Synopses & Reviews
Sabriel meets Witch King in Nommo Award finalist Kerstin Hall's beguiling new novel.
A Reactor Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2024
"Read this book. Let its deliciously dark world envelop you.... You'll thank me later."—Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author of Divergent and Chosen Ones
We choose our own gods here.
Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.
Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.
And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.
Review
"Dazzling and eclectic. . .With elements of gut-turning horror, adventure, and romance, this is a powerhouse."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"There is no doubt in my mind that Kerstin Hall is one of the great imaginative minds writing fantasy today—Asunder is a masterful novel, one that is both intimately character-focused and layered with intrigue, eldritch horrors, and high-octane action. It is immersive, inventive, and intensely unputdownable. I was spellbound from the first pages."—Isabel Cañas, USA Today Bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte
"Immensely enjoyable. Kerstin Hall's writing is simply awesome."—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice
About the Author
Kerstin Hall is the author of The Border Keeper, Second Spear, and Star Eater. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa.