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Cover of A Stranger in Olondria

A Stranger in Olondria

core novel 2013 A Stranger in Olondria

Record

First published2013
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.65 (3,173 ratings, collected 2026-09-15)
Page count299
First-edition ISBN9781931520768
Internal chronology1

Synopsis

A Stranger in Olondria, published by Sofia Samatar in 2013, opens the Olondria Sequence. Jevick is the son of a pepper merchant on the remote Tea Islands, raised on his private tutor's stories of distant Olondria, a land of books and cities he has only ever imagined. When his father dies, Jevick takes his place on a long-planned trading voyage to Olondria at last, arriving as an outsider enchanted by a literate culture his own island home lacks. His arrival is soon overshadowed by the ghost of Jissavet, an illiterate young woman he meets during his travels, whose haunting presence he cannot shake. Unable to free himself from her, Jevick is drawn into a dangerous religious conflict between two of Olondria's most powerful cults, each with its own claim on how the dead, and the ghost bound to him, should be understood.

Where it sits

Awards (verified)

  • World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2014: won
  • Crawford Award (Outstanding First Fantasy Novel), 2014: won
  • Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2013: nominated

Notes

  • From the series record (The Olondria Sequence): Both novels set in the secondary-world empire of Olondria; Small Beer Press.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

  • Reading order, within the series The Olondria Sequence: position 1 of 2: next The Winged Histories (2016)

Sources

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