

[charisse ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

book 5 of my 24hr arc readathon!

the magic system was kinda confusing at first ngl so it took some time for me to understand it but other than that i loved it!! it was so fun!!, full rtc!

⤷ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶˗ˋ୨♡୧ˊ˗︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶

₊˚⊹♡ pre-read ♡⊹˚₊ ↴
saw this on read now and the cover looks fun??

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story has a very complex magical system that I still don’t fully understand but it is very fascinating. Flickerstate is a YA Dark Academia fantasy book that will definitely surprise you. The story gets really tense and Norah uncovers sinister secrets that change everything. The dialogue is quirky and fun. Strong character development. I enjoyed seeing Norah’s character grow and how she finally let people in. Also, the growth within the circle friends, especially when one of them is very unexpected. We also have a love interest. Book left on sort of a cliffhanger. I highly recommend this book to teenagers being that the book is adolescent.

Thank you to the author, Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for this gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Jessica Brusven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn’t even out yet and I’m already eager for a sequel! Norah is a powerful protagonist with a worthy mission when she gets to The Academy to study “navigation”. The magic in this book is well done and I love how the author incorporates it into the modern world in a way that feels contemporary. Vik, Cadance, Griffin, Bree and Mirabel are all fantastic side characters that add depth to the plot in different ways. There are lots of themes explored in this book, but the most prominent ones were class and access. A must read!

[Adriann Frerichs · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this book so so much! i picked it up on such a whim and i’m so happy i did! this book was fun and SUPER unique and i can’t wait for more people to read it so i can see their reviews too! also can i just shoutout the cover real fast? stunning. definitely thinking i need a shelf copy

i liked our characters quite a lot! i thought norah was so strong and relatable. i will admit tho at times she annoyed me but like.. i also understood the girls hesitations and fears around the situation she was in. i just wish she had been a little faster to trust/ been less whiny at times LOL. i liked vik a lot too. he seemed very mysterious, but strong and loyal. and powerful omg. kinda wish we had seen more of him in flickerstate!!! i liked candace and bree too! bree was just your typical bubbly roomie girly girl and candace seemed so nonchalant but like still caring? i liked their dynamic. especially as a team. marabel and griffen i have love hate relationships with lol

the plot was SO fun. i liked how unique it was, while still feeling familiar in a way where i wasn’t lost! i said in an earlier update to the book that the vibes were kinda reminding me of sky high and i stand by that. we follow norah and her friends as they go through this magic school to learn more about their powers! but like the powers themselves? iconic and super unlike anything else i’ve read before.

i liked the first 2/3rds a little more than the ending.. but the ending 1/3rd was still good! i just liked the ~competition~ vibes more than the ending. plus the ending did feel a wee rushed? are we getting another book? i genuinely couldn’t tell lol

my only complaint really was at times like i said the characters were a little whiny, but also sometimes the phrasing in the book felt a little too modern or goofy for my personal taste. but overall i was enjoying the plot enough and it was so infrequent that i was able to look past it. plus the pacing did feel a little off sometimes, but not bad. just sometimes felt like we spent a little too long in like “transitional scenes” (like them getting meals, walking to class, ect does that make sense?) instead of actually exploring the scenes themselves? idk hard to explain kinda… but iykyk i guess haha

overall i would definitely recommend this book, and had such a great time reading it! i am so so so happy that i got the chance to read and review this book for netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire! thank you so much for the opportunity!

[thiscreeperlovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and fun!

We have Norah, our main character, who is desperate to get into the Archive at the Academy of Navigation, which might have hidden information to cure her and her father. She and her father were bitten by Flickerbeasts -- she was bitten once, her dad 9 times -- and they're both running on borrowed time, especially her dad. If she becomes a senior Archive assistant with her team, she gets to access the Archive. As the story takes off, she teams with Candace and Bree, her blockmates (something like roommates).

Candace is introduced into the story as someone with healed bites, and she's shunned because of them. It's intriguing because it's a sign that someone CAN heal from these wounds. Bree officially joins their team later, though she isn't as ambitious as the others at first. I liked both girls, especially their budding friendship with Norah. I really enjoyed how attention was given to their sisterhood (and the bumpiness of it!) as they worked through the trials to get the assistanceship.

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Vik, Norah's assigned mentor, even though I understand his reasons. It still annoyed me that he didn't do his job of mentoring Norah at first because she was "competition," lmao. He only agreed to start assisting her because he was desperate to experiment on something with someone, and Norah was the only person willing to try it with him in exchange for his help. I just didn't find him very interesting.

All in all, this was a fun read. The whole magic system was unique, the trials interesting, though I sometimes got a bit of a start from the modern language. Yes, I know the book is set in modern times (there's even VPN and mentions of memes and stuff) so it makes sense. I guess I've become used to stories with academies and trials in a more second-world fantasy/historical setting, which is no one's fault but my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flickerstate introduces a unique, science-based magic system in which select individuals, known as navigators, can slip into a mental realm called the flickerstate to manipulate the probability of near-future events. However, this power comes at a cost: using it summons Beasts into the real world. If a Beast bites you, it drastically increases your chances of dying within 18 months by random means.

