by K. J. Bishop
First published 2006
Gwynn and Raule escape the Copper Country after their revolution collapses. They arrive in Ashamoil, a city where wealth and decay exist side by side. Gwynn takes work as a trusted agent for a slave trader. Raule becomes a doctor at a medical clinic. The city draws them into strange currents they never expected. Art shapes reality here in ways that defy logic. Dreams bleed into waking life. The boundaries between what is real and what is imagined blur beyond recognition. Both refugees must navigate this bewildering place where the rules they once knew no longer apply. Their new lives force them to confront a world where creativity holds dangerous power over the physical realm.
Genres: science-fiction, literary-fiction, fantasy, magical-realism
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Ashamoil, Copper Country
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
384 pages · Paperback · ATALANTE