Dark Star Trilogy
2 primary works 3 total works planned
Book 1
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
Book 2
THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE REVOLUTIONARY DARK STAR TRILOGY IS HERE!
Booker Prize-winner Marlon James once again draws on a rich tradition of African mythology and fantasy to imagine a mythic world, a lost child, a 177-year-old witch and a mystery with many answers . . .
*Perfect for fans of Pratchett, George R. R. Martin and Octavia Butler*
'Even more gripping and inventive than its predecessor . . . like Tolkien on ayahuasca' Observer
*****
Part adventure, part chronicle of an indomitable woman - the witch Sogolon - who bows to no man, this is an unforgettable exploration of power, personality, and the places where they overlap, set in a world at once ancient and startlingly modern.
In the words of Neil Gaiman, James has created 'a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's'.
Chronicling the same events but telling a very different story - who will you believe? Read THE DARK STAR TRILOGY in any order! Book one, BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF, is available now.
*****
'Moving, vivid, and thought-provoking . . . brilliant' Buzzfeed
'James masterfully flips the first instalment on its head . . . [A] titanic story of empire, adventure and power' Esquire
'Told with James' inimitable linguistic verve . . . Riotous, ultraviolent, dazzlingly inventive' Literary Hub