She Would Be King

Reviews / Votes

This novel dazzles with beauty and transcendent, transformative humanity. I treasured every moment I spent in the pages of this book -- Sarah Jessica Parker, Book Club Pick Compelling... Like her remarkable protagonist Gbessa, the author has tapped into her own backstory - and emerged with literary superpowers * Time * Epic, beautiful, and magical, this astonishing first novel boldly announces the arrival of a remarkable novelist and storyteller -- Edwidge Danticat This bold debut novel uses magic realism to reimagine the founding of Liberia... The force and the symbolism of myth pervade Moore's engrossing tale * New Yorker * [Be] prepared to be seduced by her effusive magical realism -- Antonia Senior * The Times, Best New Historical Fiction * Moore's brand of magic realism is close kin to Beloved and The Underground Railroad... a tour de force that crescendos to its conclusion, reimagining the birth of Liberia in a way that is tender, humane and suffused with lyricism -- Sara Collins * Guardian * Wayetu Moore is an inspiration... her book is a gift * Imbolo Mbue * Blends magical realism and epic historical fiction * Independent, Best New Debuts to Read in 2019 * Exhilarating... complete with unforgettable characters and a dynamic voice * Marie Claire * A beautiful, symbolic debut * ELLE * Impressive... Moore uses an accomplished, penetrating style - with clever swerves into fantasy - to build effective critiques of tribal misogyny, colonial abuse, and racism' * Publishers Weekly * Moore is a brisk and skilled storyteller who weaves her protagonists' disparate stories together with aplomb yet is also able to render her sprawling cast of characters in ways that feel psychologically compelling... A sweeping and entertaining novel * Kirkus Reviews * An immediately gripping story... stunning * Pride Magazine * Unforgettable and profound * Foyles.co.uk * The book is unforgettable... irresistibly evocative and fierce. She Would Be King is a masterfully wrought alternate history of magical black resistance and should not be missed * Star Tribune * Breathtaking... Wayetu Moore's magical realism can make anyone believe in how connected humans are to the world around them * Glamour * Fans of Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be intrigued by this debut novel * Harper's Bazaar * In this luminous debut, you'll find an original new voice, melding the magical and the mythic and forging something urgently of our moment * Alexandra Kleeman * Ambitious and expansive * New York Times * But to discuss She Would Be King in purely utilitarian terms would neglect its lyricism, and the cinematic scope of its story. This is not a textbook: it is riveting fiction about a fascinating country. And it is also timely. * Observer * In She Would Be King, debut novelist Wayetu Moore's reimagines Liberia's past, building a world so clear and evocative you would swear you were in it * Buzzfeed * Moore's debut unflinchingly depicts the convergence of brutal forces - colonialism, the slave trade - while brushing it with a glimmer of magic * HuffPost * Moore veers from fantasy to lush descriptions and sharp characterization, shedding light on the fleeting moment when the vast African diaspora reversed itself * Vulture * Stunning... It is an epic narrative, weaving together themes of diasporic conflict, the legacy of bondage, isolation, and community, and it offers a transcendent, important look at the ways in which the past is never fully behind us, and instead echoes throughout everything we do * NYLON * This dynamic novel leaves you both satisfied and full of anticipation for what's to come, in fiction and in reality * The Rumpus * The dialog is fluid and poetic, allowing readers to imagine the events, sights, smells, feelings, and sensations. As with Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing, this work will appeal to lovers of African, African American, and literary fiction * Library Journal (starred review) * Moore uses an accomplished, penetrating style - with clever swerves into fantasy - to build effective critiques of tribal misogyny, colonial abuse, and racism * Publishers Weekly * An ambitious, genre-hopping, continent-spanning novel... Moore is a brisk and skilled storyteller who weaves her protagonists' disparate stories together with aplomb yet is also able to render her sprawling cast of characters in ways that feel psychologically compelling. In addition, the novel's various settings - Virginia, Jamaica and West Africa - are depicted so lushly that readers will find themselves enchanted' * Kirkus Reviews * Connecting [all the characters] is a mysterious, omniscient spirit, who pushes them toward each other and their destination with gusts of wind. Reading She Would Be King is like being carried by that wind, too, and whisked into a darkly magical world * Buzzfeed, Best Fiction of 2018 * Exhilarating and memorable * Culturefly *