Praise for Summerland
"While the conspiracies and plots unfold in classic spy-story fashion, the wildly inventive setting gives the novel a unique kind of freshness." —Chicago Tribune
"Wildly imaginative...the world building here is exquisite...it should appeal equally to readers of fantasy and to those who enjoy alternate-history fiction set during the WWII years." —Booklist
"A jaw-dropping, knowing, hyperintelligent yarn." —Kirkus
"[Rajaniemi] smoothly transitions to this magical dieselpunk tale (airships battle “ectoflyers” in soul-powered flight suits) with all his technical skill in evidence." —Publishers Weekly
Praise for Hannu Rajaniemi
“The best first SF novel I've read in years. Hard to admit, but I think he's better at this stuff than I am.” —Charles Stross on The Quantum Thief
“Spectacularly and convincingly inventive, assured and wholly spellbinding: one of the most impressive debuts in years.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on The Quantum Thief
“A stellar debut.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on The Quantum Thief
“Outstanding... A storytelling skill rarely found from even the most experienced authors.” —Library Journal, starred review, on The Quantum Thief
“Rajaniemi has spectacularly delivered on the promise that this is likely to be the most important SF novel we'll see this year.” —Locus on The Quantum Thief
“Absolutely incredible… Endlessly inventive and compulsively readable. It's one of the best books of the year.” —RT Book Reviews, Top Pick, on The Quantum Thief
"Magnificent...pure magic." —NPR on Collected Fiction
"The best and most original debut anthology since Angela Carter's Fireworks 40 years ago." —The Wall Street Journal on Collected Fiction
04/30/2018
In this adroit if tangled fantasy of the years between the world wars, set in an alternate world where Marconi learned to tune his radio to supernatural frequencies, great national powers can assign agents to the afterlife, but espionage still relies on the most human types of intelligence. Englishwoman Rachel White works for the Winter Court of living spies. While guarding a Soviet defector, she is set on the trail of a mole in the Summer Court, whose spies have transitioned to the afterlife, aka Summerland. Chasing the clues leads her to the highest political offices. The civil war in Spain has England’s prime minister, H.B. West (a thinly veiled H.G. Wells), debating whether to continue supporting Franco or counter the Russians by backing their rebel, Stalin (who’s frustrated in his ambitions by a perpetually presiding Lenin). Rajaniemi cleanly describes a world in which death loses some of its sting given that there are literal tickets to heaven, though he never really gets into the consequences of Europe colonizing the afterlife and leaders still ruling after they die. Rachel and her husband, Joe, face their failings in this life, providing the book with its emotional resolution, whatever may happen in sequels or worlds to come. Fans of Rajaniemi’s Jean le Flambeur hypertech SF series need not be concerned; he smoothly transitions to this magical dieselpunk tale (airships battle “ectoflyers” in soul-powered flight suits) with all his technical skill in evidence. (June)
If dying is just the next stop on a longer journey, what is the point of living? Antonia Beamish narrates a sci-fi thriller set in an alternate 1938 in which death has no meaning, but politics remains as byzantine as ever. Operative Rachel White is assigned as handler to a Soviet defector, but her career takes several unexpected turns as a result of a startling announcement he makes. Characters in the story come from several European countries, and Beamish proves adept at accents from across the continent. Less easy to define, but still successful, are Beamish’s portrayals of the dead who are “living” in Summerland, the realm on the other side of the veil. While the plot is complex, Beamish confidently navigates listeners through it to the end. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
If dying is just the next stop on a longer journey, what is the point of living? Antonia Beamish narrates a sci-fi thriller set in an alternate 1938 in which death has no meaning, but politics remains as byzantine as ever. Operative Rachel White is assigned as handler to a Soviet defector, but her career takes several unexpected turns as a result of a startling announcement he makes. Characters in the story come from several European countries, and Beamish proves adept at accents from across the continent. Less easy to define, but still successful, are Beamish’s portrayals of the dead who are “living” in Summerland, the realm on the other side of the veil. While the plot is complex, Beamish confidently navigates listeners through it to the end. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
2018-04-17
Following a dazzling science-fiction trilogy, Rajaniemi (Invisible Planets, 2017, etc.) offers a sort of neo-steampunk spy story wherein the afterlife is real.Discovered by Victorian scientist-spiritualists—who else?—Summerland, a city of the dead, was built by a now-vanished alien race. To get there when you die you need only visualize a kind of four-dimensional hieroglyph called a Ticket. Occupied exclusively by the British (but why?), Summerland has a fully functioning infrastructure and economy (but why would dead people need this?), and its inhabitants can talk to the still-living via ectophone or visit the mundane by renting the body of a medium. On Earth, it's 1938, and the Spanish Civil War threatens to explode, with Britain supporting the Fascists, while the Soviet Union (run with uncanny precision by a vast collective intellect whose kernel is the departed V.I. Lenin augmented by millions of dead souls) assists the Communists in a conflict fought with aetherguns and ectotanks. (Take a deep breath. Exhale.) British Secret Intelligence Service operative Rachel White learns the identity of a Soviet mole. Unfortunately, Peter Bloom is not only dead, but he works for the SIS's Summerland branch. Worse, when Rachel reports the discovery, she's ridiculed and reassigned to menial work—Bloom, you see, has close family connections to Prime Minister Herbert Blanco West (closely modeled on H.G. Wells, with what seems to be an admixture of David Lloyd George), so nobody's willing to risk career and afterlife to investigate. Rajaniemi's name-dropping yarn bulges with both real-world and imaginary spies and SIS agents, politicians, and scientists, but the impressive and apposite details—there are ecto-equivalents of most computer functions—often seem designed to obscure intractable flaws in the framework. Neither are the characters easy to take a shine to when the dead ones have more substance and simpatico than the living.A jaw-dropping, knowing, hyperintelligent yarn that, like the author's previous outings, would have benefitted from fewer smarts and more warmth.
