I burned through it . . . Great book: Tinker Tailer Soldier Spook' Ian McDonald
Loss is a thing of the past. Murder is obsolete. Death is just the beginning.
*****
How do you catch a spy who's already dead?
In 1938, death is no longer feared but exploited.
Since the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, a metropolis for the recently deceased.
But Britain isn't the only contender for power in this life and the next. The Soviets have spies in Summerland, and the technology to build their own god.
When SIS agent Rachel White gets a lead on one of the Soviet moles, blowing the whistle puts her hard-earned career at risk. The spy has friends in high places, and she will have to go rogue to bring him in.
Hannu Rajaniemi was born in Finland. At the age of eight he approached the European Space Agency with a fusion-powered spaceship design, which was received with a polite thank you note. Hannu studied mathematics and theoretical physics at University of Oulu and Cambridge and holds a PhD in string theory from the University of Edinburgh. He co-founded a mathematics consultancy whose clients included UK Ministry of Defence and the European Space Agency.
Hannu is the author of four novels including The Quantum Thief (winner of 2012 Tahtivaeltaja Award for the best science fiction novel published in Finland and translated into more than 20 languages). His most recent book is Summerland (June 2018), an alternate history spy thriller in a world where the afterlife is real. His other works include Invisible Planets: Collected Fiction, a short story collection.
Hannu lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a co-founder and CEO of HelixNano, a venture- and Y Combinator backed biotech startup.
Title: Summerland
Author: Rajaniemi, Hannu
ISBN: 9781473203297
Binding:
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Publication Date: 2019-04-04
Number of Pages: 336
Weight: 0.2201 kg
He's switched subgenres while retaining his trademark conceptual high jinks and impressive world-building... an impressive plot reminiscent of John le Carre. * GUARDIAN *
Calls to mind John Le Carre . . . clever, subtle and . . . has a rich emotional centre * SFX MAGAZINE *
Eerily plausible, beautifully pitched on the cusp between wonder and horror, and thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last * Alastair Reynolds *
Summerland: As if Alfred Hitchcock had made a movie with HP Lovecraft . . . A vision so original it deserves its own subgenre. And all worked out with the diamond-hard logic of a great SF writer. After Summerland, the thriller has a new geometry * Stephen Baxter *
An excellent slice of genre-bending fiction that thrills and intrigues in equal measure. * SCIFINOW *
I burned through it in two days. Great book: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spook. [on SUMMERLAND] * Ian McDonald *
One of SF's leading lights. * SFX MAGAZINE *
A beautifully written, well realised supernatural spy thriller, John le Carre as a ghost story. * Gavin G Smith, author of The Bastard Legion *
Engaging writing, tight plotting and fantastic imagination. * Ed McDonald, author of Blackwing *
An intricate and vivid world of technological and spiritual wonder. * KIRKUS *
A jaw-dropping, knowing, hyperintelligent yarn * Locus Magazine *
With boundless imagination, Rajaniemi invents a mortal realm with a steampunk flair... Sci-fi and fantasy readers longing to immerse themselves in a fascinating new world will love exploring Summerland. * SHELF AWARENESS *
A tense and twisting tale full of delightful allusions and ingenious * Ken MacLeod *
Clever, subtle and... has a rich emotional centre. * SFX MAGAZINE *
Summerland is in its own way as persuasive as example of Rajaniemi's disciplined inventiveness as his better-known hard SF. * LOCUS *
A solid and enjoyable book and does much to demonstrate Hannu Rajaniemi's versatility and potential. * SF CROWSNEST *
It reads like John Le Carre if Le Carre ate a ton of acid before writing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy * NPR *
This is not a run of the mill tale of rogue agents, secrets and danger but instead uses this narrative framework as a guide to explore the deeper secrets of the human heart and the power of our own mortality * TheBookBag *
