Asunder by Kerstin Hall

Having failed to meet for a discussion of how to outwit the Devil (a curious book that was - thanks for the suggestion Anna!), the organizer of this book club felt pretty much left to his own devices for picking a new book.

So, while we have read quite a few sci-fi books in this book club, we haven't read much fantasy at all. Kerstin Hall's Asunder (which is another word for apart, as in "those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder") seemed interesting, and not only because it was a finalist for both the Nebula Award in the novel category, in 2024, and the Locus Award in the Fantasy Novel category, in 2025. The review space seems to be pretty positive about this novel, but of course it is always possible to find a reviewer that had their rigid expectations totally misaligned. From what I've taken to heart, I expect Asunder to be a thoughtful novel, complex and deep. It ought also be a fast-paced, tense ride through a world that doesn’t hold back from glittering weirdness. Luxury travel in the bellies of dimension-hoping spiders, weapons that turn a person inside out, trains that run on rails made of light, drugs made from the corpses of dead gods, god­like beings with hundreds of wings and faces in their groins: the author is said to hold back neither wonder nor horror. The book is also said to put Hall’s skill and control of the narrative on display. On the more down-to-earth side Asunder seems to be a novel interested in the consequences of desperate choices. All of the major characters have made choices that they were driven to by their circumstances: All of them have been, or are, trapped in some way by the consequences (foreseen or otherwise) of those choices. Should thus be an interesting book for both dreamers and cynics - I thought. It's also written by a young (couldn't find her exact age) author born in South Africa, and peering into the minds of different people and see what they think is worth writing about is always fun.

"Immensely enjoyable. Kerstin Hall’s writing is simply awesome." — Ann Leckie. I was actually also considering the first Imperial Radch book (Ancillary Justice) - by Ann Leckie - as it's supposed to be good. But, being a few years old now I figured that some might have already read it. In addition - as stated above -, we've read quite a few sci-fi books in this club already. We like to expand our horizons!

Goodreads sells the book as follows:
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We choose our own gods here.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch entity—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.
And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.
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The hardcover book, published by Tor, is 432 pages, while the audiobook, published by Recorded Books, is nineteen hours and thirty-four minutes.