Sargassa

“A novel of sweeping politics and burning passions, all aimed at bringing down a seemingly immortal empire. Thought-provoking and explosive. Great for fans of Guy Gavriel Kay and Elizabeth Bear.” —John Wiswell, author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In

“At once sprawling and intimate, Sargassa is an alternate history, a murder mystery, and an incisive critique of the far-reaching impacts of imperialism all rolled into one. Gloriously queer, beautifully crafted, and impossible to put down—I can’t wait to read the sequel!” —Emet North, author of In Universes

“Sargassa begins as a murder mystery and ends as a brilliantly realised examination of class and politics, love and sexuality, oppression and revolution in an alternate Roman city state. A warning for our time wrapped in a genre defying epic with an ending you won’t soon forget, Sophie Burnham’s debut is the start of a series that promises to be as unflinchingly true to our human failures as it is to our triumphs. Complex, richly imagined and gorgeously written, Sargassa is a place where history is not just our past, but our future—a lesson we would all do well to remember.” —R.S.A. Garcia, author of The Nightward

“This is a deft, vividly observed novel that is precisely interested in social realism and the relations of power. It uses Rome, and Romanitas, to examine and to critique the nature of systems of oppression, and it uses Selah’s dawning realisation of just how insulated she has been from consequences, and her potential (or lack of it) to use her power to make change, to very pointed effect.” —Locus

“Sargassa is a masterclass in world-building, with its realistic politics, complex and brutal caste system, and gorgeous settings. It takes time to get the lay of the land, but the payoff is worth the effort. The expansive scope multiplies the emotional and conceptual weight of the narrative.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Burnham offers queer love not only as a reason to keep fighting, but perhaps, as the fight itself. Sargassa is a celebration of misfits who slip between the cracks, a book for rebels who believe that the world not only can change, but that it must.” —Motif Magazine