AN ACCIDENT OF STARS Feminist fantasy

released Out NOW! 444 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Foz Meadows Publisher angry robot

In 2016, it shouldn’t be noteworthy to say that a work of fiction has plenty of female characters, that it passes the Bechdel test, that it shows women in positions of power and represents a full spectrum of colours, sexualities and genders while it’s at it – but it is. So we’ll say all those things about An Accident Of Stars, because it’s great – and still, sadly, unusual – to see them, and also because that means we’re especially pleased that it’s a great read as well.

Saffron is just another teenager trying to cope with abusive classmates and uncaring teachers before she follows a strange woman through a portal into another realm. Suddenly she’s involved in conspiracies and coups, helped by a collection of exiles and courtiers and queens, in a country about to collapse into civil war. She wants to help her new friends, but she also wants to get home.

The book never shies away from difficult questions or consequences, the emotional trauma of battle or the realities of Saffron’s abandoned family, and is all the better for it. Almost inevitably it’s the first in a series, but with intelligent, wellrealised characters and excellent world building, we can’t wait for the second. Rhian Drinkwater

The author’s real name is Philippa. She smiled a lot as a baby, so her dad nicknamed her “Foz” after Fozzie Bear.