A girl matches wits with a war god in this kaleidoscopic, epic tale of oppression and the cost of peace, where stories hide within other stories, and narrative has the power to heal… or to burn everything in its path.

In the winding underground tunnels of the Library, the great celestial peacekeeper of the three systems, a terrible secret lies buried.

As the daughter of a Library god, Freida has spent her whole life exploring the Library's ever-changing tunnels and communing with the gods. Her unparalleled access makes her unique – and dangerous.

When Freida meets Joshua, a mortal boy desperate to save his people, and Nergüi, a Disciple from a persecuted religious minority, Freida is compelled to break ranks with the gods and help them. But in order to do so, she will have to venture deeper into the Library than she has ever known. There she will discover the atrocities of the past, the truth of her origins, and the impossibility of her future…

With the world at the brink of war, Freida embarks on a journey to fulfill her destiny, one that pits her against an ancient war god. Her mission is straightforward: Destroy the god before he can rain hellfire upon thousands of innocent lives – if he doesn't destroy her first.

A sparkling, thought-provoking new offering from World Fantasy Award-winning author Alaya Dawn Johnson.

"Juju assassins, alternate history, a gritty New York crime story...in a word: awesome." -N.K. Jemisin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fifth Season The dangerous magic of The Night Circus meets the powerful historical exploration of The Underground Railroad in Alaya Dawn Johnson's timely and unsettling novel, set against the darkly glamorous backdrop of New York City, where an assassin falls in love and tries to change her fate at the dawn of World War II. Amid the whir of city life, a young woman from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she's hired to use her knives to strike fear among its most dangerous denizens. Ten years later, Phyllis LeBlanc has given up everything-not just her own past, and Dev, the man she loved, but even her own dreams. Still, the ghosts from her past are always by her side-and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she keeps in her heart. And so Phyllis will have to make a harrowing choice, before it's too late-is there ever enough blood in the world to wash clean generations of injustice? Trouble the Saints is a dazzling, daring novel-a magical love story, a compelling exposure of racial fault lines-and an altogether brilliant and deeply American saga.

A girl matches wits with a war god in this kaleidoscopic, epic tale of oppression and the cost of peace, where stories hide within other stories, and narrative has the power to heal… or to burn everything in its path. In the winding underground tunnels of the Library, the great celestial peacekeeper of the three systems, a terrible secret lies buried. As the daughter of a Library god, Freida has spent her whole life exploring the Library's ever-changing tunnels and communing with the gods. Her unparalleled access makes her unique – and dangerous. When Freida meets Joshua, a mortal boy desperate to save his people, and Nergüi, a Disciple from a persecuted religious minority, Freida is compelled to break ranks with the gods and help them. But in order to do so, she will have to venture deeper into the Library than she has ever known. There she will discover the atrocities of the past, the truth of her origins, and the impossibility of her future… With the world at the brink of war, Freida embarks on a journey to fulfil her destiny, one that pits her against an ancient war god. Her mission is straightforward: Destroy the god before he can rain hellfire upon thousands of innocent lives – if he doesn't destroy her first. A sparkling, thought-provoking new offering from World Fantasy Award-winning author Alaya Dawn Johnson.

In Reconstruction, award-winning writer and musician Johnson delineates the lives of those trodden underfoot by the powerful, and how they rise up. Meet the humans who serve a coterie of vampires in Hawai'i, explore the taxonomy of anger with Black Union soldiers and the woman who travels with them during the American Civil War. Consider what you would give up for a better life in a place that you have never been. Johnson maps the people in these and other, stranger landscapes.

A heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil.
The lush city of Palmares Tres shimmers with tech and tradition, with screaming gossip casters and practiced politicians. In the midst of this vibrant metropolis, June Costa creates art that's sure to make her legendary. But her dreams of fame become something more when she meets Enki, the bold new Summer King. The whole city falls in love with him (including June's best friend, Gil). But June sees more to Enki than amber eyes and a lethal samba. She sees a fellow artist.
Together, June and Enki will stage explosive, dramatic projects that Palmares Tres will never forget. They will add fuel to a growing rebellion against the government's strict limits on new tech. And June will fall deeply, unfortunately in love with Enki. Because like all Summer Kings before him, Enki is destined to die.
Pulsing with the beat of futuristic Brazil, burning with the passions of its characters, and overflowing with ideas, this fiery novel will leave you eager for more from Alaya Dawn Johnson.

...the Spirit Binders trilogy has a style all its own: unflinching, sophisticated, imaginative enough to please (and jolt and challenge) even jaded adults.

--Locust magazine

In The Burning City, Alaya Dawn Johnson continues the trilogy begun with her debut, Racing the Dark, delving deeper into the world of magic wielded by women who understand the dark trade-offs of power and sacrifice.

Lana, the heroine, has become the black angel a harbinger of destruction unheard of in the islands for five hundred years. Nui'ahi, the sleeping volcano of the great city Essel, has erupted. In the chaos, the city is reshaping itself, and violence threatens from all corners.

Kohaku, the mad Mo'i of Essel, has earned himself the nickname Bloody One-hand for his draconian rule. A rebel movement has formed in the destroyed heart of the city, determined to oust Kohaku permanently. Lana wants no part of the rebel's cause the death spirit still chases her, and the great witch Akua has kidnapped Lana's mother. Akua plays a deep game with the spirits, and Lana has only the most cryptic clues to guide her. But the more Lana looks for her mother, the more she is drawn into the city's political conflicts.

As rumors spread of his responsibility for the eruption of Nui'ahi, Kohaku descends deeper into madness, determined to subdue the city by any means necessary. His wife has run away to the fire temple, where she too is slowly converted to the rebel's cause. When long-running tensions spill over into civil war, Lana must make her hardest decision yet: her mother's life, or a city's freedom?"

"Reminiscent of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books this proposed series could be a stand-out."

--Publishers Weekly

Enter a land of volcanoes and earthquakes, plagues and typhoons, of island nations separated by water but bound by fear of the spirits they imprisoned to control their volatile environment. In Racing the Dark, the first act in a grand dance of loyalty, love, sacrifice, and death is about to begin.Like the other women of her nameless backwater island, Lana had always expected to become a diver and harvest precious jewels from a fish native to their surrounding freshwater seas. But during her initiation dive, she receives a horrifying gift a blood-red jewel that marks her as someone with power. Someone to be used.Though Lana hides the jewel, the power it represents drives her family away from their home island, and Lana into an apprenticeship with a one-armed witch with a peculiar interest in her fate. The witch hides the extent of her own power (and of her intentions) even as she trains Lana in geas the spells and incantations that allow humans to sacrifice for control of the spirits.But powers far greater and intrigues far older than anything she could imagine are driving Lana down a dangerous road. When she dares to use a dark, ancient geas to save her mother's life, she is set onto a path toward becoming a creature beyond her wildest imaginings. A creature of great power...and a perfect pawn of the spirits themselves, in their bid to break free of a millennia-long imprisonment.A bold new talent in fantasy fiction, 25-year-old Alaya Dawn Johnson has created an unforgettable coming-of-age story set in a world where wielding power requires understanding the true meaning of sacrifice."