The Spear Cuts Through Water
by Simon Jimenez
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Pub Date 14 Mar 2024 | Archive Date 7 Mar 2024
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Description
The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.
But that god cannot be contained forever.
With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.
Both a sweeping adventure story and an intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.
Advance Praise
WINNER OF THE 2023 BRITISH FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE IAFA CRAWFORD AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 IGNYTE AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL: ADULT
SHORTLISTED FOR THE URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE
“Lyrical, evocative, part poem, part prose—not to be missed by anyone, especially fans of historical fantasy and folktale. It’s both like nothing and everything you’ve ever read: a tale made from the threads that weave the world, and all of us, together.” —Kirkus, starred review
“The best thing I’ve read in the last decade.” —Premee Mohamed
“An intricate, multilayered story speaking in multiple tongues at once.” —Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781837861873 |
| PRICE | £9.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 576 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Rose K, Reviewer
This is an epic tale that takes place over 5 days. It's a story within a story, unveiling itself as a play performed in a spirit realm outside of time and place. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Keema and Jun as they take part in their hero's journey across the land.
All of the characters felt well developed and fleshed out, their motivations and struggles felt realistic. The villains were also enjoyable to read, each of them vile in their own way, definetly not for the faint of heart!
I liked the snippets of thought that were interspersed from background characters not involved in the main storyline, especially when they spoke to the struggle of the everyday workers that built and propped up the empire, a perspective that is often missing in epic fantasies.
The world building was really comprehensive and immersive, I haven't read a story with this kind of setting before but I really loved it and feel like it will stick with me.
The length is on the longer side, but I didn't mind because It allowed for even pacing throughout the story, and I love that it's a stand alone novel.
The only thing I was slightly let down by was the epilogue which I felt focused too much on a lineage I didn't really care about and the politics of what happened after. I also wished, maybe unrealistically, for there to be more of a popular uprising than there was.
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