Africanfuturist author Nnedi Okorafor’s second book from The Desert Magician’s Duology is titled Like Thunder, and the release date is this December, right on the heels of the first book.

Book One of Okorafor’s The Desert Magician’s Duology – Shadow Speaker – will be released on September 26 of this year from DAW Books. You can preorder the book here.

Shadow Speaker is a deluxe, expanded edition of an out-of-print early novel by Okorafor, where 15-year-old Eji witnesses her father’s beheading and embarks on a journey to track down her father’s killer. Ejii comes face to face with her own mystical ability and discovers that her travels across the Sahara have a deeper purpose in this futuristic West Africa set in 2074.

Like Thunder is a brand-new sequel to Okorafor’s Shadow Speaker and set in Niger, West Africa in 2077. Read the fascinating synopsis below:

Welcome back. This second volume is a breathtaking story that sweeps across the sands of the Sahara, flies up to the peaks of the Aïr Mountains, cartwheels into a wild megacity—you get the idea.

I am the Desert Magician; I bring water where there is none.

This book begins with Dikéogu Obidimkpa slowly losing his mind. Yes, that boy who can bring rain just by thinking about it is having some…issues. Years ago, Dikéogu went on an epic journey to save Earth with the shadow speaker girl, Ejii Ubaid, who became his best friend. When it was all over, they went their separate ways, but now he’s learned their quest never really ended at all.

So Dikéogu, more powerful than ever, reunites with Ejii. He records this story as an audiofile, hoping it will help him keep his sanity or at least give him something to leave behind. Smart kid, but it won’t work—or will it?

I can tell you this: it won’t be like before. Our rainmaker and shadow speaker have changed. And after this, nothing will ever be the same again.

As they say, ‘Onye amaro ebe nmili si bido mabaya ama ama onye nyelu ya akwa oji welu ficha aru.’

Or, ‘If you do not remember where the rain started to beat you, you will not remember who gave you the towel with which to dry your body.’

Preorder Like Thunder here!