cover image Temper

Temper

Nicky Drayden. Harper Voyager, $15.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-249305-7

Drayden (The Prey of Gods) crafts a tangled, fantastical African society as the setting for her spellbinding sophomore novel. With immersive worldbuilding, Drayden showcases a culture where science and religion exist at odds, and the balance of virtue and vice in one’s nature controls one’s social identity. Humble Kasim is assured a prosperous future, as he has only a single vice. His charismatic twin brother, Auben, is forever hindered by the six vices branded down his arm. Auben envies Kasim as much as he loves him, and their twin bond threatens to snap under the strain of their swiftly diverging paths. Complicating their fate, Kasim and Auben become enthralled by violent mystical forces. Their entire society’s survival soon hinges on each defeating his demons and discovering his true nature. Drayden takes speculative fiction in an exciting direction with a harrowing and impressive tale of twisted prophecy, identity, and cataclysmic change. [em]Agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary. (Aug.) [/em]