Moon Witch, Spider King
Dark Star Trilogy 2
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE REVOLUTIONARY DARK STAR TRILOGY
'Even more gripping and inventive than its predecessor . . . like Tolkien on ayahuasca' Observer
*Perfect for fans of Pratchett, George R. R. Martin and Octavia Butler*
In this mighty follow-up to his number one bestseller Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Booker-winner Marlon James once again draws on a rich tradition of African mythology, fantasy and history to tell the story of Sogolon the Moon Witch.
Part adventure story, part tale of an indomitable woman, Moon Witch, Spider King chronicles the antagonist-turned-antihero's journey from an ostracised no-name girl, hated by her brothers and made to live in a termite hill, to a woman with fully developed powers engaged in a long-standing feud with the Aesi, chancellor to the king.
Offering Sogolon's version of the events of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Moon Witch, Spider King is an unforgettable exploration of power, resistance and revenge set in a world at once ancient and startlingly modern.
'A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's' Neil Gaiman
'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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sogolon, the antagonist of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, tells her side of the story in Booker Prize winner James's brilliant second Dark Star fantasy, which chronicles Sogolon's life from childhood through to the search for the lost boy at the center of the first book. Furtive Sogolon, the Moon Witch, manages to live far longer than most expect for a girl of "little use" with no family ties. She witnesses mad kings rise and fall and women suffer at their hands, all while the Aesi, or the king's chancellor, remains a constant at the right side of the throne. Sogolon becomes a living record of all the kingdom has been through—and to the Aesi, this makes her a threat. Now each works against the other as they try to find the lost boy for their own purposes. If book one centers on the nature of storytelling, this volume turns its focus to memory, archiving, and history as Sogolon works to correct the record. The two stories run parallel to and contradict each other, and James mines the distance between them to raise powerful questions about whether truth is possible when the power of storytelling is available only to a few. This is a tour de force.
