Isabel J. Kim lives near New York City in an apartment filled with books and swords. She is the author of numerous short stories and has won the Nebula, Locus, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and reprinted in multiple best of the year anthologies. When she's not writing, she's practicing law or podcasting. Sublimation is her first novel.

A most-anticipated title from USA Today, Glamour, LitHub, New Scientist, The Nerd Daily, Library Journal, and more!

"In this dazzling parable of connection and isolation, Isabel J. Kim's vividly crafted characters navigate identity, belonging, and the weight of a divided history." --Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies and The Mortons

"One of the best debuts of the year. Sublimation speaks to our moment, in ways we could not have expected." --John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain

"Beyond candescent... after Sublimation, the immigrant story will never be the same. Kim is a nerve-wracker and a heart-render, a Seoul-lighter and a world-raveler; she also happens to be one of the finest writers working today." --Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

"Sublimation is one of the most powerful debut novels I've ever had the pleasure to read. It began blowing my mind from the first page." --Mary Robinette Kowal, USA Today bestselling author of The Spare Man

"You can become the person who read this book, or the person who didn't. Don't be the one left behind." --Seth Dickinson, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant

"Sublimation speaks to one of our world's greatest and most ubiquitous crises--the border--with the terrible precision of open-heart surgery." --Vajra Chandrasekera, Nebula and Ursula K. Le Guin-Award winning author

"Gorgeously rendered and deeply unsettling... a sharp, deeply felt first outing from a writer already at the top of her game." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A layered narrative and exciting plot... Kim offers a unique sci-fi take on diaspora and identity. Hand to fans of Kazuo Ishiguro and China Miéville." --Library Journal

"Sublimation delivers doubly on its knockout premise, combining a compulsive page-turner with a keen meditation on fractured selves and the opacity of desire. Tremendous." --Scott Alexander Howard, author of The Other Valley

"The best book of the year. In a world desperately in need of new narratives around immigration and identity, Sublimation is the big bold brilliant book we have been waiting for." --Sam J. Miller, USA Today bestselling author of Blackfish City

"An unsettling and suspenseful narrative about the borders that cross us and the selves we subsequently leave behind." --Anton Hur, author of Toward Eternity

"Sublimation expertly weaves myth, fairy tales, and science fiction within an electrifying contemporary thriller to explore identity, memory, and the whims of borders." --Jade Song, Author of Chlorine

"I have never felt more seen by a book in my life." --Ai Jiang, Nebula and Ignyte Award-winning author of Linghun

"Sublimation is a heartrending and mind-bending novel about our slippery sense identity and desire--Essential reading for understanding today's reality." --Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia

Publisher: Tor Books

Pub date: 2026-06-02

Length: 368 pages