Promise of the Child: Volume One of The Amaranthine Spectrum - Softcover

Toner, Tom

3.25

303 ratings by Goodreads

9781597808552: Promise of the Child: Volume One of The Amaranthine Spectrum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597808555 ISBN 13: 9781597808552

Publisher: Night Shade Books, 2016

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Among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years.”
Tor.com

It is the 147th century.

In the radically advanced post-human worlds of the Amaranthine Firmament, there is a contender to the Immortal throne: Aaron the Long-Life, the Pretender, a man who is not quite a man.

In the barbarous hominid kingdoms of the Prism Investiture, where life is short, cheap, and dangerous, an invention is born that will become the Firmament’s most closely kept secret.

Lycaste, a lovesick reclusive outcast for an unspeakable crime, must journey through the Provinces, braving the grotesques of an ancient, decadent world to find his salvation.

Sotiris, grieving the loss of his sister and awaiting the madness of old age, must relive his twelve thousand years of life to stop the man determined to become Emperor.

Ghaldezuel, knight of the stars, must plunder the rarest treasure in the Firmament the object the Pretender will stop at nothing to obtain.

From medieval Prague to a lonely Mediterranean cove, and eventually far into the strange vastness of distant worlds, The Promise of the Child is a debut novel of gripping action and astounding ambition unfolding over hundreds of thousands of years, marking the arrival of a brilliant new talent in science fiction.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

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From the Author:

Thomas N. Toner was born in the English countryside to two parents employed by the BBC (his mother was a set designer for Doctor Who). He studied fine art and painting in Loughborough before moving to Australia to write. He collects giant fossilized shark teeth, and recently returned to London, where he lives with his girlfriend.

Review:

“To call The Promise of the Child one of the most accomplished debuts of 2015 so far is to understate its weight—instead, let me moot that it is among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years.”
—Tor.com

“One of the most ambitious and epic-scale pieces of worldbuilding I’ve read. Reading The Promise of the Child, you feel you’re in the presence of an author at the height of his powers. If this is what Toner is like when he’s just getting started, I think we can expect great things from him. Utterly absorbing; a tremendous adventure.”
—Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep and Sun of Suns

“Bold and intense from start to finish, The Promise of the Child is a master-class in innovative, evocative world-building. The entire book buzzes with imagination.”
—Michael J. Martinez, author of The Daedalus Incident

“An amazing debut—a colorful space opera in the post-human tradition of Iain M. Banks, combined with the razor-sharp plotting of Alastair Reynolds. It left me feverish with delight.”
—Loren Rhoads, author of The Dangerous Type

“Humming with energy, this is space opera like you've never seen it before. Absolutely brilliant.”
—Adam Roberts, author of Salt and Jack Glass

“A gorgeously-written, wildly imaginative book. It’s like no space opera I’ve ever read–compelling and addictive.”
—Will McIntosh, Hugo-award winning author of Soft Apocalypse and Defenders

“An amazing debut. Intriguing, disorientating. Like Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief or Moorcock’s Dancers At The End OF Time, it's told with the heightened vibrancy of a fable, and the melancholic sense of age and decadence so prevalent in Jack Vance’s Emphyrio.”
—Gareth Powell, BSFA Award-winning author of Ack-Ack Macaque

“A dizzying mash-up of science fiction and fantasy themes that are both mystifying and entertaining. . .will appeal to readers who enjoy the offbeat end of far-future sf. This is the kind of novel that could develop a cult following.”
—Booklist Reviews

“Ambitious. . .The several 147th-century cultures on display are fascinating. . .The pace picks up as the tale moves toward its end, but this is the kind of book that will most appeal to cerebral readers who can appreciate its characters’ many verbal interactions.”
—Publisher's Weekly

“This is the purest example of space opera we’ve seen in some time. . . .The book is challenging, ambitious, and rewarding, and it’s impossible not to admire Toner’s wild imagination and carefully constructed world. This thing is bonkers, no question. It’s also one helluva debut.”
—Barnes & Noble, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“Marvelous. . .a space opera of surpassing gracefulness, depth, complexity, and well, all-round weirdness.”
—Paul Di Filippo, Locus

“First rate ... a clever and interesting world, with something new always coming across the horizon, more wonders as yet unreached. I ate it up with a spoon.”
—Paul Weimer, SFSignal

"The Promise of the Child is a rip-roaring, full-blown Space Opera, with Epic-ness writ large across its pages... an impressive debut and one of my favourite books of the year, I think." Mark Yon, SFFWorld

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