Stranger in Olondria

Sofia Samatar is the author of the novels A Stranger in Olondria and The Winged Histories, the short story collection, Tender, and Monster Portraits, a collaboration with her brother, the artist Del Samatar. She is the recipient of the William L. Crawford Award, the Astounding Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the World Fantasy Award. She teaches Arabic literature, African literature, and speculative fiction at James Madison University.

"It's the rare first novel with no unnecessary parts -- and, in terms of its elegant language, its sharp insights into believable characters, and its almost revelatory focus on the value and meaning of language and story, it's the most impressive and intelligent first novel I expect to see this year, or perhaps for a while longer." -- Locus "The excerpt from Sofia Samatar's compelling novel A Stranger in Olondria should be enough to make you run out and buy the book. Just don't overlook her short "Selkie Stories Are for Losers," the best story about loss and love and selkies I've read in years." -- K. Tempest Bradford, NPR "Sofia Samatar's debut fantasy A Stranger in Olondria is gloriously vivid and rich." -- Adam Roberts, The Guardian, Best Science Fiction Books of 2013 "Books can limit our experiences and reinforce the structures of empire. They can also transport us outside existing structures. The same book may do both in different ways or for different people. Samatar has written a novel that captures the ecstasy and pain of encountering the world through books, showing us bits and pieces of our contemporary world while also transporting us into a new one." -- Bookslut "The novel is full of subtle ideas and questions that never quite get answered. It is those dichotomies that lie at the heart of this novel, such as what is superstition and what is magic? How much do class and other prejudices affect how we view someone's religion? Jevick often believes himself above such things, as does the current religious regime of Olondria, but in a way both are haunted until they believe... Samatar gives us no easy answers and there are no villains in the book -- simply ordinary people doing what they believe is right. -- io9.com "As you might expect (or hope) from a novel that is in part about the painting of worlds with words, the prose in Stranger is glorious. Whether through imaginative individual word choices--my favourite here being the merchants rendered "delirious" by their own spices ... Samatar is adept at evoking place, mood, and the impact of what is seen on the one describing it for us." -- Strange Horizons "Vivid, gripping, and shot through with a love of books." -- Graham Sleight, Locus "A richly rewarding experience for those who love prose poetry and non-traditional narratives. Sofia Samatar's debut novel is a fine exemplar of bibliomancy." -- Craig Laurence Gidney (Sea Swallow Me) "With characteristic wit, poise, and eloquence, Samatar delivers a story about our vulnerability to language and literature, and the simultaneous experience of power and surrender inherent in the acts of writing and reading." -- Amal El-Mohtar, Tor.com "If you want to lose yourself in the language of a book, this is the one you should read first. Samatar's prose is evocative and immediate, sweeping you into the complex plot and the world of Jevick, a pepper merchant's son." -- xojane "A journey that is as familiar and foreign as a land in a dream. It's a study of two traditions, written and oral, and how they intersect. Samatar uses exquisite language and precise details to craft a believable world filled with sight, sound and scent." -- Fantasy Literature "Samatar's sensual descriptions create a rich, strange landscape, allowing a lavish adventure to unfold that is haunting and unforgettable." -- Library Journal (*starred review*) "Sofia Samatar has an expansive imagination, a poetic and elegant style, and she writes stories so rich, with characters so full of life, they haunt you long after the story ends. A real pleasure." -- Chris Abani, author of GraceLand and The Virgin of Flames "A book about the love of books. Her sentences are intoxicating and one can easily be lost in their intricacy... Samatar's beautifully written book is one that will be treasured by book lovers everywhere." -- Raul M. Chapa, BookPeople, Austin, TX "Thoroughly engaging and thoroughly original. A story of ghosts and books, treachery and mystery, ingeniously conceived and beautifully written. One of the best fantasy novels I've read in recent years." -- Jeffrey Ford, author of The Girl in the Glass "Mesmerizing--a sustained and dreamy enchantment. A Stranger in Olondria reminds both Samatar's characters and her readers of the way stories make us long for far-away, even imaginary, places and how they also bring us home again." -- Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club "Gorgeous writing, beautiful and sensual and so precise--a Proustian ghost story." -- Paul Witcover, author of Tumbling After "Let the world take note of this dazzling and accomplished fantasy. Sofia Samatar's debut novel is both exhilarating epic adventure and loving invocation of what it means to live through story, poetry, language. She writes like the heir of Ursula K. Le Guin and Gene Wolfe." -- Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble "Imagine an inlaid cabinet, its drawers within drawers filled with spices, roses, amulets, bright cities, bones, and shadows. Sofia Samatar is a merchant of wonders, and her A Stranger in Olondria is a bookshop of dreams." -- Greer Gilman, author of Cloud & Ashes