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SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION

The Sunday Times number 1 Bestseller and A New York Times Bestseller

‘Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the kind of novel I never realized I was missing until I read it. A dangerous, hallucinatory, ancient Africa, which becomes a fantasy world as well realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter’s. It’s as deep and crafty as Gene Wolfe, bloodier than Robert E. Howard, and all Marlon James. It’s something very new that feels old, in the best way. I cannot wait for the next instalment’ -Neil Gaiman

‘The child is dead. There is nothing left to know.’

Tracker is a hunter, known in the thirteen kingdoms as one who has a nose – and he always works alone. But he breaks this rule when he joins a band seeking a lost child. His companions are strange and dangerous, from a giant to a witch to a shape-shifting Leopard, and each hides their own secrets.

As they follow the boy’s scent from perfumed citadels to infested rivers to enchanted darklands, set upon by murderous foes, Tracker wonders: who really is this mysterious boy? Why don’t people want him found? And, crucially, who is telling the truth and who is lying?

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star Trilogy.

‘A game-changing modern fantasy classic.’ Financial Times

‘Complex, lyrical, moving and furiously gripping… This new book will propel James into a new galaxy of literary stardom.’ Observer

‘To call this novel original doesn’t do [it] justice… James has thrown African cultures, mythologies, religions, histories, world-views and topographies into the mighty cauldron of his imagination to create a work of literary magic.’ New Statesman

Publisher Review

What marks James's tale as his own is the wonder evoked through descriptive, unrelenting prose along with a focus on a distinct mythology cobbled from history and folk tale. [A] propulsive narrative. * The Guardian * Black Leopard, Red Wolf ... affirms [James's] place as one of our most talented living authors. * Literary Hub * This book begins like a fever dream and merges into world upon world of deadly fairy tales rich with political magic. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a fabulous cascade of storytelling. Sink right in. I guarantee you will be swept downstream' -- Louise Erdrich One of the most talked-about and influential adventure epics since George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire was transformed into Game of Thrones * Kirkus * Black Leopard, Red Wolf heralds the arrival of fantasy's next great saga and reaffirms James as one of the greatest storytellers of his generation * BookPage * Marlon James possesses almost frightening levels of talent... His work is wholly original while paying homage to all the important literary ancestors. An archetypal epic for the 21st century * Forbes * I can honestly say I cannot wait for the next instalment -- John Burnside * Spectator * A miracle... If Charles R. Saunders' Imaro series opened the door to new ways of telling epic fantasy, and N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy leapt over the threshold, then Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf just ripped the whole damn door off its hinges * Tor * Stand aside, Beowolf. There's a new epic hero slashing his way into our hearts...James is clear-cutting space for a whole new kingdom. Black Leopard, Red Wolf rises up from the mists of time, glistening like viscera. James has spun an African fantasy as vibrant, complex and haunting as any Western mythology * Washington Post * A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's. It's as deep and crafty as Gene Wolfe, bloodier than Robert E. Howard, and all Marlon James... I cannot wait for the next instalment -- Neil Gaiman