If you are a big fan of Holes by Louis Sachar, then you will be excited to know that Sachar will be releasing his first adult novel in the near future. Keep reading to find out everything about Sachar’s latest novel!
PEOPLE shared the cover of Sachar’s next novel The Magician of Tiger Castle, which will be releasing by Ace in 2025. The modern fantasy novel follows Princess Tullia who lives in the kingdom of Esquaveta who is going to marry a prince from a neighboring village in order to secure an alliance. But when the princess falls in love with a scribe, her father recruits a magician named Anatole to help him. Anatole must decide who he wants to help and the consequences of his actions.
Sachar told PEOPLE in an email that he was going to make his upcoming novel a young adult novel at first.
“That was my initial premise, but I never stick to a rigid outline,” Sachar says. “Rather, I let the story and characters take me in different directions … I was in the middle of the third draft, when it became clear to me that Anatole had nudged his way into the center of the story.”
“Well, it’s not a good idea to have a 40-year old-man, desperate to save his career, as the main character of a book for young people, so I decided to refocus and turn this into a novel for adults — though perhaps those adults who still had a place in their hearts for the Wayside School books, or Holes,” Sachar said.
Fans of The Princess Bride by William Goldman will be happy to know that Sachar was inspired by that classic novel as well as the Renaissance.
“People had to figure things out on their own, without the aid of computers or even standardized weights and measures,” Sachar says. “Every item was handcrafted. During the four years it took to write the book, I enjoyed escaping into that world. I hope the reader will too.”
Few fans of Louis Sachar expected him to write a fantasy novel but he says that he doesn’ think about it like that.
Sachar’s readers may be surprised that the author is now venturing into fantasy, but the author says that he doesn’t “think in those terms.”
“I try to write intriguing, fun and thought-provoking stories with engaging characters,” Sachar said. “Whether others call my work fantasy, absurdism, surrealism, magical reality or something else is unimportant, just as long as the reader keeps turning the page.”
The Magician of Tiger Castle is set to release on Aug. 5, 2025 and readers can preorder it now.
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