Spear

Winner of the ADCI Literary Prize
Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize

Finalist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction
Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel
Finalist for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
Finalist for the HWA Gold Crown Award for Historical Fiction

"[A] queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era."—Los Angeles Times

"A pleasure to follow [and] a lovely flexing of Griffith’s strengths in short form." —The New York Times Book Review

‘Spectacular—I've been waiting years for this book to exist.’ —Maria Dahvana Headley, author of Beowulf: A New Translation

"If Le Guin wrote a Camelot story, I imagine it would feel like Spear: humane, intelligent, and deeply beautiful. It's a new story with very old bones, a strange place that feels like home." —Alix E. Harrow, author of A Spindle Splintered

A Shelf Awareness Best of the Year pick
A Vulture Best Fantasy of the Year pick

She left all she knew to find who she could be . . .

She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon.

With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.

The legendary author of Hild returns with an unforgettable hero and a queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era. Nicola Griffith’s Spear is a spellbinding vision of the Camelot we've longed for, a Camelot that belongs to us all.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.


Genre: Fantasy

"If Le Guin wrote a Camelot story, I imagine it would feel like Spear: humane, intelligent, and deeply beautiful. It's a new story with very old bones, a strange place that feels like home. It's exactly what I needed." - Alix E Harrow

"Nicola Griffith braids the Percival tales to her own ferocious imagination, and the results are spellbinding. Her novel is a reclamation of the touchstones of Arthurian myth--skewering received notions with the sharp point of her pen. If that sounds too theoretical, let me also say that it's a screamingly hot canon-queering epic filled with bloody battles, and world-shaking magic. Spear is an unprecedented and spectacular investigation of the Matter of Britain. I've been waiting years for this book about the once and future everyone else to exist." - Maria Dahvana Headley

"Just dazzling!" - Bruce Holsinger

"A mesmerizing tale that manages to be both epic and immersive in a short, intimate span, Spear gives us a vivid hero, a daring quest, and a clear-eyed reimaging of Arthurian legend." - Malka Older

"There is magic in Nicola Griffith's words. Prepare to be enchanted." - John Scalzi

"Breathtaking. Nicola Griffith knows what she's doing." - Jo Walton