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The Republic of Memory

On sale

14th May 2026

Price: £22

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Selected: Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781399626330

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The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their ‘ancestors’ – the final remnants of Earth’s doomed Network Empire – by keeping them alive in cryostasis.

But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions. Why should the crew continue to toil for people none of them remember? What exactly gives Administration its authority over everyone else?

And when the blackouts start, they set in motion a chain of events that will change life on the Safina forever. A reckoning is coming. The system is only secure so long as those in power maintain the obedience of those beneath them.

And the crew has had enough.

A science fiction odyssey of breathtaking scope, The Republic of Memory is a gripping examination of what divides us, and what brings us together. This is a modern and ambitious work of Arabfuturism, and is perfect for fans of The Expanse, A Memory Called Empire or Children of Time.

Reviews

Nicholas Binge, author of Dissolution
This political sci-fi mind-stretcher is destined to be a classic
Guatam Bhatia, author of The Wall
A novel of astounding scale and ambition, The Republic of Memory is an instant classic that deserves to be spoken of in the company of Iain M. Banks' Culture Series or Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space. A brilliant debut about the struggle to save the future of humanity and the eternal clash of generations, set in a tower of babel aboard a generation ship
Bethany Jacobs, author of THESE BURNING STARS
In The Republic of Memory, El Sayed creates a world of familiar politics and utterly fresh, engrossing newness. It is a world so full and intricately developed that I felt I could wander through it for years and still find more to live in. Those who love the depth and wonder of language, and who see it as the seed of revolution, will find this an essential contribution to the canon