Norah is a newly manifested navigator, and her first experience with her power is catastrophic, multiple Beasts are summoned, resulting in her father being bitten nine times and Norah herself being bitten as well. Desperate to save them both, Norah seeks out the Academy of Navigators, a secretive school rumored to hold a cure within its restricted Archives. She transfers there for her senior year, only to discover a cutthroat environment where students compete fiercely and some even go missing. As Norah learns to control her abilities, she must also find a way into the locked Archives. She quickly realizes she can’t do it alone and begins to rely on her new roommates, Bree and Candace, as well as her mentor, and love interest, Vik. Together all of them must learn to harness and pool their powers to save not only Norah and her father, but their fellow students as well.

The book is well-paced and engaging, with a compelling cast of characters. Both main and side characters are given meaningful development, which adds depth to the story. While race is not explicitly addressed, there are hints of Norah being biracial, Candace being Asian, and Vik described as having brown skin. Bree and Candace’s same sex relationship is portrayed naturally and without fanfare. The inventive science/magic system is a refreshing twist on the dark academia genre, and the mystery surrounding the missing students and the search for a cure keeps the pages turning. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Shelly Hadaller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give Flickerstate a solid four stars. It was genuinely different...The concept alone pulled me in, but what really kept me reading was how invested I got in the characters and their outcomes. I liked the FMC Norah and the magic system is super unique... kind of like a blend of science and probability and while I won’t pretend I fully understood it the entire time, it was fascinating enough to keep me hooked. BAck to Norah...she is… a lot. She’s stubborn, intense, and makes some frustrating decisions, especially when it comes to trusting the people around her. But at the same time, her fear and pressure felt very real, and I appreciated her growth by the end. I also didn’t expect to get as attached to the side characters as I did—Candace, Bree, and even Vik all added something meaningful to the story. The found family dynamic was definitely one of my favorite parts - that's always something I love in books when done right. Some pacing felt slightly uneven at times, especially early on, and there were moments where the complexity of the magic system or certain character choices felt a bit unclear. I also would’ve loved more actual academy scenes to really lean into that setting. Overall, this was a fun, unique read that surprised me in a good way. I’d absolutely continue if this turns into a series because I’m not ready to be done with these characters yet.

And shoutout to Goodreads for the free copy—always love when a random giveaway turns into a genuinely enjoyable read.

[Jenifer Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norah has just discovered she is a navigator, someone who enters an altered state and can affect the future, but when she did for the first time, beasts appeared and bit her and her father. Now Norah needs to enter the academy to get access to the archives so she can try to find a way to cure the bites before they kill her and her father. Once admitted, she must compete in a team competition to become one of the interns for the archive. Since Norah's ability manifested so late, she is far behind in learning how to navigate. Luckily Vik, a cute boy who has been at the academy for a while, has agreed to tutor her in exchange for helping him with one of his theories. As the semester advances, they learn that students are disappearing or being taken out under strange circumstances. Will they be able to find out what is happening to the students before one of their own friends disappears or will there be another casualty?

The pacing of the story was great, it kept my interest the entire book. The world building was good and the magic system was well developed. I just wish the beasts were explained a bit better as to why they would appear. The chemistry between Norah and Vik was great. There was only kissing mentioned and the book contained minimal strong language.

[EmRooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Minor spoilers below

This one took a bit to hook me at the start, I found the pacing slower than I typically prefer, and it took some time to really connect with both the story and the characters. However, once it found its footing, I was completely pulled in and invested in where everything was going.

One of the standout elements for me was the magic system. It felt incredibly unique and unlike anything I’ve read before, which made the world feel fresh and exciting. That originality really carried the story and kept me engaged as things picked up.

That said, I did feel like some of the relationships, especially Norah’s friendships, lacked depth. At times, the characters’ words and actions didn’t fully align for me, which made certain interactions a bit confusing and harder to fully buy into emotionally.

Overall, though, this was a strong and enjoyable read. I’d absolutely continue on if this becomes a duology, I’m especially curious to see what the next semester holds for this group and whether they’re able to successfully heal the bite wounds affecting her dad.

[Emma Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Sourcebookfire and Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off pretty slow, and I won't lie, I thought about dnfing it countless times, and it did put me in a temporary reading slump. But I told myself to keep going and to finish the book, and that's what I did. And I'm extremely glad I did. Cause after the 60% mark, the book gets very good. I got super attached to the characters. At first I will say I found the fmc a tad annoying, but I always did understand where she was coming from. And we got A LOT of character development with her, which I'm very happy about. Now I will say, don't go into this expecting a fantasy. It's more of an urban fantasy. So we have everything we have right now in real life, but we're just adding a complex magic system to it. And I know some people don't like phones and modern technology in fantasy books. So if you don't like it, I wouldn't recommend this book. But if you're like me and don't really care about that stuff, I highly suggest you pick up this book!

