The West Passage

By: Jared Pechaček

Narrated by: Steve West

Long-listed, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2024

A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.

“The West Passage is a dangerous book of secrets.”—Travis Baldree, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes

“A weird and wonderful tale, rich with imagination and utterly unique.”—Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters

“One of the finest fantasies of this decade, a sweeping swarm of fiercely human creativity.”—Indrapramit Das, author of The Devourers

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.

Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.

The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for sure: the world is about to change.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

©2024 Jared Pechaček (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The West Passage is a dangerous book of secrets. It is the singular agony of a delicious dream half-recalled. Its shadows are colonized with the gorgeous, the grotesque, and the forgotten—and now you are a vital link in their remembrance.”—Travis Baldree, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes

“A weird and wonderful tale, rich with imagination and utterly unique; Pechaček has crafted a literary gem of a novel.”—Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters

“Emotionally tender, thematically rich, and creatively stunning, The West Passage is a singular achievement in fantasy writing.”—J.T. Greathouse, author of the Pact and Pattern series

Dark and Whimsy feelings Delighted me

This book is Odd, and I say this with High Praise. It reminded me strongly of the game Caves of Qud, in the way the world works so vastly different to ours; and what seems knowable can be vastly out of reach.

for lovers of strangeness

A bounty of new weird that reaches to defy description. Wonderfully imaginative, evocative, and strange. Nothing is as it seems, and the rules bend and twist around every corner. Don't expect answers beyond what you are given, despite the many questions you'll have, Enjoy the journey. I loved it.