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A coven of trans witches battles an evil AI in the magical coming-of-middle-age romp about love, loss, drag shows, and late capitalism.
On a morning much like any other, 30-something queer Brooklynite Wilder makes the miraculous discovery: suddenly, as if by magic, they can understand every language in the world. Dazed and disconnected, Wilder is found and taken in by a small coven of trans witches who have all become Awakened with mystical powers of their own. Quibble, a handsome portal traveler, Artemis, the group's caretaker and seer, and Mary Margaret, a smart-ass teen with telekinetic powers all work to make the cagey and suspicious Wilder feel comfortable, both within their group and with the knowledge that magic is, in fact, real.
Just as Wilder is finding their footing, a malicious AI threatens to dismantle the delicate balance of the coven and the world as they know it. Newly assembled and tenuously bound, the group scrambles to stay united as they parse the difference between difficult and dangerous, asking themselves continuously: is any consciousness—be it artificial, material, or magical—too dangerous to exist?
Awakened is an exhilarating, hilarious and thought-provoking reflection on the ways that we are responsible for creating our own realities, a story of finding community, and a meditation on what it means to have a body (and if it might be far worse never to have had one at all).
"Osworth has crafted a clever, thought-provoking, and surprisingly philosophical tale...Told in a tongue-in-cheek, snappy voice by an omnipresent narrator, this is a compulsively readable novel that hammers home the idea that magic can be found anywhere and everywhere as long as you're looking for it. A charming, magical romp with a focus on the importance of finding and building queer community." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Osworth offers a joyously queer urban fantasy about finding power, identity, and family at any age. Perfect for fans of Shaun Hamill's The Dissonance or Annalee Newitz's The Future of Another Timeline." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Osworth dedicates this novel to 'everyone who feels betrayed by J.K. Rowling,' and succeeds in filling that niche, creating a story of trans magic, empowerment, and joy. This is good fun." —Publishers Weekly
"This bold, explosive novel is unapologetically and vividly queer, showing the romantic, sexual, and inner and outer lives of trans people, all while painting an intriguing and suspenseful world that brings together sf and fantasy. Fans of Juno Dawson will enjoy this rich story about finding yourself and about what's truly the divide between real and artificial." —Booklist
"To call Awakened the queer and trans answer to a certain fantasy series that shall not be named would be both a gross oversimplification and a disservice to the anarchic wonderland Osworth has conjured. It's thrilling and riotous and magical af." —Electric Literature
"The magic of A. E. Osworth's writing is in their ability to be witty and hilariously irreverent, all while injecting their characters with the kind of charming earnestness that burrows into your soul. Awakened reminds us that even in our darkest hours, there is joy to be found if we just remain open to it. This is a wonderful, utterly un-put-down-able novel that I won't soon forget." ―Denne Michele Norris, author of When the Harvest Comes
"What a generous, dazzling book! Osworth has made us a world of trans witchery, portals and orbs, spectral sex, mystery, wonder, and even conflict resolution models. Awakened lets us imagine ourselves into its coven to find the amazing things at its heart." ―Elissa Washuta, author of White Magic
This information about Awakened was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
A.E. Osworth is a transgender novelist. Their debut, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and was long listed for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and The Tournament of Books. They are a lecturer at University of British Columbia's School of Creative Writing where they teach fiction, interactive fiction, and new media.
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