Critically acclaimed author Kai Ashante Wilson makes his commercial debut with this striking, wondrous tale of gods and mortals, magic and steel, and life and death that will reshape how you look at sword and sorcery.
Since leaving his homeland, the earthbound demigod Demane has been labeled a sorcerer. With his ancestors' artifacts in hand, the Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight.
The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive.
The one safe road between the northern oasis and southern kingdom is stalked by a necromantic terror. Demane may have to master his wild powers and trade humanity for godhood if he is to keep his brothers and his beloved captain alive.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
September 1, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781427268884
- File size: 147879 KB
- Duration: 05:08:04
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from August 10, 2015
In Wilsonâs lush debut, which launches the novella-focused Tor.com imprint, genre strictures are altogether overturned; magic and science and religion are one and the same, and the setting might be our world in the far future or another place altogether. The alien gods and angels left long ago, but their workings and their descendants remain, mingling with low-tech human cultures. Compassionate, lonely Demane is one of the godsâ great-grandchildren, a Storm Bird working as a guard for a merchant caravan. The man he follows, the enigmatic and tortured Captain, also has celestial blood. Demane must strike a balance between his unofficial role as the so-called sorcerer for the caravan and his inescapable heritage, building friendships with his young and ignorant fellow guards while sneaking in brief, tender trysts with the Captain. The Wildeeps is a jungle where the only safe passage is on the magically warded Road. But a man-eating monster is able to evade the wards, and Demane will need the Captainâs help to defeat it. In both narration and dialogue, Wilson wields a multitude of dialects with the brute strength and consummate skill of the Captain wielding his spear: âAlways up in some damn water tryna warshâ and âsuperluminal travel is noncorporealâ and âshe dragged herself airborne off turbulent chopâ keep unabashed company, defying the reader to legitimize one over another. This rich, delicately crafted world is stocked with vibrant characters (though women appear only in the familial memories and sexual longings of the men) and supports a powerful story told in a delightful series of wrenching moments.
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