The Spear Cuts Through Water
core novel 2022 The Spear Cuts Through Water
Record
| First published | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.12 (29,516 ratings, collected 2026-08-24) |
| Page count | 525 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780593156599 |
Synopsis
The Spear Cuts Through Water is framed as a story a grandmother tells her grandchild about a distant land called the Old Country, experienced through a magical Inverted Theater. Within that frame, the narrative follows two men, Jun, a guard troubled by his past, and Keema, an outcast missing an arm, who are drawn together to help a captive, dying Moon goddess escape from the prison where her own sons, the tyrannical Moon Emperor's Terrors, have kept her. Commander Uhi Araya first enlists Keema for what becomes a dangerous mission, and the two men undertake a perilous journey across the Old Country to carry the weakening goddess to safety, pursued by the Emperor's forces and their network of spies.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Spear Cuts Through Water
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Simon Jimenez
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2023: won
- Crawford Award, 2023: won
Notes
- A standalone mythic/historical fantasy novel, framed as a story told across generations. Simon Jimenez's debut novel, The Vanished Birds (2020), is science fiction in an unrelated setting and is out of scope.
Sources
- Wikipedia: The Spear Cuts Through Water
- Penguin Random House product page: The Spear Cuts Through Water
- International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA)
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