Really imaginative science fiction which combines a cornucopia of ideas with fast paced action. Like all the best SF you are left in wonder and awe at the authors vivid imagination. I cant wait for more from this writer.

When I started reading this book I was terrified that it was going to send me into a reading slump, which tends to happen to me after I get stuck reading something really heavy. This book has a lot of science in it. I can't speak to whether the science is accurate, I honestly don't care, that's not something I tend to search for in my science fiction (I know, radical behaviour). But there is a lot of it. While reading, I likened it to being punched in the face with a particle physics textbook (but in a good way!). Because once I learned to have a lighter eye (I would say skim, but that seems rude and also a little offhand) the more science-heavy passages, this is actually a wonderfully exciting science fiction heist book. Which is far more up my alley.

I thought that the characters who made up Belisarius' crew were interesting and unique. Though some of them did rub me up the wrong way on occasion, that's a matter of personal preference and I'm fairly sure everyone who reads this will have a different experience and will get on more or less with different members of the crew. My absolute favourite character had to be St Matthew (who is not a Saint but don't tell him that) the AI.

The plot pretty much unfolds as you would expect this kind of story to do, getting the crew together, executing the plan, various double dealings and mishaps occurring along the way. I haven't read a huge number of heist novels, as they don't typically come up in the kind of books I'm reading at the moment, so I can't speak to how formulaic the plot is in this book but hey, if it ain't broke...

All in all, I enjoyed this far more than I ever expected to, if you, like me, are a little bit new to what I would call 'heavier' science fiction then I would say that this is still worth reading, it takes a while to settle into the language and jargon that is used, but you don't need to sit with a web search open to deal with any of the terms. This was a strong story and one I would definitely recommend to a number of friends.

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this title from the publishers for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Full disclosure: I was unable to finish this book. I read the first 25% and was interminably bored by the setup. While the plot seems to be the setup of an ensemble heist story, more than the first quarter of the book is just a setup to that ensemble. The main character is a flat stereotype without any personality, and the side characters (bar one) lack any hooks that would make me think there is something to them. There is neither humor nor sadness, joy or pain or suffering or any emotional involvement.

It is clear that the author did a significant amount of worldbuilding, however, instead of focusing on the interesting parts of the universe and galaxy he's created, we are railroaded into a story which might focus on one very small piece of the puzzle. Further, the book is overly long, and in need of some serious editorial focus, with questions like on "what story are you telling?" being the key to making it a tighter and more compelling read.

Derek Künsken makes clear right from the outset that The Quantum Magician is a heist story. Belasarius is a self-confessed conman who is contracted to do the impossible - get a fleet of warships carrying game changing technology through a protected wormhole without being captured or destroyed. In order to do carry out his plan he puts together a team of misfits. Künsken leans heavily into heist tropes as Belasarius recruits an old flame, an crazy AI, an old mentor, a slightly unhinged demolitions expert, a geneticist and representatives of each of humanity’s new genetic branches.

The Quantum Magician then follows Belasarius and his crew through the heist with its requisite double and triple crosses and unexpected turns. Künsken uses the heist as a scaffold on which to do a prodigious amount of universe building. He introduces four new human species – homo quantus (of which Belasarius is one) who have the capacity to go into a fugue state and see quantum-based probabilities, Puppets (who are genetically programmed to serve and worship another human subspecies called Numen) and Mongrels, descendants of ancient settlers genetically altered to be able to live in the extreme depths of icy interplanetary oceans.

The key to a good heist story is confounding the expectation of the readers. Readers have to have a sense of how things are supposed to work to appreciate the twists and turns that the con artist is navigating through. The Quantum Magician partly frustrates this intent by requiring an understanding of too many new concepts, species and situations before being able to appreciate the intricacies of the heist itself. So that while there is some fun to be had here and some genuinely tense moments, Künsken makes it hard to really invest in this gang of thieves.

I'm a physics graduate and interested generally in sci fi and thought, great, this would be just the ticket for me for a change from my usual crime detective reads. I wanted to enjoy it BUT it didn't quite hit the buttons for me. The author didn't quite paint the picture clearly enough for me to imagine what was going on at times e.g. in the various space craft used and the different worlds so, for example, a space chase/escape plot was completely lost on me as I couldn't envisage what was going on aside from a general chase in progress and as another example even at the end of the while book I'm still a little unclear on the general concept of the homo quantus, the main character(!), Bel. Therefore, I was left a little disappointed - hence the 3 star mark from me. With a little more polish in the style the plot and unravelling of the con was actually good but I was left wanting a little more. As ever thanks for the preview copy though.

No criticism. Just didn't find the story line interesting. Didn't finish reading this book. The premise was just a little too over the top for me.

Belisarius, is the apex of human genetic engineering, a homo quantus. Someone able to bridge the quantum world with the regular world. But Belisarius rejects his upbringing, leaves his homeworld and becomes a con artist. He is the best con artist the worlds have ever seen. He's presented with the ultimate con and readily accepts it. Interesting story. Great twist at end.

I loved the premise behind this book and really wanted to like it but couldn't get into it. The beginning was slow and then the religious element of the alien planet threw me. Not for me.

