Description: Seventeen-year-old Elver, guardian of the monster forest and cursed with a deadly touch, forms an uneasy alliance with Artair, a Sleepless on a mission, but as she becomes entangled in his cursed dual existence and her own conflicting desires, she must decide where her loyalties lie.
Brief description: JEN WILLIAMS is a writer from London currently living in Bristol with her fiancé, fellow fantasy writer Peter Newman, and a dramatically fluffy cat. A fan of grisly fairy tales since her youth, Jen has gone on to write character-driven fantasy novels with plenty of adventure and magic. The Winnowing Flame Trilogy twice won the British Fantasy Award for best novel, and the first volume of the Talon Duology, Talonsister, picked up the same award in 2024. She is partially responsible for the creation of the long-running social event Super Relaxed Fantasy Club, and her first thriller, Dog Rose Dirt, was optioned for television by Gaumont. The Sleepless Duology is her first YA fantasy series. When not writing books Jen enjoys scary movies, tabletop roleplaying games and the sort of video games where you can get dumped by a sexy elf.
Review Quotes:
"In this duology opener, award-winner Williams' rich worldbuilding supports an action-packed fantasy that features original character dynamics and a thoughtful exploration of themes of invisible prisons, lost identity, and belonging... A complex and riveting tapestry." --Kirkus (starred review)
"[A] compulsively readable and original YA fantasy." --The Guardian "Dual perspective narration, an expansive 12-god religious system, and complex magical rules are all made more accessible by intriguing characters and a lyrical tone with immersive imagery." --Booklist "Refined omniscient third-person narration deftly conveys a complexly wrought world shaped by divine manipulation and populated by eerie, inventive creatures, while slow-burning romantic elements simmer in the background." --Publishers Weekly "[A] smooth exceptionally well-crafted novel with a darkly, deliciously awkward love triangle between Elver, Artair, and Lucian. Readers will be thrilled to see that Williams has laid the groundwork for a promising sequel even as she deftly wraps up the main plot." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "The Sleepless is a fresh, vibrant, uniquely compelling read filled with fascinating characters in a beautifully intricate world that I couldn't get enough of. I could not put it down." --Abigail Owen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Games Gods Play