Moon Witch, Spider King cover art

Moon Witch, Spider King

Dark Star Trilogy 2

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Moon Witch, Spider King

By: Marlon James
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The second novel in Marlon James's revolutionary DARK STAR TRILOGY is here

In this mighty follow-up to his Number 1 bestseller Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Man Booker-winner Marlon James once again draws on a rich tradition of African mythology, fantasy and history to imagine a mythic world, a lost child, a 177-year-old witch, a deadly regal chancellor, and a mystery with many answers...

Part adventure tale, 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'.

© Marlon James 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 African American Caribbean Creators Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Witchcraft Magic Magic Users

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Malevolent Seven cover art
Found cover art
The Knight cover art
Morgan Is My Name cover art
Servant cover art
Shadowmarch cover art
Daughters of Nri cover art
Mage of No Renown cover art
Seventh Son cover art
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina cover art
Unfettered cover art
Binti cover art
A Perfect Shadow [Dramatized Adaptation] cover art
The Wretched of Muirwood cover art
Master Assassins cover art
The Bone Witch cover art

Critic reviews

An epic fable drenched in African mythology. This is work that both meets the immersive worldbuilding standard in books by Tolkien and Martin and brings to the genre a voice unlike anything seen before . . . It sets readers up for what will undoubtedly be a superb finale
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
Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King are wildly inventive, genre-defining works of fiction on the level of The Lord Of The Rings and the Broken Earth trilogy that deserve to be studied, dissected, and argued over
An exhilarating tour de force . . . [James] establishes a new vision for the trilogy as a whole and confirms Dark Star as a true epic (John Burnside)
Moving, vivid, and thought-provoking . . . brilliant
James cements his status as a wildly inventive and lyrical storyteller
James masterfully flips the first instalment on its head . . . [A] titanic story of empire, adventure and power
Told with James' inimitable linguistic verve . . . Riotous, ultraviolent, dazzlingly inventive

A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter's
James once again shattered my expectations . . . Moon Witch, Spider King is a breathtaking book, one that functions as well as a standalone as it does a sequel . . . This is a novel that begs to be read in one sitting
All stars
Most relevant
Better than the first. Can't wait for the next one! Questions what you might have already thought.

Awesome

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Marlon James for creating this world. Elite storytelling. Very gruesome and cruel in parts - but a phenomenal follow up to Black Leopard Red Wolf. Give me book 3 already!

Still Exceptional

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An interesting world is being created here and I am curious about the next part in the series. As an audiobook it works very well, and the characters' feelings especially their pain is resonant. The grimdark leaning world, which is reminiscent of song of ice and fire though in its own unique way, can be grating for those who do not have a taste for it.

A Great Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Firstly I will start by saying that this is not for everyone. But I think anyone who has read the first book already knows that.

I quite loved the first book in the series, and while this one didn't grip me at first, it grew on me. Getting a new perspective on the first book was a fascinating experience.

Moreover, getting fantasy based on African myths and lore is a breath of fresh air to me. The way the books are written is also interesting in its own right, though in that regard I feel the first book was a notch better (or worse, if it wasn't your cup of tea).

Going in, I knew to expect this to be a different perspective on the same events, but I was skeptical of it. I didn't think it would make me so fully question what was true and what was not.

In that sense, I think the books offer something of a commentary on life. We are always retold stories, events and experiences that are not our own by someone else. Is their perception the truth? It may be A truth, their truth, but likely not the objective truth.

Or perhaps it's not truth at all, but just a story. A narrative that fits what we want to hear.

I need the next one

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved hearing the tale from a different, deeper perspective. I can't wait for the third installment.

A great second perspective

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews