Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James (Hamish Hamilton, £20)
The second part of the Dark Star trilogy is the story of the Moon Witch, from her long-ago beginnings as a no-name girl, hated by brothers who blame her for their mother’s death, and made to live in a termite hill. She escapes from them as she later escapes the roles men try to assign her: whore, slave, wife, victim. She names herself Sogolon, discovers a powerful force and inadvertently attracts the attention of Aesi, who is clearly much more than just an adviser to the king. By the time she meets Tracker, the “Red Wolf” of the previous book, and becomes part of the quest to find a mysterious lost boy, she has outlived everyone who ever knew her. If Black Leopard, Red Wolf was an exploration of masculinity, this companion volume examines the more restricted lives of women in the same violent, male-dominated world. Booker winner James’s African-inspired imaginary kingdoms mark the series out from the usual run of epic fantasies, but his uniquely supple, powerful style is even more distinctive.
