Moon Witch, Spider King
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4.5 • 34 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Masterfully flips the first installment on its head... James makes the mythic tantalizingly real.’” —Esquire
"Even more brilliant than the first.” —Buzzfeed
An Instant New York Times Bestseller and NPR Best Book of 2022 pick
From Marlon James, author of the bestselling National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the second book in the Dark Star trilogy.
In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud—seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch—that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.
Both a brilliant narrative device—seeing the story told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf from the perspective of an adversary and a woman—as well as a fascinating battle between different versions of empire, Moon Witch, Spider King delves into Sogolon’s world as she fights to tell her own story. Part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man, it is a fascinating novel that explores power, personality, and the places where they overlap.
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.
Customer Reviews
Worthy
Truly worth every page. The way emotions were captured and displayed truly is a masterwork of one who is great at their craft.
Exquisite
Inventive. Poetic. Complex. Dripping with confidence. Marlon James is a legend in the making.