Summerland

Summerland

'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 Murder is obsolete.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. ************************* '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 'Eerily plausible, beautifully pitched on the cusp between wonder and horror, and thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last' Alastair Reynolds 'Clever, subtle and . . . has a rich emotional centre' SFX 'Summerland is in its own way as persuasive an example of Rajaniemi's disciplined inventiveness as his better-known hard SF' LOCUS 'Engaging writing, tight plotting and fantastic imagination' Ed McDonald, author of Blackwing 'A tense and twisting tale full of delightful allusions and ingeious' Ken MacLeod 'An intricate and vivid world of technological and spiritual wonder' Kirkus 'Hard to admit, but I think he's better at this stuff than I am' Charles Stross
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Escorsa
Sarah Escorsa@shrimpy
4 stars
Mar 8, 2022

Sci-Fi meets Alternate History meets bloody shrimping original concept meets super extra cool afterlife meets espionage and counter-espionage and counter-counter-espionage meets subversion and counter-subversion and counter-counter-subversion meets traitorous traitors meets scrumpalicious contraptions meets Franco and Stalin and Lenin, oh my meets ectoplasmic everything = ➽ Full review to come and stuff. Hopefully some time before 2078. P.S. A person who likes orange marmalade cannot be all bad. In case you were wondering.

Photo of Ben Nathan
Ben Nathan@benreadssff
4 stars
Sep 15, 2021

This was really good. Great premise with excellent pacing. The writing is good and characters are understandable. I'm a big fan of this and will be suggesting it often. This is the sort of book that could often slip between the cracks, but I'm glad it didn't for me.

Photo of Kyle Curry
Kyle Curry@kcurry24
3 stars
Nov 22, 2023
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Kerri Miller@kerrizor
4 stars
Jan 20, 2022
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Colin O'Brien@onepointzero
4 stars
Dec 28, 2021
Photo of Kelly Gorman
Kelly Gorman@dreadpiratekel
4 stars
Oct 11, 2021
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Steve Barnett@maxbarners
4 stars
Sep 14, 2021
Photo of Sarvagnan S
Sarvagnan S@sarvagnan
3 stars
Sep 8, 2021
Photo of Marie C-D
Marie C-D@marie
4 stars
Jul 29, 2021
Photo of Chase Perrin
Chase Perrin@chaseperrin
5 stars
Jul 28, 2021