The Quantum Thief

Hannu Rajaniemi

May 2011 · Jean le Flambeur Book 1 · Sold by Tor Books

About this ebook

The Quantum Thief is a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy title. One of Library Journal's Best SF/Fantasy Books of 2011

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 stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. Now he's confined inside the Dilemma Prison, where every day he has to get up and kill himself before his other self can kill him.

Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turnedsingularity lights the night. What Mieli offers is the chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self-in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed.

As Jean undertakes a series of capers on behalf of Mieli and her mysterious masters, elsewhere in the Oubliette investigator Isidore Beautrelet is called in to investigate the murder of a chocolatier, and finds himself on the trail of an arch-criminal, a man named le Flambeur....

Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief is a crazy joyride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people communicating by sharing memories, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as MMORPG guild members. But for all its wonders, it is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge, and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

It's a very good story and obviously very imaginative, the only problem is it suffers from WTF syndrome. This is clearly due to Rajaniemi's attempt to create a whole new world and use of language; a small glossary or some side text to explain what certain things are or the meaning of certain words would have been very helpful. The story starts off quick paced and confusing, at its middle you start to understand whats going on, but it does slow down a bit. By the end the pace has picked back up and youre on board with all the terms and the world so its a great finisher.

This book is brilliant. Many of the concepts addressed within it's pages seem more like educated guesses about a distant future than sci-fi make-believe. Of course, the timelines in play do leave a lot of room for creativity with regards to science, but the author avoids name dropping every technology that hasn't been invented yet. Though it loses a star for being too short, I really enjoyed reading this novel. Hopefully some lengthier titles will revisit this unique reality... and Jean le Flambeur.

An absolute blast to experience. The story and delivery are unsual and likely quite different from anything you've ever read. Rajaniemi creates a vivid, imaginative future and oscillates between descriptive passages and fast-paced action with word choice that's often perfect. I didn't know I needed posthuman sci-fi in my life until I happened to order this book on a whim. So glad I bought it. 10/10 recommend if you're into works by William Gibson, Jack McDevitt, and Alastair Reynolds.

About the author

Thirty-year-old HANNU RAJANIEMI is from Finland and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is a director of a think tank providing business services based on advanced math and artificial intelligence. He holds a Ph.D. in string theory and is a member of the same writing group that produced Hal Duncan. He wrote The Quantum Thief in English.