The Quantum Thief - Hardcover

Rajaniemi, Hannu

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410439704 ISBN 13: 9781410439703

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2011

Synopsis

Jean le Flambeur gets up in the morning and has to kill himself before his other self can kill him first. Just another day in the Dilemma Prison. Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is a currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turned-singularity lights the night. Meanwhile, investigator Isidore Beautrelet, called in to investigate the murder of a chocolatier, finds himself on the trail of an arch-criminal, a man named le Flambeur....

Indeed, in his many lives, the entity called Jean le Flambeur has been a thief, a confidence artist, a posthuman mind-burglar, and more. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his deeds are known throughout the Heterarchy, from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. In his last exploit, he managed the supreme feat of hiding the truth about himself from the one person in the solar system hardest to hide from: himself. Now he has the chance to regain himself in all his power―in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed.

Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief is a breathtaking joyride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people who communicate via shared memory, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as an MMORPG guild. But for all its wonders, The Quantum Thief is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, jealousy, and revenge. It is a stunning debut.
One of Library Journal's Best SF/Fantasy Books of 2011

About this title

About the Author:

HANNU RAJANIEMI is from Finland and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was a director of a think tank providing business services based on advanced math and artificial intelligence. He holds a Ph.D. in string theory and is a member of the same writing group that produced Hal Duncan. He wrote The Quantum Thief in English.

Review:

“The next big thing in hard SF. Hard to admit, but I think he's better at this stuff than I am.” ―Charles Stross

“Spectacularly and convincingly inventive, assured and wholly spellbinding: one of the most impressive debuts in years.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1410439704
• ISBN 13: 9781410439703
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 489