Slow Gods

Claire North

Nov 2025 · Sold by Orbit

About this ebook

Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel!

Shortlisted for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! 

Best of the Year at Gizmodo, Library Journal, and more! 

"An astonishing, thought-provoking and above all touching story of found meaning and lost humanity.” —Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of Children of Time

Slow Gods is the galaxy-spanning tale ​of one man's impossible life charted against the fate of humanity amongst the stars—a powerfully imaginative space opera from multi-award-winning author Claire North, perfect for fans of A Memory Called Empire and The Vanished Birds.

My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.

In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.
 
Here is one truth: out there in deep space, in the pilot's chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me. 

This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I've lived since I died for the first time.  
 
Are you listening? 

Ratings and reviews

A really rather amazing book There aren't enough books that give us both intriguing ideas about technology and the future, and also good tender true lovely writing about what it is to live. This is one of those. I texted a friend a sentence from this book, near the end, and it had nothing to do with science or technology or strange new worlds, it was just beautiful. Arguably some of the more fascinating science fiction elements here are never quite explained or worked out as much as one might want, because they are metaphor as much as concrete idea. But perhaps there will be a sequel. Or perhaps they are perfect as not-quite-explained as they are. And some of the ideas are worked out quite nicely, and are new and interesting and will stay with me. You should read this.

intelligent and well written. Shades of Banks in some characters.

This was a fascinating, beautiful unfolding.

About the author

Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, who wrote several novels in various genres before publishing their first major work as Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. It was a critically acclaimed success, receiving rave reviews and becoming a word of mouth bestseller. They have since published several hugely popular and critically acclaimed novels, won the World Fantasy Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. They live in London.