The Quantum Thief (Jean Le Flambeur, #1)

by Hannu Rajaniemi

The Quantum Thief is a dazzling hard SF novel set in the solar system of the far future - a heist novel peopled by bizarre post-humans but powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.

Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars.

Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons - the Dilemma Prison - against countless copies of himself.

Jean's routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self - in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed . . .

• ISBN10: 0765329492
• ISBN13: 9780765329493
• Publish Date: 10 May 2011 (first published 30 September 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 21 April 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 330
• Language: English

Reviews

[ayla_abbott]

I hold a weak spot for creative technology, and this book holds tons of it. I think I tried to read it a year or so back and was too confused or too impatient to get into it, but I'm glad I gave it another shot.