“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading.”
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
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. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two wounded souls try to find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.
Available Format(s): Trade paperback and digital formats
An apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist trade interwoven tales in order to enact revenge. Ukrainian author R. B. Lemberg (The Four Profound Weaves) returns to their legendary Birdverse in an ode to the transformative power of storytelling.
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading.” —Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
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 wounded souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading. Lemberg refuses to look away from the hurt we can do to one another, while reminding us that through listening, labor, and mutual support, we can reject patterns of harm and cultivate something better. In these hard times, Yoke of Stars feels as necessary as air, as water, as kindness.”
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
“This is a story about trauma and strife and magic, of stars that hold and bind and devour, and maybe, just maybe, it’s about the possibility of something else beyond the hurt and pain. The way the stories in the book touch and interweave, the way the characters in them tug and pull at each other, is beautifully done—and I love how deftly Lemberg pulls all the threads together into a complex, striking weave.”
—Maria Haskins, author of Wolves and Girls
“For fellow word-nerds, Lemberg’s linguistic explorations are a thought-provoking journey into how language influences all of us. Lemberg’s command of language and narrative nuance makes this a haunting, beautiful read.”
—Marian Crane, author of the Lonhra Sequence
“R. B. Lemberg’s Birdverse is one of fantasy’s most immersive, lyrical and mind-expanding universes, to which this dream of a novella adds dazzling new depths. Yoke of Stars is a beautiful tale about the stories we all live within, about the languages and connections that bind us to each other and trap us within the same. I loved Yoke of Stars and am certain this is a story I’ll return to over and over in the years to come.”
—Jason Sanford, author of Plague Birds, finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards
“When I tell you that this book essentially altered my neural pathways, I mean that in so many good ways. Everything about this book from the writing, the imagery, the character development, the world building, is just luminous. A gorgeous, lush, super queer fantasy.”
—Wulfe Wulfemeyer, The Raven Book Store
Praise for R. B. Lemberg’s Birdverse
“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 all their fiction from the fascinating Birdverse world, Lemberg centers marginalized identities: queer, trans, neurodiverse, elderly, and more.
—Buzzfeed
[STARRED REVIEW] “Lush, dreamlike prose and nuanced explorations of trans and queer identity.”
—Booklist
“The world-building is full of deep lore and casual queerness, and Lemberg’s magic system is appropriately wild and poetic.”
—Washington Post
“Lemberg writes movingly and magnificently about disaster, survival, and hope.”
—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series
“Beautiful and queer and challenging and tender.”
—Autistic Book Party
“It made me cry, and gave me strength.”
—Trans Narrative
“Imagery that glows on the page.”
—Patricia A. McKillip, author of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
[STARRED REVIEW] “A beautiful, heartfelt story of change, family, identity, and courage.”
—Library Journal
“The anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now.”
—Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline
[STARRED REVIEW] “This diverse, folkloric fantasy world is a delight to visit.”
—Publishers Weekly
“R.B. Lemberg writes with a luminous pen, spraying light all around their words and ideas.”
—Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories
R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender fantasist, poet, and professor who was born in L’viv, Ukraine. R. B.’s Birdverse novella The Four Profound Weaves (Tachyon, 2020) was a finalist for the Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy awards, as well as an Otherwise Award honoree. They are also a Le Guin Feminist Fellow. R. B.’s poetry memoir Everything Thaws was published by Ben Yehuda Press in 2022. Their stories and poems have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction!, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, We Are Here: Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology, and many other venues. R. B. lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with their spouse and fellow author Bogi Takács, their child Mati, and all the cumulative books and fountain pens. You can find R. B. on Twitter at @rb_lemberg, on Patreon at http://patreon.com/rblemberg, and at their websites rblemberg.net and birdverse.net.
Yoke of Stars
R. B. Lemberg
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading.”
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
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. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two wounded souls try to find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.
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
An apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist trade interwoven tales in order to enact revenge. Ukrainian author R. B. Lemberg (The Four Profound Weaves) returns to their legendary Birdverse in an ode to the transformative power of storytelling.
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading.”
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
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 wounded souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, Yoke of Stars is essential reading. Lemberg refuses to look away from the hurt we can do to one another, while reminding us that through listening, labor, and mutual support, we can reject patterns of harm and cultivate something better. In these hard times, Yoke of Stars feels as necessary as air, as water, as kindness.”
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
“This is a story about trauma and strife and magic, of stars that hold and bind and devour, and maybe, just maybe, it’s about the possibility of something else beyond the hurt and pain. The way the stories in the book touch and interweave, the way the characters in them tug and pull at each other, is beautifully done—and I love how deftly Lemberg pulls all the threads together into a complex, striking weave.”
—Maria Haskins, author of Wolves and Girls
“For fellow word-nerds, Lemberg’s linguistic explorations are a thought-provoking journey into how language influences all of us. Lemberg’s command of language and narrative nuance makes this a haunting, beautiful read.”
—Marian Crane, author of the Lonhra Sequence
“R. B. Lemberg’s Birdverse is one of fantasy’s most immersive, lyrical and mind-expanding universes, to which this dream of a novella adds dazzling new depths. Yoke of Stars is a beautiful tale about the stories we all live within, about the languages and connections that bind us to each other and trap us within the same. I loved Yoke of Stars and am certain this is a story I’ll return to over and over in the years to come.”
—Jason Sanford, author of Plague Birds, finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards
“When I tell you that this book essentially altered my neural pathways, I mean that in so many good ways. Everything about this book from the writing, the imagery, the character development, the world building, is just luminous. A gorgeous, lush, super queer fantasy.”
—Wulfe Wulfemeyer, The Raven Book Store
Praise for R. B. Lemberg’s Birdverse
“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 all their fiction from the fascinating Birdverse world, Lemberg centers marginalized identities: queer, trans, neurodiverse, elderly, and more.
—Buzzfeed
[STARRED REVIEW] “Lush, dreamlike prose and nuanced explorations of trans and queer identity.”
—Booklist
“The world-building is full of deep lore and casual queerness, and Lemberg’s magic system is appropriately wild and poetic.”
—Washington Post
“Lemberg writes movingly and magnificently about disaster, survival, and hope.”
—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series
“Beautiful and queer and challenging and tender.”
—Autistic Book Party
“It made me cry, and gave me strength.”
—Trans Narrative
“Imagery that glows on the page.”
—Patricia A. McKillip, author of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
[STARRED REVIEW] “A beautiful, heartfelt story of change, family, identity, and courage.”
—Library Journal
“The anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now.”
—Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline
[STARRED REVIEW] “This diverse, folkloric fantasy world is a delight to visit.”
—Publishers Weekly
“R.B. Lemberg writes with a luminous pen, spraying light all around their words and ideas.”
—Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories
R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender fantasist, poet, and professor who was born in L’viv, Ukraine. R. B.’s Birdverse novella The Four Profound Weaves (Tachyon, 2020) was a finalist for the Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy awards, as well as an Otherwise Award honoree. They are also a Le Guin Feminist Fellow. R. B.’s poetry memoir Everything Thaws was published by Ben Yehuda Press in 2022. Their stories and poems have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction!, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, We Are Here: Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology, and many other venues. R. B. lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with their spouse and fellow author Bogi Takács, their child Mati, and all the cumulative books and fountain pens. You can find R. B. on Twitter at @rb_lemberg, on Patreon at http://patreon.com/rblemberg, and at their websites rblemberg.net and birdverse.net.
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