LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Moon Witch, Spider King, the second book in Marlon James' epic Dark Star fantasy trilogy, blazes with African myth and the unconquerable force of a 177-year-old moon witch who insists she isn’t a witch at all — a woman who’s refused to be silenced or supressed through her long, traumatic, ferocious life. While the rich fantasy world and characters bring Neil Gaiman to mind, and the raging, carousing language evokes the spirit of Angela Carter, Moon Witch, Spider King is fiercely original, instantly captivating, and soaked in history.
Despised and abused by her family as a child for being a “motherslayer”, Sogolon escapes their shackles and enters a whorehouse, whereupon the madam seeks to groom her “to be the next forbidden lily”. But it’s not long before she’s taken by a noblewoman, later transcending her orphan origins and captive childhood as she becomes a woman, and transforms into a moon witch, a powerful female force in a misogynistic world of shapeshifting creatures, rising and falling empires, and detonating feuds.
Haunting, harrowing and utterly immersive, Moon Witch, Spider King is shot-through with a potent exploration of power, and quite unlike anything else.
Joanne Owen
Find This Book In
Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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Other Genres: |
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About
Moon Witch, Spider King Synopsis
Part adventure, part chronicle of an indomitable woman - the witch Sogolon - who bows to no man, this is an unforgettable exploration of power, personality, and the places where they overlap, set in a world at once ancient and startlingly modern.
In the words of Neil Gaiman, James has created 'a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's'.
Chronicling the same events but telling a very different story - who will you believe? Read THE DARK STAR TRILOGY in any order! Book one, BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF, is available now.
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9780241314432 |
Publication date: |
3rd March 2022 |
Author: |
Marlon James |
Publisher: |
Hamish Hamilton Ltd an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
Format: |
Hardback |
Pagination: |
656 pages |
Series: |
Dark Star Trilogy |
Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
Marlon James Press Reviews
'Moving, vivid, and thought-provoking . . . brilliant' Buzzfeed
'James masterfully flips the first instalment on its head . . . [A] titanic story of empire, adventure and power' Esquire
'Told with James' inimitable linguistic verve . . . Riotous, ultraviolent, dazzlingly inventive' Literary Hub
'Even more gripping and inventive than its predecessor . . . like Tolkien on ayahuasca' Observer
Author
About Marlon James
Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica. John Crow’s Devil is his debut novel, published in North America in 2005 to widespread acclaim. It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. His second novel, The Book of Night Women (Oneworld 2009), won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His third novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings (Oneworld 2014) won the American Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Fiction Prize, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and featured in over twenty best books of the year lists. His short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Esquire and Granta. He teaches at Macalester College, Minnesota, USA.
Author photo © Jeffrey Skemp
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