Moon Witch, Spider King

“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.

🤯🥳🤠😱😢🤬☠️🥳

Narration: beautiful, engrossing, griot sung
Story: repeat of narrativon plus filled with imagery that helped me see, hear, taste, feel and smell my voyeuristic leap through trees, adventure through air, fight, make love and hope.
All Hail the imperfect, avenger of balance...MOON WITCH. May we all aspire.
From Marlon James, I have come to expect NOTHING less.

A+

The only thing that can make a great book better is a phenomenal narrator! If you enjoyed this, I recommend Book of the Night Women

The narration

Really dense novel. Truth be told I jumped into this book without knowing there was a first book. I do wonder if that would have helped with some of this book’s plot points. The narrator was fantastic. I will eventually read the first book and then the third book.

Transcendent

The first book was amazing. This book phenomenal. It is no African Game of Thrones. It’s actually better, its own entity and we’ll more than likely read the end.

Did not disappoint!

I Cannot wait for the final volume… this book was very clever and an interesting lens from which to witness the story.