West of January is a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 novel by Dave Duncan

Dave Duncan (writer)

David Duncan is a Canadian fantasy author. He was born in 1933 in Scotland, and educated there at the High School of Dundee and at the University of St Andrews. After graduating in 1955 he moved to Canada where he lived in Calgary, Alberta, and is currently situated on Vancouver Island in Victoria,...

. The book won the 1990 Aurora Award

Aurora Award

The Prix Aurora Awards are given out annually for the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy literary works, artworks, fan activities from that year, and are awarded in both English and French...

(Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy) for Best Long-Form Work in English.

Plot introduction

The novel is set on a world called Vernier, on which the cycle of day and night lasts two hundred years. It describes the journey of discovery of Knobil, a herdsman born on the grasslands of Vernier.