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Summerland
On sale
28th June 2018
Price: £9.99
Genre
‘I burned through it . . . Great book: Tinker Tailer Soldier Spook’
Ian McDonaldLoss is a thing of the past. Murder is obsolete. Death is just the beginning.
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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.
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‘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
Clever, subtle and... has a rich emotional centre.
A solid and enjoyable book and does much to demonstrate Hannu Rajaniemi's versatility and potential.
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
It reads like John Le Carré if Le Carré ate a ton of acid before writing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Calls to mind John Le Carre . . . clever, subtle and . . . has a rich emotional centre
I burned through it in two days. Great book: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spook. [on SUMMERLAND]
A beautifully written, well realised supernatural spy thriller, John le Carré as a ghost story.
Summerland is in its own way as persuasive as example of Rajaniemi's disciplined inventiveness as his better-known hard SF.
An intricate and vivid world of technological and spiritual wonder.
An excellent slice of genre-bending fiction that thrills and intrigues in equal measure.
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
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.
Eerily plausible, beautifully pitched on the cusp between wonder and horror, and thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last
He's switched subgenres while retaining his trademark conceptual high jinks and impressive world-building... an impressive plot reminiscent of John le Carré.
A jaw-dropping, knowing, hyperintelligent yarn
Eerily plausible, beautifully pitched on the cusp between wonder and horror, and thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last
One of SF's leading lights.
Engaging writing, tight plotting and fantastic imagination.
A tense and twisting tale full of delightful allusions and ingenious