The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang comes out in just a few days on April 21, 2026. The publishers were kind enough to send me an advance copy, and I’m grateful to have gotten a sneak peek at this lovely, complex, and bittersweet novella.
Ro is a linguist from Orro who has always hoped to gain enough mastery of language that he might jump into the body of a Star Eater to better understand their language and culture and report back to his home. His Seniors doubt that he’s serious and focused enough in his studies, and no one has successfully jumped in ages, but Ro remains determined. When he does manage to jump, however, it’s almost accidental and he finds himself wholly unprepared, causing chaos as he gets used to a new form, making cultural blunders, and getting the words all wrong.
What could be a comedy of errors or a simple fish-out-of-water story is much more layered and nuanced. At its heart, The Language of Liars is a love letter to words, but also a sharp examination of their limitations, and how tied meaning is to context, whether it’s the context of time, physicality, or history. The more time Ro spends in his Star Eater body, the more he comes to understand the world around him, but also the history of the Star Eaters themselves, and how language has also been used as a tool to oppress them and erase the truth of their past.
The worldbuilding is detailed and intricate, and it’s obvious Huang spent a lot of time thinking about how language informs the sense of self, and how location, physicality, and culture in turn inform language – for example, the way a being that sees in 360 degrees at all times might think and speak about direction. Everything is precise and deliberate, and Ro’s study of language becomes the key to unlocking long-hidden truths. Along with how language is used and evolves, the novella also explores how language is borrowed and stolen, and how cultures are erased under the guise of protecting them and preserving them. The way narratives are framed to justify oppression and the stories people tell themselves to sidestep responsibility and guilt are core themes throughout as well.
The Language of Liars works both as a study of words and communication and a satisfying story, the form inseparable from the function, with each making the other richer.
