Review copies of Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy award finalist R. B. Lemberg’s YOKE OF STARS, the new novella set in the popular Birdverse universe, are now available via EDELWEISS and NETGALLEY.

In all their fiction from the fascinating Birdverse world, Lemberg centers marginalized identities: queer, trans, neurodiverse, elderly, and more.

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YOKE OF STARS

by
R. B. Lemberg

ISBN: 978-1-61696-418-4 (print); 978-1-61696-419-1 (digital)

Published: July 16, 2024

Available Format(s): Trade paperback and digital formats

Lush lyricism of the mythology, culture and history . . . an enchanting world of star lore, magic and gender identity.

Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Silence of the Wilting Skin

In this newest novella from the queer, mystical Birdverse, an apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist share their tales in order to make a fateful decision. Lush and lyrical, R. B. Lemberg’s cross-cultural tale of the beauty of language is a paean to the transformative power of storytelling.

In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín. Ulín has heard the Orphan Star’s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan’s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two hurt souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.