Andrea Hairston

“This is a prayer hymn, a battle cry, a lovesong, a legendary call and response bonfire talisman tale. This is medicine for a broken world." —Daniel José Older Award-winning author Andrea Hairston weaves together African folktales and postcolonial literature into unforgettable fantasy in Master of Poisons The world is changing. Poison desert eats good farmland. Once-sweet water turns foul. The wind blows sand and sadness across the Empire. To get caught in a storm is death. To live and do nothing is death. There is magic in the world, but good conjure is hard to find. Djola, righthand man and spymaster of the lord of the Arkhysian Empire, is desperately trying to save his adopted homeland, even in exile. Awa, a young woman training to be a powerful griot, tests the limits of her knowledge and comes into her own in a world of sorcery, floating cities, kindly beasts, and uncertain men. Awash in the rhythms of folklore and storytelling and rich with Hairston's characteristic lush prose, Master of Poisons is epic fantasy that will bleed your mind with its turns of phrase and leave you aching for the world it burns into being. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Master of Poisons

Jasper

We are more likely to deny truth than admit grave error and change our minds. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence or imminent destruction, we refuse to believe in any gods but our own. Who can bear for the ground to dissolve under their feet and the stars to fall from the sky? So we twist every story to preserve our faith.

'Just because you argue well doesn't mean you're right.'

'Azizi has no women at his stone-wood table. How can you chew your food with only one tooth? How can you speak truth with half a tongue?'

'Why keep a snake in the house if she wants to eat you?' Djola translated a line from The Songs for Living and Dying.

We have many futures and each changes the past

Orca shrugged. 'You say ignorance won't save us.'

'Since when do you want to save the world?' Djola asked.

'I'm the end of a story. You are a prelude to change.'

'What twisted you into a monster?' The girl bit her bottom lip.

'Sometimes monster is the only choice,' he whispered.

As they raced toward the glint of glaciers, Awa pressed her forehead against his, a daughterly gesture. Djola hugged her close. Awa was the antidote he'd been looking for.

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