Margins
When Dark Roots Hunt book cover
When Dark Roots Hunt
2023
First Published
3.60
Average Rating
378
Number of Pages

Age range 13 to 18 Don’t go out onto the lake. Wyann trees search the shallows to spear passing prey with their roots. Giant water-ants hunt anything that moves on the water-skin. Sala’s village survives hidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, because everyone don’t go out onto the lake. But when her village refuses to listen to sense, and continues squeezing beautiful pond-bred ‘keeiling’ fish to death for their precious saliva oils, Sala has no choice. She will risk it all to prove herself one last time, else leave everything behind for the dark shaded swamps beneath the towering hillfarms of Palude. At least that’s the plan before a strange comet crosses the night sky, throwing her and her pet pointer into a race through wyann-infested swampland to unearth long-hidden truths and stir rivalries into a terrifying conflict set to change the world of Palude forever. Sala must do whatever it takes to face the truth of who she to save her village, to save her family, to save herself. If only they had listened. When Dark Roots Hunt is a great read - fresh, action-packed and utterly compelling. I loved it.’ — Ian Irvine, author of The Gates of Good and Evil series ‘Shapter has created an immersive, fantastical world with tension poised to snap at any moment. I couldn’t put it down.’ — USA Today bestselling author Dionne Lister, author of The Circle of Talia

Avg Rating
3.60
Number of Ratings
10
5 STARS
30%
4 STARS
30%
3 STARS
20%
2 STARS
10%
1 STARS
10%
goodreads

Author

Zena Shapter
Zena Shapter
Author · 3 books
Zena Shapter is a multi-award winning author of science fiction, fantasy, speculative and contemporary fiction, conjuring journeys into the beyond and unusual. Author of ‘When Dark Roots Hunt’, ‘Song of the Cawal’, 'Towards White', and co-author of 'Into Tordon', among others, she’s a ‘writer with a need for adventure’ (Midnight Echo magazine), “a specialist in the weird, wacky, wonderful” (Writing NSW), creating “the kind of excitement and suspense and pure pleasure that made me want to become a writer” (Lillian Csernica, Tangent Online), “dark fantasy at its blood-soaked finest” (Australasian Horror Writers’ Association), “cold and brutal” (Tor.com) and “beautifully crafted and well told stories that deserve to be read many times” (Glen Miles Short Story Prize). She loves movies, frogs, chocolate, potatoes, and living with her family on Sydney’s beautiful Northern Beaches, where she’s also an inclusive creativity advocate, writing mentor and editor. Find her online via @ZenaShapter and zenashapter.com
548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved