Sublimation - by Isabel J Kim (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Sublimation is the debut novel by Isabel J. Kim, winner of two Nebula Awards, the Locus Award, the British Science Fiction Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award, and a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award and 2023 Astounding Award.

"In this dazzling parable of connection and isolation, Isabel J. Kim's vividly crafted characters navigate identity, belonging, and the weight of a divided history." --Scott Westerfeld, New York Times bestselling author of Uglies and The Mortons

The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind. One person enters their new country, the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral. When she arrives, she discovers that Soyoung plans to steal her body and live her life whether Rose wants to reintegrate or not.

Sublimation is a literary speculative fiction novel that pits the lives we choose against the lives we leave behind. It's an immigrant story like no other, capturing the longing for another life and twisting it into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.

Review Quotes

"In this dazzling parable of connection and isolation, Isabel J. Kim's vividly crafted characters navigate identity, belonging, and the weight of a divided history." --Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies and The Mortons

"You can become the person who read this book, or the person who didn't. Don't be the one left behind." --Seth Dickinson, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant

"Sublimation speaks to one of our world's greatest and most ubiquitous crises--the border--with the terrible precision of open-heart surgery." --Vajra Chandrasekera, Nebula Award-winning author of The Saint of Bright Doors

"An unsettling and suspenseful narrative about the borders that cross us and the selves we subsequently leave behind." --Anton Hur, author of Toward Eternity

"Sublimation expertly weaves myth, fairy tales, and science fiction within an electrifying contemporary thriller to explore identity, memory, and the whims of borders." --Jade Song, Author of Chlorine

"I have never felt more seen by a book in my life." --Ai Jiang, Nebula and Ignyte Award-winning author of Linghun

"Sublimation is a heartrending and mind-bending novel about our slippery sense identity and desire--Essential reading for understanding today's reality." --Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia

About the Author

Isabel J. Kim lives near New York City in an apartment filled with books and swords. She is the author of numerous short stories and has won the Nebula, Locus, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and reprinted in multiple best of the year anthologies. When she's not writing, she's practicing law or podcasting. Sublimation is her first novel.