Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota 1)
Ada Palmer
The year is 2454.
Humanity has engineered a hard-won golden age, forged in the aftermath of a bitter conflict that wiped both religion and nation state from the planet. Now seven factions or 'hives' co-govern the world, their rule fuelled by benign censorship, oracular statistical analytics and technological abundance. But this is a fragile Utopia – and someone is intent on pushing it to breaking point.
Convicted for his crimes, celebrated for his talents, Mycroft Canner is the indentured instrument – and confidant – of some of the world's most powerful figures. When he is asked to investigate a bizarre theft, he finds himself on the trail of a conspiracy that could shatter the tranquil world order the Hives have maintained for three centuries.
But Mycroft has his own secrets. He is concealing a much greater threat to the seven Hives, a wild car no degree of statistical analysis could have prophesised. This threat takes the unlikely form of a thirteen-year-old called Bridger. For how will a world that has banished God deal with a child who can perform miracles?
Humanity has engineered a hard-won golden age, forged in the aftermath of a bitter conflict that wiped both religion and nation state from the planet. Now seven factions or 'hives' co-govern the world, their rule fuelled by benign censorship, oracular statistical analytics and technological abundance. But this is a fragile Utopia – and someone is intent on pushing it to breaking point.
Convicted for his crimes, celebrated for his talents, Mycroft Canner is the indentured instrument – and confidant – of some of the world's most powerful figures. When he is asked to investigate a bizarre theft, he finds himself on the trail of a conspiracy that could shatter the tranquil world order the Hives have maintained for three centuries.
But Mycroft has his own secrets. He is concealing a much greater threat to the seven Hives, a wild car no degree of statistical analysis could have prophesised. This threat takes the unlikely form of a thirteen-year-old called Bridger. For how will a world that has banished God deal with a child who can perform miracles?
GENRE
Sci-Fi; Fantasy
UK PUBLICATION
July 2017
Sci-Fi; Fantasy
UK PUBLICATION
July 2017
Praise
Winner of the John W. Campbell Award at the Hugo Awards 2016
Winner of the Compton Crook Award 2017
"Provocative, erudite, inventive, resplendent."
Ken Liu, author of The Wall of Storms
"... awe-inspiring..."
NPR
"... dizzyingly inventive..."
The Guardian
Winner of the Compton Crook Award 2017
"Provocative, erudite, inventive, resplendent."
Ken Liu, author of The Wall of Storms
"... awe-inspiring..."
NPR
"... dizzyingly inventive..."
The Guardian
Also by Ada Palmer
Terra Ignota series
Rights Sales for TOO LIKE THE LIGHTNING
UK: Head of Zeus
US: Tor Books
US: Tor Books