Celestial | Masquerade

Masquerade

O.O. Sangoyomi

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Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

“Sangoyomi delivers an incisive examination of gender, temptation, and the lengths people will go to hold power—a magnificent debut!” —Vaishnavi Patel, New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule. Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy becomes too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by re-forging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue that turn an entire region on its head.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Posts about this title from Celestial

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Mar 6 2025

a very solid February reading wrap up!!

📚 books mentioned: - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi - Tale of the Flying Forest by R.M. Romero

thank you to Tor, William Morrow, Aardvark Book Club, and Little, Brown Young Readers for the gifted copies!

#readingwrapup #monthlyreads #bookreviews #bookrecs #fantasybooks #horrorbooks #bookrecommendations #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @torbooks @tordotcompub @forgereads @williammorrowbooks @delreybooks @littlebrownyoungreaders

5 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Dec 5 2025

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BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY 💖

Want to celebrate with me? You can win a PRESENT! 🎁

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Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • May 8 2025

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So it’s been a minute, but… 👀

18 books

Andromeda's Fragments\ \ Raquel\ \ • Mar 13 2025

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2025 PHYSICAL TBR

2025 PHYSICAL TBR >>>> I suck at reading physical books and every plan I make to read more of them flops but I still try again and again 🙂‍↕️😭 #buffyreads #booktok #bookish #physicalbooks #tbr #bookshelf #bookshelforganization #physicaltbr

11 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Mar 10 2025

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This book is mis-marketed, and I'M part of the problem!

My bad, book club 🫣 I wanted to correct both myself and the general record on this because I see this shelved everywhere as fantasy and I recommend reading Sangoyomi’s Substack in full beyond the couple paragraphs I included here for her more complete thoughts on this and the fictionalization of Africa to westerners. Loved this book, loathe as I am to have miscategorized it to book club, I’m glad we read it! 📚

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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Mar 6 2025

a very solid February reading wrap up!!

thank you to Tor, William Morrow, Aardvark Book Club, and Little, Brown Young Readers for the gifted copies!

5 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Mar 4 2025

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Liquor in the Library!

In which I get caught with too many news ones…

10 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Mar 2 2025

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Loves, this will be a pretty quick one since I have mostly devoted myself to thesis research. If I gave you the full list of titles I plan to reference, do you think you'll be able to figure out my topic? \ \ Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett \ \ Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury \ \ Masquerade by O. O. Sangoyomi\ \ Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe\ \ A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair\ \ Neon Gods by Katee Robert\ \ The Power of Hades by Rose Wilson and Eliza Raine\ \ The Maiden & the Unseen by Jeannette Rose & Alexis Rune\ \ Thief of Spring by Katherine Macdonald\ \ Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerland\ \ Dead of Spring by Colette Rhodes\ \ Kore by Ambrosia R. Harris\ \ Any guesses?\ \ Beyond digging deep into all of these, I did get going on The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent, which is doing the vampire things for my black little heart, but is getting a touch predictable...? It's very possible I'm in need of a genre shake-up. \ \ What have you read this week?

Weekly Reading Wrap-Up

13 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Feb 26 2025

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What to read next...? 👀

The @bookoutlet order has ✨arrived✨

Per usual, the question now is which to read first…? 👀

5 books

Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Feb 23 2025

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Loves, my reading this week was all over the place... \ \ I made a dent in The Poppy War and another in House of Frank. I enjoy both — though for entirely different reasons, as you might imagine. \ \ Additionally, I finished Halfling by S.E. Wendel, which had its charming moments along with its steamy ones and is a significant improvement from my previous venture into orc-ish romantasy ( Bound to the Orc Ranger by Krista Luna was simply not to my taste at all). \ \ Did I also get just a little sidetracked by Forged in Blood (and subsequently Promised in Blood) by Sadie Kincaid? Yes, I did. I'm very unsure why I bothered with either because even if it was intended to scratch a reverse-harem-vampire-academia sort of an itch, I can't say it necessarily... did. Blame my sick need for resolution and a meager wish that a series has the potential to improve. \ \ On that note, remember my mention a few days ago that I rarely offer one-star ratings but that Cloak of the Vampire was among them? Well, folks. It has a second book, Blood of the Gods by Sapir A. Englard. I sampled it and DNF-ed at 10%, which should tell you all you need to know. \ \ Now, on to happier topics! \ \ Grappling with dissertation proposal research led me right into the arms of Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett, and Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald, all of which I plan to sink my teeth into within the next few weeks. Any guesses as to what my research might entail...? \ \ I also think we're honing in on the perfect time for a Legendborn and Bloodmarked reread in advance of Tracy Deonn's Oathbound release on March 4th. \ \ Anyone else have an ambitious TBR to wrap up February?

Weekly Reading Wrap-Up

11 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Feb 17 2025

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Genre Fiction Books by Black American Authors (My B&N had not one single table set up)

I think a few of the booksellers at this location follow me so if you see this 👀👀👀 “accidentally” send it to your manager. 🧍‍♀️ There are DOZENS of tables at this store alone and not one was set up for Black History Month when I was there twice last week. We should be celebrating black voices in publishing all the time, but to not be doing so at a bare minimum of during BHM?? There’s like 4 different subgenres of romance tables but not one Black Voices table, c’mon. Anyway here’s like 30 books I quickly pulled off my own shelf, a mix of books I’ve read and loved and books on my TBR 📚 #booktok #bookrecs #tbr #barnesandnoble #fantasybooks #horrorbooks #yabooks #bookshopping #sacramento #booktoker #emmaskiesreads #books

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Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Sep 10 2024

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Newsletter #7: September 10, 2024

Well hello there. Welcome to the Newsletter I meant to put out many, many days ago. It’s been a minute.

9 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Aug 1 2024

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Brain Reset Day - Bookstore, Movies, Target

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Cozy Quill\ \ Meg\ \ • Jan 5 2024

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My TOP TEN Most Anticipated Books of 2024

These are the books I'm MOST excited to read this year! With a few recs from you guys in the Discord ;)

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