The year is 2454.
Humanity has engineered a hard-won golden age, forged in the aftermath of a bitter conflict that wiped both religion and nation state from the planet. Now seven factions or 'hives' co-govern the world, their rule fuelled by benign censorship, oracular statistical analytics and technological abundance. But this is a fragile Utopia – and someone is intent on pushing it to breaking point.
Convicted for his crimes, celebrated for his talents, Mycroft Canner is the indentured instrument – and confidant – of some of the world's most powerful figures. When he is asked to investigate a bizarre theft, he finds himself on the trail of a conspiracy that could shatter the tranquil world order the Hives have maintained for three centuries.
But Mycroft has his own secrets. He is concealing a much greater threat to the seven Hives, a wild card no degree of statistical analysis could have prophesied. This threat takes the unlikely form of a thirteen-year-old called Bridger. For how will a world that has banished God deal with a child who can perform miracles?
Even more brilliant the second time. The perfect book(s) to read during a world-upending pandemic.
I knew there was so much I had missed in the opening chapters; I didn’t realize it was SO MUCH. It’s all seeded throughout: The Junior Scientist Squad. 9A. Dominic, the archangel. Cato Weeksbooth and the nowheres. Would you destroy a better world to save this one?
A line on page 77 has new meaning because of the end of book 3; that’s how densely they’re mixed. I can’t wait to find out how much of book 4 is seeded throughout too, and how much the perspective will shift again. I’ve learned at least this much: it won’t be what I imagine. It will be a whole lot more.
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December 2019:
I never say review to come, but review to come. My brain is buzzing. Or, as Steinbeck put it: “Let me alone— let me think! Your damned bitch is having pups in my brain already.”
Reading updates
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Started reading
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8 April, 2020:
Finished reading
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8 April, 2020:
Reviewed
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Started reading
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Finished reading
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8 April, 2020:
Reviewed