[Severine Bambang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book, the concept is interesting.

Can you navigate your way into a probable future?Does knowing a probable future could be your advantage or your own beast?
But it is also a little bit confusing, that's why I only give it 4 stars.

Even until near the ending, I found that the writer is still trying to explain what Flickerstate is and its way of working.
Yes it is an academia, where we are supposed to understand the way of working in their world, but if you only want to make it finish in 1 book, maybe no need to add the level of complexity near the climax.

What I like in this book is the relationship between characters. It really emphasized the importance of trust and teamwork.

My favorite is Candace, seems like a no BS girl.
If I was stuck on an island and I was only permitted to have one friend accompanying me, it would definitely be someone like her.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC. This is my honest review and I did it voluntarily.

[Megan Maradiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an early release copy of Flickersate from NetGalley, and what stood out most was how it felt both modern and timeless. It had an old-soul quality while still feeling grounded in today’s world, which made it a really interesting read.

My favorite part was how deeply the story explored identity, perception, and connection. I loved seeing how each character viewed themselves, how they viewed one another, and how those perspectives resonated through their flicker state. That added a thoughtful depth that made the story feel especially engaging.

The characters each brought their own layers, struggles, and perspectives, which made the world feel fuller and more immersive.

Overall, this was a fun, quick, and enjoyable read that offered more depth than I expected.

[Hannah Levinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flickerstate is an incredible read! The world building is superb from the beginning to the end- grounded enough in our reality to feel very true and with enough new lore to keep the reader fully engaged throughout. The characters are thoughtfully created and are an honest reflection of the complexities of being a teenager with the additional drama of being able to potentially change the probability of events. The dialogue is smart and quippy while still sounding authentic and adolescent. I cannot wait for this book to come out so I can recommend it to my high school students and my friends. Truly fantastic!

[Fátima Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an incredible book! And what an interesting magic system! Of course, I can't say it's a perfect book, especially since, from what I've read, this is the author's debut, but the enormous care she put into the story and the universe is evident. And it's even more evident how her writing is destined to only improve as more books are published.

In the beginning, things happen to fast, and I wanted to understand more about nav, and how to do that. I wanted to see more of the preparation, day to day classes, and how body and mind works before, during and after navigation. But then, things just kept getting better and better, to the point where I found myself increasingly understanding how nav and Flickerstate worked, and I started imagining what the world would be like with all that magic in it.

Before continuing, I think I need to point out that, at times, especially in more "normal school/college" scenes, like parties and other gatherings, I felt the reading dragged a little, but I have to attribute that to the fact that I was very focused on the main story and anxious to get to the answers quickly.

Aside from that, the book was almost perfect for me. The characters, despite being young, were quite mature, and I especially enjoyed the friendships and the romance. Above all, I loved Norah's complexity and sensitivity, and I believe she has become one of my favorite female characters in YA fantasy. Or rather, in YA in general.

I loved the pop culture references (probably because I love doing that in my own writing, so I guess that's more of a biased point on my part haha). And as a history nerd, I loved how the author inserted magic and the universe into the real context, and it would be easy to believe that something like that happened after that specific historical moment (I don't want to give spoilers).

Finally, I was very surprised by the plot and, at the same time, every little detail was properly connected at the end and nothing was left out, and I believe the book ended right there, with no chance for sequels. But I would totally read any other book in the universe and would be eager to see more characters using this magic, and maybe discovering new things... Or even see Norah learning more things. And I highly recommend reading it and, even though the book hasn't been released yet, I'm eagerly waiting for another book by F.A. Davidson.

Talking about this book: https://youtu.be/P0toVkCLsXA

[Jill Elza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tense, atmospheric thriller hooked me from the first page. F. A. Davidson builds a quietly unnerving world where technology and memory blur, and the characters feel lived-in and morally messy. The pacing kept me turning pages, and the final revelations landed with satisfying emotional weight. Favorite line: "We remember what we can afford to keep." Highly recommended for readers who like smart, suspenseful stories with a slow-burn creep.

[Loretta Chefchaouni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the 2026 debuts' Sci-Fi and Fantasy ARC tour! The blend of magic and science in the concept of navigation was really cool. I especially adored the well-drawn characters and how they grew as their friendships (and other ships) developed in a way that tied into an ending that felt hard-earned. For fans of academic settings, supernatural powers, and speculative fiction!!

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to F.A Davidson and NetGalley for the ARC. This was an intriguing and unique story with an even more unique magic system and I wasn’t able to fully grasp. The characters, especially Norah had a a lot of growth, it was an enjoyable read it just wasn’t life changing, it has so much potential and really loved how it’s YA as it made it smooth without the sole focus on Vik.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads and had no idea what this book was or what it was about. I started it to see if it was interesting and found I couldn't put it down! The story was really entertaining and it was nice to read a fantasy that was different from the others