Review

"A stunningly, vitally harrowing story and genre at its very best."-- "Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author"

"A thrilling, intense, nail-biting read that transcends genre and has an ending of biblical proportions."-- "Grimdark magazine"

"An epic ode to the future and past, tiny acts of resistance, love, and the wild, unstoppable sweep of revolution."-- "Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author"

"Bursts at the seams of story with fire, passion, and power."-- "Marlon James, Man Booker Prize-winning author"

"For readers who love propulsive, creepy, emotionally dynamic novels with a dash of the supernatural, Tochi Onyebuchi's powerful work of speculative fiction finds hope and magic within a black family as they stand against violence and racism."-- "BookPage"

"Gorgeous, tender, unflinching, breathtakingly good...comes at you full speed with the brake line cut."-- "Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars"

"Onyebuchi sheds light on a world of harsh familiarity and fantastical originality with his incredible worldbuilding and devastating prose. Stark, sharp, and brutal, this story will burn in readers' minds long after the last page."-- "Library Journal (starred review)"

"Stunningly original, brutal, and electric. Onyebuchi's prose scorches."-- "R. F. Kuang, author of The Poppy War"

"The burning embers of a revolution...the flash of accelerant in a genre that needs the burn."-- "Mark Oshiro, author of Anger Is a Gift"

"The kind of thing that makes science fiction such a powerful medium...blazes with rage and glory."-- "Cory Doctorow, New York Times bestselling author"

"There is a richness and depth to Onyebuchi's prose that delivers an intricate and textured world at once rife with violence and teeming with familial love."-- "Booklist"

"This staggering story is political speculative fiction at its finest."-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"

"Tochi Onyebuchi is, primarily, a generous world-builder. His journey into this is honed and sharpened with Riot Baby."-- "Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author"


Product Description

Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor’s son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven’t happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands.
Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative. It burns fearlessly toward revolution and has quietly devastating things to say about love, fury, and the black American experience.
Ella and Kev are both shockingly human and immeasurably powerful. Their childhoods are defined and destroyed by racism. Their futures might alter the world.

About the Author

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of the young adult novel Beasts Made of Night, which won the Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African; its sequel, Crown of Thunder; and War Girls. He holds a BA from Yale, an MFA in screenwriting from the Tisch School of the Arts, a master's degree in economic law from Sciences Po, and a JD from Columbia Law School. His fiction has appeared in Panverse Three, Asimov's Science Fiction, Obsidian, Omenana magazine, Lightspeed, and Uncanny. His nonfiction has appeared in Nowhere magazine, the Oxford University Press blog, Tor.com, and the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, among other places. Riot Baby is his adult fiction debut.