Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Face | 2022 | Joma West | Buy |
| 2 | Twice Lived | 2024 | Joma West | Buy |
Joma West’s standalone novels are speculative fiction exploring how society shapes identity. Face (2022) imagines a world where beauty is quantified and determines your place in society. Twice Lived (2024) takes a different approach to similar questions about who we are and who we might become.
Face is set in a future where people are ranked by their appearance and that ranking determines their job, housing, and social circle. The novel follows characters who exist at different levels of this hierarchy. West uses the concept to examine how external judgments shape internal lives, and the book earned attention for its sharp social commentary.
Twice Lived (2024) moves in a new direction while keeping West’s interest in what makes a person who they are. Both novels are published by Tor, and they can be read in either order since they are unconnected stories. West builds detailed speculative worlds but keeps her focus tight on the characters living inside them.