The Awakened Kingdom

SOME TRUTHS MUST BE LEARNED THE HARD WAY... As the first new godling born in thousands of years - and the heir presumptive to Sieh the Trickster - Shill's got big shoes to fill. She's well on her way when she defies her parents and sneaks off to the mortal realm, which is no place for an impressionable young god. In short order she steals a demon's grandchild, gets herself embroiled in a secret underground magical dance competition, and offends her oldest and most powerful sibling. But for Eino, the young Darren man whom Shill has befriended, the god-child's silly games are serious business. Trapped in an arranged marriage and prohibited from pursuing his dreams, he has had enough. He will choose his own fate, even if he must betray a friend in the process - and Shill might just have to grow up faster than she thinks.

N. K. Jemisin is the first author in history to win three consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards, for her Broken Earth trilogy. She is a MacArthur 2020 Genius Grant Fellow. Her work has won the Nebula and Locus Awards, and the first book in her current Great Cities series, The City We Became, is a New York Times bestseller. Among other critical work, she was formerly the speculative book reviewer at the New York Times. In her spare time she's a gamer and gardener, responsible for saving the world from Ozymandias, her dangerously intelligent ginger cat, and his destructive sidekick Magpie. Essays and fiction excerpts are available at nkjemisin.com.