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Blacktail

Synopsis

‘Outstanding’ – Daily Mail
‘Glorious’ – V. E. Schwab
‘Blacktail will consume you’ – Marcus Kliewer

A dark, brutal work of fantasy and animal revenge from Scott Hawkins, the critically acclaimed author of The Library at Mount Char.

Blacktail is a half-breed wolf, born to hunt. When he finds love beyond a garden wall, he dares to imagine a peaceful life – until men butcher his mate and unborn pups in a surgical act of cruelty.

His grief ignites a rampage of torn throats and shattered bone. Soon, Blacktail’s violence draws the gaze of an ancient feline witch. She sends him south to wake the sleeping Forest God and end the age of reason.

As Blacktail journeys farther from his wild home and deeper into the world of man, he encounters strangers – animal, mortal, and otherworldly – who want to rid the world of humans.

* * *

‘Unexpected, blood-soaked and vividly told’
– qntm, author of There is No Antimemetics Division


‘Touching, horrifying’
– Mark Lawrence, bestselling author of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

Details

03 September 2026
288 pages
9781037417160
Imprint: Tor Nightfire

Reviews

“Blacktail is a journey through a universe simultaneously surreal and familiar, a tale that will leave claw marks on your brain that won't quickly fade. You simply won't read another book like it”Jason Pargin, author of John Dies at the End
“A tale of lupine vengeance – at first – whose stakes escalate to degrees I never saw coming. Unexpected, blood-soaked and vividly told”qntm, author of There is No Antimemetics Division
“Wickedly sharp, unflinchingly brutal, and nothing short of a modern masterpiece. Blacktail will consume you”Marcus Kliewer, bestselling author of We Used to Live Here and The Caretaker
“Mesmerizing and strange, like the headiest of folklore. Blacktail is one to savour; one to delight in the eccentricities of; one to sit with long after it ends”Olivie Blake, Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl Dinner and The Atlas Six