• A Best Book of 2017: NPR, the Guardian, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Bustle, Bookish, Barnes & Noble, Chicago Public Library, Book Scrolling.
• One of Esquire magazine's 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
• One of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the past decade, selected by NPR
• CLMP Firecracker Award Winner!
• A Stonewall Book Award Honor Book!
• Finalist for the 2018 Locus Award, John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the Lambda Literary Award
• Nominated for the 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Novel!

ASTER HAS LITTLE TO OFFER FOLKS in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.

Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot--if she's willing to sow the seeds of civil war.