Hodderscape wins Song's crossover fantasy duology in four-way auction

Hodderscape has signed a crossover fantasy duology from K X Song in a “heated” four-way auction.

Publishing director Molly Powell acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Night Ends with Fire and another book from Claire Wilson of RCW Literary Agency, on behalf of Peter Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media. Hodderscape will publish the first book simultaneously with US Publisher Ace, a Penguin Random House imprint, in summer 2024.

The Night Ends with Fire is the first in a “gripping” fantasy duology inspired by "Mulan" and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. When Meilin’s draft-dodging father promises her to a violent, ill-tempered man, she realises she must take her life into her own hands. The next day she disguises herself as a man and enlists in his place – beginning an extraordinary journey to rewrite her destiny and escape the forces that would conscript her to a life without agency.

Powell said: “The Night Ends with Fire is everything. A gorgeous, sweeping story with an unforgettable heroine, forbidden, aching romance, and a lush world of politics, war, and dangerous magic, I lost myself happily in this fantastic story and would rather never have emerged. This is a powerful, feminist retelling about a girl reclaiming her life and power – and doing things on her own terms – and I am so excited to publish it in the UK!”

Wilson said: “Opening the first pages of The Night Ends with Fire was one of those electrifying moments when you realise that you are being hurtled into a story that absolutely will not let you go. It has been an honour to introduce K X Song’s phenomenally gripping and beautiful work to the UK, and I am delighted that it has found such a perfect home with Molly and the team at Hodderscape.”

Song is a Highlights Foundation fellow and a HG Wells Turnill Prize honouree. Her debut YA novel, An Echo in the City, will be published by Rock the Boat in August, and is about two teenagers falling in love and coming of age amid the Hong Kong protests.

Song commented: “I could not be more thrilled to be partnering with the amazing team at Hodderscape to bring The Night Ends with Fire to UK readers. The Night Ends with Fire takes my love for the Chinese wuxia drama – with its epic scale, star-crossed romance, and emotionally charged plot full of hairpin turns – and melds it with my interest in questions of female ambition and power, and what it costs.”