Curious King Books

28/09/2025

For those wondering what The Obelisk Gate, Standard Edition might look like next to The Fifth Season, well here's something to give you an idea for now...

26/09/2025

Here is the wraparound dustjacket art by John Anthony di Giovanni for our release of The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin! We absolutely had to have John back to illustrate the second book, and you can see why.

An incredible follow up to the brilliant dustjacket on TFS and will be printed on high quality paper and foil stamped on the spine with Title/Author/Series. John Anthony di Giovanni is an incredible and versatile artist who is very much in demand across books/games/movies.

John is providing 10 full colour illustrations for The Obelisk Gate. 2 Landscape pieces, (Dustjacket and Endpaper) and 8 interior portrait paintings tipped in the book.

John is an American fantasy artist celebrated for his richly detailed illustrations that bring mythical worlds and heroic characters to life.

Growing up with a passion for storytelling and illustration, Di Giovanni immersed himself in the world of fantasy and science fiction from a young age, inspired by epic tales and classic mythology.

Any remaining copies will be available for purchase on Tuesday the 30th of September at 20:00 BST.

25/09/2025

Up next is of course the Deluxe Edition of The Obelisk Gate. The second book in N.K. Jemisin's multi-award winning "Broken Earth" trilogy.

Limited to 200 copies only. The Deluxe Edition is over 320 pages and is letterpress printed by Nomad Letterpress, Cheltenham on Munken Rough Cream 120gsm paper.

The boards are handbound in a rich cream goat leather and blind stamped on the front and back. The spine is rounded; foil stamped in gold and blue and has a Lapis Lazuli stone point affixed.

The book is gilded on all three sides and the head and tailbands are blue/white and comes with a dark blue coloured ribbon.

This edition is housed in a curved capped slipcase covered in blue marbled cloth by Freya Scott of Paperwilds and capped with cream leather.

The spine also has two labels adorn the back and both book and slipcase are handbound by Ludlow Bookbinders.

This edition is signed by both the author and the artist.

Any remaining copies not taken up by rights holders will be available for sale on Tuesday the 30th of September at 20:00 GMT

24/09/2025

I feel this is one of our most visually pleasing series of Standard Editions published so far. You may disagree of course!

Feast your eyes on the Standard Edition of our "Sapphire Edition" release of The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin!

Limited to 500 copies only, the Standard Edition is over 320 pages and is letterpress printed on Munken Rough Cream 120gsm paper by master printers Nomad Letterpress.

This is the only tier that comes with the wraparound dustjacket art by John Anthony di Giovanni.

Quarter-bound with a hand-marbled blue design by Freya Scott of Paperwilds, it beautifully complements the previous book and encapsulates the Sapphire. The boards are covered in colourplan cream book paper and has two colour foil stamping of the obelisk on the front.

The spine is rounded and has a two-colour foil stamped label affixed. The head and tailbands are blue/white and comes with a dark blue coloured ribbon.

The handmade slipcase is covered in Heritage Regal Buckram bookcloth and has a gold stamped obelisk design on the side. Both book and slipcase are handbound by Ludlow Bookbinders.

And of course, signed by both author and artist!

These images are without the dustjacket, it will come with one.

23/09/2025

"Now she has the freedom to be fully who and what she is, and she no longer fears that self." - N.K. Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate.

I am delighted to finally reveal our “Sapphire Edition" of The Obelisk Gate, book 2 of The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. The Obelisk Gate is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Fifth Season, which was our second ever published title.

The Broken Earth is also the first trilogy to ever win the Hugo Award on consecutive years for each title in a series, a feat that may never be matched.

I’ve been itching to carry on with this series for some time as I knew the design route I took was going to look fantastic when all books are released. I hope you enjoy what we’ve done on the follow up to TFS.

Once again, we have the incredible John Anthony di Giovanni returning to illustrate this title with another 10 colour paintings. We simply had to have John to finish the series after his incredible work on TFS!

This is a Series Rights release, so that means owners of TFS will have an opportunity to match their copy prior to the Public Sale. The public pre-order will be for copies not taken up by rights holders.

All copies across all tiers continue with their Series Rights, so those who buy The Obelisk Gate will get rights to purchase The Stone Sky (this includes people who buy on the public sale).

Series Rights holders will have until 30/09/2025 at 15:00BST to secure their copy. Any copies of each tier not taken up by Series Rights holders will go up for Public Pre-order on:

Tuesday 30th September at 20:00BST

Click the link below to see all three tiers in their glory!

“Being useful to others is not the same thing as being equal.” – N.K Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate It feels like an age since we shipped The Fifth Season so it feels fantastic to reveal our edition of The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin, the second book in the much-lauded Broken Earth series! TFS was...

