Why we’re excited
A metal that powered a revolution, and was supposed to be indestructible, has started to crumble, taking ships and bridges with it. Four people on different paths get pulled toward the cause: a trained assassin, a scientist's restless daughter, a con man who used to be her friend, and an ageing guard captain.
Jesse Q. Sutanto is best known for funny, warm crime novels such as Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, so a dark fantasy is a sharp turn. It opens a duology. Readers who like large ensemble casts and slowly converging plotlines will want to see how she handles the switch.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about An Edge Sharp Enough
Jesse Q. Sutanto is a familiar name here: 5 of Jesse Q. Sutanto’s books have full reviews, averaging 3.9 out of 5. Our favourite to date is Read Between the Lies (4★).
At 368 pages it is about the usual length for a fantasy release this month.
From the publisher
In a brilliant departure from the novels that made Jesse Q. Sutanto a USA Today bestselling author—including Dial A for Aunties—comes the first book in a debut dark fantasy duology, following an assassin, a scholar, a con man, and a guard in a race to rediscover powerful lost magic and save their world...
Mara has no memory of life before her assassin training behind the fortress-like walls of Tchu-Morrokhai, which has been her world since she was five. Practicing discipline and strategy, sacrifice and solitude, she has dedicated herself to resisting the Divine Empress’s plans of eradicating the all-but-forgotten magic. She longs for a world once again filled with magic—and freedom and love. And she’ll do whatever it takes to find those things.
In the faraway city of Velingard, Livya is the privileged daughter of the revered scientist whose invention of an indestructible new metal was the catalyst for a great revolution. Yet Livya’s bored of suitors and balls, more interested in philosophical debates. But when an invite to a secret salon leads to a kidnapping attempt, Livya is suddenly on the run—with the unlikely aid of charming con man Kaian, a once dear childhood friend inexplicably turned frosty stranger.
Captain Fonde has served Velingard faithfully in the twenty years since the revolution, and all has been peaceful... until now, when he’s informed that their “indestructible” metal is inexplicably starting to crumble. Ships, bridges, buildings, statues—their entire post-revolution world is literally about to come apart. Could it be that the metal—and therefore the revolution—was flawed all along? Or is there something darker—evil, ancient, inhuman—at play?
With stunning world-building, Jesse Q. Sutanto weaves an epic tale of characters whose lives irrevocably intertwine—and unravel—as paths collide across continents, racing toward an explosive twist that will forever change all of their fates...
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read An Edge Sharp Enough yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.












