In this horror graphic novel from award-winning writer Jazmine Joyner and illustrator Anthony Pugh, American Gods meets Get Out in a dark retelling of the West African legend of Anansi the Spider.
In the Deep South, something evil waits in the darkness . . .
Devour tells the story of the Turner family, who move to Alabama to care for their ailing matriarch, Vassie, when she begins suffering from dementia. But Vassie isn’t just any old lady; she’s the last of a line of powerful root women who have been caring for the community since her ancestors were first captured and enslaved by white plantation owners. Patsy, the eldest daughter in the family, is immediately suspicious; the locals’ fear and superstition of her grandmother leads Patsy to take a closer look at the Turner family home, and what she finds is beyond her wildest nightmares.
In a magical room beneath the house, Patsy discovers the source of her family’s legendary skills: the Ghanaian spider god Anansi. Driven mad by the suffering of the enslaved Africans who worshipped him, Anansi was eventually captured and contained by Patsy’s ancestors. As Patsy learns about her family’s culture and dark past, she also realizes what’s really happening to Vassie; Anansi is eating Vassie’s memories. With their legacy and the god’s imprisonment in the balance, Patsy and her brother, Demetrius, will have to take up their grandmother’s mantle—while she can still remember who they are.
Devour is a terrifying new fable that delivers thrills and chills in equal measure.
Praise
“An electrifying journey of legacy, horror, and African lore. Devour will grip your soul at the roots.”
—Orlando Jones
“Gripping and imaginative horror with a twist on the West African Anansi mythology. Devour has engaging characters and outstanding graphics leading to a devastating climax.”
—Tananarive Due, coauthor of The Keeper
“Anansi’s magic and his treachery come to American shores. Devour is a tale of horror, history, and family magic—both its risks and its rewards. This story is full of blood and brutality, it’s an epic tale that goes back to the earliest times and forward into the future.”
—Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling
“Black ancestral trauma energizes a clever twist on Anansi, who is a different being in the hands of each storyteller. Stories, after all, are the key . . . you’ll be appalled, you’ll be absorbed, you’ll devour this book.”
—Nalo Hopkinson, coauthor of DC’s House of Whispers
