A brilliant crossover YA/NA novel that's Legendborn as if written by Jason Reynolds, from social media star and one of the most compelling new voices in fantasy, Jahid Wilson, Jr., about a young man who learns his words have the power to conjure things into existence, but this power comes at a terrible cost...
Seventeen-year-old Kaldur's heart has always beat in two places: on the page, and in the community he holds dear. Those precious to him keep him afloat in a world dedicated on seeing him drown. But when he accidentally unleashes soul magic that kills four boys, that love is tested. Kaldur's closest friends rise to the occasion and do what is necessary to protect him. When all is said and done, the bodies disposed of, they swear a blood promise to carry the weight of this secret like they do all others: together.
But together does not mean forever, and one year later Kaldur and his friends are still grieving the tragic car accident that turned their infamous quintet into a quartet. Worst of all, suspicion and scrutiny around the case of the missing boys has forced Kaldur's family to relocate to Georgia. Blaming himself, Kaldur attempts to use magic to resurrect their lost companion. His efforts backfire in the worst way, leading to a dangerous pact with a demon: write fifty magic-infused poems and he will undo his friend's death. As Kaldur and his friends strategize to complete the pact, he discovers his powers connect him to a mysterious woman in his dreams, one who is aware of the deaths he has caused and sends her monstrous emissary to hunt him down.
Even as he faces supernatural conflict in the waking world and dreaming one, Kaldur's new life in Georgia is filled with the messy vibrancy of being a teenager-forming bonds in his first writing community, meeting a woman who shows him it's not about who he was, but who he can be, and leaning on the friends who still stand by his side, hundreds of miles away.
Through laughter, healing, and a love with the deepest roots, Kaldur and his loved ones-both chosen and given-push back against the forces trying to unravel them, proving that even in the face of grief, there's a reason for love, hope, and joy. Jahid A. Wilson, Jr., is a BIPOC author and a two-time alumnus of the International Congress of Youth Voices, hosted by Dave Eggers. He cohosts the Fantasy Rants podcast and runs a bookish TikTok account. As a tastemaker for Bindery Books, he curates and promotes emerging literary works and is the founder of the Melanin is Magic book club on Fable, celebrating powerful voices across the Black Diaspora. He is currently studying creative writing at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.
