The fate of the empire hangs in the balance in the second installment of the genre-bending Ex Romana trilogy

Perfect for readers of Saara El-Arifi and C. L. Clark and stories with strong, queer voices, this is a speculative imagining of a world on the brink of revolution. Here, Rome never fell, but the apocalypse is coming—if it hasn't arrived already

Cracks are forming in the empire’s facade.
In the wake of startling revelations and personal betrayals, Tair finds herself the Iveroa Stone's new custodian as she faces the battle of Luxana's streets. As the fallout of the fighting pit massacre leads to a rise in legionary crackdowns and vigilante justice, Tair is determined to find a better path forward for Sargassa’s future. Up in the Imperial Archives, meanwhile, Selah tries to make sense of her family’s tangled history within the Imperium's shadowed beginnings.
Elsewhere, in the far-flung reaches of Roma Sargassa's badlands, Arran and Theo undertake a covert mission for the Revenants, one that could decide the difference between victory and defeat in Griff's upcoming war.
But long-laid plans and careful maneuvering are nothing compared to the forces of nature, and Sargassa's future might just be determined by the coming storm.

Cover Design: Adam Auerbach

Art: Simon Prades

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PRAISE FOR THE EX ROMANA TRILOGY

“A masterclass in world-building… Burnham's skillful prose depicts visceral character struggles, [and characters] converge in a firework display of friendship, conflict, and queer romance.”
— Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)

“Breathtaking… Thoroughly compelling… This is a deft, vividly observed novel that is precisely interested in social realism and the relations of power. It uses Rome, and Romanitas, to examine and to critique the nature of systems of oppression […] to very pointed effect.”
— Locus Magazine

“Burnham offers queer love not only as a reason to keep fighting, but perhaps, as the fight itself. Sargassa is a celebration of misfits who slip between the cracks, a book for rebels who believe that the world not only can change, but that it must.”
— Motif Magazine

"A novel of sweeping politics and burning passions, all aimed at bringing down a seemingly immortal empire. Thought-provoking and explosive. Great for fans of Guy Gavriel Kay and Elizabeth Bear."
— John Wiswell, author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In

"At once sprawling and intimate, Sargassa is an alternate history, a murder mystery, and an incisive critique of the far-reaching impacts of imperialism all rolled into one. Gloriously queer, beautifully crafted, and impossible to put down.”
— Emet North, author of In Universes

"Sargassa begins as a murder mystery and ends as a brilliantly realised examination of class and politics, love and sexuality, oppression and revolution in an alternate Roman city state. A warning for our time wrapped in a genre defying epic with an ending you won't soon forget, Sophie Burnham's debut is the start of a series that promises to be as unflinchingly true to our human failures as it is to our triumphs. Complex, richly imagined and gorgeously written, Sargassa is a place where history is not just our past, but our future -- a lesson we would all do well to remember.”
— R.S.A. Garcia, Nebula and Sturgeon Award winning author of The Nightward