Dragon Award finalist. A New York Times bestseller. NPR's Best Book of the Year. Amazon.com's Best Fantasy. Sequel to National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The story of the Moon Witch's century-long feud Sogolon and Chancellor Aesi, seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old sorceress. It is said that Aesi is so closely related to the King that together they are like a spider with eight limbs. Aesya's power is strong and deadly. To challenge him requires more than just courage and cunning. And the Moon Witch has her reasons. “Beowulf, move!” – The Washington Post “A fantasy world so well realized it looks like it was created by Tolkien.” – Neil Gaiman “Africa born in the imagination of a writer, with an integral echo of Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and Black Panther." – Salman Rushdie “The literary equivalent of the Marvel Universe.” – Michiko Kakutani “A rare sequel that is better than its predecessor. A fascinating book, it is both a standalone and a sequel. Make no mistake, this series is a must read.” – NPR “Marlon James finds beauty in dark imagery, giving readers a mystical world inspired by Africa. Everything about it is so carefully thought out and detailed, like something out of J. R. R. Tolkien.” – Los Angeles Times “An impressively lively novel. Quentin Tarantino's films look sleepy compared to James's fight choreography. Add in a devilishly inventive catalog of creatures crawling across ceilings, leaping from trees, and even piercing fourth-dimensional portals to fill pages boiled with horror." – The Washington Times “Marlon James's imagination is vast and wild, and the numerous battle scenes are heart-stopping and vivid. But what stayed with me were his more subtle observations of the human condition. Moon Witch illuminated my path and showed me how a woman can navigate this dangerous, wonderful world. When I finished reading the last page of Moon Witch, Spider King, I found my copy of Black Leopard, Red Wolf and started reading from the beginning.” – The New York Times Book Review “Marlon James is such a ferociously powerful and dynamic storyteller that there is no time to worry about the whole grand scheme of the plot. Inspired by a vernacular writing style modeled on the oral tradition of African griots, the scenes are lewd, declamatory and quickly turning into confrontation. The events are so crazy and twisted that they almost become hallucinations. It's the incredible passions of this trilogy, rather than any obvious narrative purpose, that make it so compelling." – The Wall Street Journal “This is a work that both lives up to the standard of immersive world-building in the books of Tolkien and Martin and brings a voice to the genre unlike anything before. If James managed to capture the imagination of readers with Black Leopard, Red Wolf, then this second book is darker, longer and better. The book sets readers up for what is sure to be a superb finale to the series.” – The Boston Globe “One thing is clear from the more than 1,200 pages of James's series: Moon Witch, Spider King is even better than "Black Leopard, Red Wolf." You can read The Moon Witch first without missing anything; it's an even better introduction to James's world." – AV Club “A medieval celebration of dazzling fantasy. It's vulgar and cheerful, big and brutal. When I read Black Leopard, I realized that I was reading a genre-bending series. After reading The Moon Witch, I remain convinced that James is reshaping the fantasy genre." – Minneapolis Star-Tribune “A wonderful novel with well-developed characters engaged in a very real and terrifying struggle not only for their lives, but against the cycle of life that repeats itself from generation to generation.” - San Francisco Chronicle "Masterfully turns the first book on its head...James makes the mythical painfully real." – Esquire“Even cooler than the first novel." – Buzzfeed