22/09/2025

“Being useful to others is not the same thing as being equal.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate

We’re less than 24hours away from the full reveal of our next CK edition! It is of course Book 2 of the award winning “The Broken Earth Trilogy by the iconic N.K. Jemisin.

It is of course “The Obelisk Gate” and will be illustrated again by John Anthony di Giovanni.

How did that sneak up on us so fast? Our edition of The Obelisk Gate will be known as the “Sapphire Edition”, which is the obelisk most prominent in the story (following on from the Amethyst Edition). We are absolutely delighted to be continuing with this series and seeing John Anthony Di Giovanni return after doing a phenomenal job of TFS.

The important dates and times you need to know are as follows.

The full edition reveal is scheduled for:

Tuesday 23rd of September at 15:00BST

Once revealed the Series Rights holder period will open for all owners of TFS Lettered, Deluxe and Standard Editions. Series Rights holders for Broken Earth will be contacted via email to purchase their matching copy of The Obelisk Gate following the reveal.

Series Rights holders will have until 30/09/2025 at 10:00am BST to secure their copy.

Any copies of each tier not taken up by Series Rights holders will go up for Public Pre-order on:

Tuesday 30th September at 20:00BST

This will go live on our website at that date, and direct links for each edition will be sent out to all newsletter subscribers on Friday 26/09 and Monday 29/09. We will not know the exact number of copies available for the public sale until the rights window has ended, but there are almost always copies of the Standard and Deluxe.

I can’t wait for you all to see these books and they look fantastic with TFS!

12/09/2025

Behold, our first teaser for our next release "The Obelisk Gate", book 2 of The Broken Earth trilogy by the award winning author N.K. Jemisin!

This is a sneak peek at the dustjacket cover art by the one and only John Anthony di Giovanni featuring the namesake of our theme for this book, the Sapphire Obelisk.

We will be doing the full edition reveal on Tuesday 23rd of September at 15:00BST when the Series Rights holder window will open for owners of The Fifth Season.

Any leftover copies will be going up for public sale on Tuesday 30th September at 20:00BST!

04/09/2025

I should post these more often, but sometimes neglect social media more than I should! Anyway, you have to check out this review by our favourite youtuber Petrik Leo. Petrik's been a vocal supporter and confidante of the press since the very early days and I just love watching his videos.

If you're still waiting for your Legend Standard Edition to land on your doorstep then please give this a watch. Always enjoy the enthuiasm he has for our books.

Thanks Petrik!

Hi everyone! Today's video is a special edition unboxing and review of the limited Curious King edition of Legend by David Gemmell! Illustrated by Justin Swe...

30/08/2025

Just about got this one in to August! Thank the heavens. It's been a real challenge this month to stay on top of everything as i'm sure parents of children of school-age can attest.

Worry not, term time beckons and some kind of return to normality!

When not taking care of my sprogs or battling chest infections, I have managed to kick things forward still with CK (with a considerable amount of help from my assistant Fio!).

For those interested in what's going on with our books, please take a peek at the blog. Updates on all books in production, and I won't be offended if you skip to the titles you have pre-ordered.

Just about snuck this one into August! Deary me what a month this has been, and I’m quite pleased it’s nearly over to be honest. Some great things happened in August, but it’s been a real challenge personally. I’ll bore you as most people skip this bit anyway. August has been our first summe...

15/08/2025

Legend is shipping everyone! It looks like UK-bound Deluxe’s have gone out already. Overseas Deluxe’s should be shipped on Wednesday coming for arrival on Friday for most customers.

Some people said theirs had no tracking notification, I have picked this up with Ludlow and they said they’ll ensure they go out with each one.

The Standards have been QC’d and are being packed as we speak. Distributor says they’ll leave on Tuesday morning! The tracking should come from The Broken Binding for all those keeping an eye out next week.

There was a 10 day delay on the Standards going out due to an issue with packing materials, so apologies for that.

Regarding the Lettered Edition I’ve been told rough estimate of shipping to be September 5th or w/c Sept 8th.

Thanks again for your patience on this one, we sincerely hope you feel it worthwhile once shipped!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

11/08/2025

Apologies for the radio silence all! I was away most of last week (I am one year older technically now).

I think there's a book you're waiting for, right? Ah yes. Legend.

The update is thus! The Standard's are all done and they have been picked up by the distributor and currently going through quality control as we speak ready for shipping.

Shipping should start at the end of this week for the Standard Edition. The Deluxe is hot on its heels and will be shipping next week (the bindery are already starting to pack them).

The Lettered towards to the end of the month, but will keep you all posted as the weeks come!

I cannot wait for these to land on people's doorsteps!