It's funny that, despite listing "found families" among my favourite tropes, this doesn't often translate into found family's grouchy, backstab-prone cousin, the heist story. It might be the much higher trust deficit and that's usually present in a team put together explicitly to do a single job, or the fact that characters trend towards chaotic neutral and don't tend to smooth out each other's rough edges in the same way. Or, maybe I just don't like the actual heist-y part of a heist, which sort of functions as a reverse mystery: by definition, we know in advance who did it, we're just not sure about the how. It's quite rare for the goal in a heist to be something an audience a priori cares about, so it's down to the author to invest us in some combination of characters, mechanics or worldbuilding so we want to follow our not-heroes through the inevitable failures, double-crosses and eleventh-hour plan revisions to get their job done.

The Quantum Magician goes in hard on many elements of its worldbuilding, putting us in a far future spacefaring society with some recognisable but unusual political powers. Bel's client, Iekanjika, works for the Sub-Saharan Union, a small player in galactic terms, and approaches him to move 12 warships through a puppet-controlled wormhole. Bel very quickly realises there's something "off" about these ships, which shouldn't exist in the first place and employ highly advanced technology beyond what most of the major players in the galaxy are using at this point. The first ten percent of the book puts us through some early sleuthing and action scenes which effectively set out Belasarius' abilities as a homo quantus who are able to enter mentally altered states known as savant - where the individual maintains their identity but has significantly higher data processing capacity, at the expense of interpersonal abilities - and fugue, which suppresses their identity entirely. These different brain states take a great deal of additional energy and there are clear physiological tolls to entering it, with fugue state in particular shown as inducing dangerous levels of internal heat which homo quantus are only partially adapted to cope with. Bel, we learn, is a highly unusual Homo Quantus, both in terms of his abilities, which don't function as intended, and because he has left the centre of population for the rest of his people and struck out on his own in the galaxy, turning his back on the purpose his species were effectively created for.

This sense of manufactured purpose also plays a part in the stories of the other two post human species introduced in The Quantum Magician. There's homo eridanus, a species adapted to live in a high pressure underwater environment after a terraforming accident, but whose racial psyche involves a lot of deep self-deprecation and disgust for their own position. And then there's homo pupa, known as "Puppets", who have a rather larger role to play in the book. Half the size of most baseline humans and genetically engineered to be perfectly servile to another race, homo pupa have channeled that biologically motivated religious awe into a culture which has murdered or enslaved their former owners and now have a deeply disturbing relationship to freedom, bondage and torture in general. The sections of the book involving the Puppets - and there are many, as they control the territory Bel is trying to heist is way through - were by far my least favourite elements of the book, veering quickly into gratuitous torture and gore with little narrative payoff. It doesn't help that two of the least compelling characters in the heist team get assigned to this subplot, meaning I was already starting from a position of indifference when it came to William and Gates-15's grim escapades in this thread.

As you'd expect, all three post-human species are represented in Bel's heist team (including the above mentioned Gates-15, as well as a homo eridanus) called , alongside an AI which believes it is the reincarnation of Saint Matthew (to the complete despair of the bank which programmed it), and a couple of vanilla humans. Despite having largely interesting back stories by virtue of the interesting worldbuilding, the personalities here were pretty classic for the genre: there's the leader, the war-weary veteran on his last job, the gleeful, morally adrift one, the unemotional, technical one, the highly-strung one, the naive one who is doing it for love, the sweary one... you get the idea.

Kunsken also builds a very dude-heavy team, made more frustrating by the fact that 50% of the women on the team are Bel's love interest (note: he only has one love interest). As a reviewer who recognises and owns my personal biases, I'm not ashamed to admit that having so few women inevitably limits my interest in the characters as a whole. Also, having so many characters with biologically defined quirks ironically makes it harder for an author to sell them on their personality quirks, and if you don't find yourself intrinsically invested in the tragic post-human condition in general, there's not much going on at the character level that is going to improve your connection. The exception, for me, was Stills the homo eridanus, whose contributions to the team come with a boatload of swearing and self-loathing and some inexplicably charming bonding with Marie, the amiable but morally adrift demolitions expert. I'd read a sequel if it were just Stills and Marie flying a dual pressure ship while swearing at each other and blowing things up.

There's a lot going on in the Quantum Magician, from the individual character plotlines to geopolitics to thematic elements about purpose and religious observances of such. Ultimately, none of the elements rose above "solid", which is probably both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there's no big intrusive theme being pushed here (well, either its not there or I totally missed it) where all of these human conditions get somehow yoked to the service of a big moral or Observation about humanity, quantum philosophy-motivated or otherwise. There are things in The Quantum Magician because they are necessary to set up the conditions for a heist, and other things that exist as background in a world that's bigger than the plot of just one heist, and there's just enough of both of those that everything basically works. On the other hand, I did miss those hard-to-define touches that make a secondary world "pop", and despite all the creativity in the mechanics of the worldbuilding, it all fell a bit flat for me.

It always feels unfair to review a book in a genre you know you're not fond of, and, alas, The Quantum Magician didn't do much to overturn my scepticism about heists. Fans of the genre will likely find an entertaining adventure here, and there's some interesting ideas about the future of the human race and what we might evolve ourselves into, even if these possibilities are inevitably taken towards the grimmest outcomes possible. If the premise appeals, and you don't mind reading yet another story about dudes, this is likely to be an enjoyable diversion. As for me, I'm going to go back to my found family space stories and keep waiting for the daring heist adventure that changes my mind.

Belisarius Arjona, or Bel, is a man genetically engineered to immerse himself in the complexities of the quantum world, sifting for the type of data which could take humanity to the next level. But years ago he cut himself off from the carefully managed security of his own people. Now, living as a con man, this Homo quantus exile is about to take on a job which offers him access to unimaginable wealth, but only if he is able to move a squadron of warships across a wormhole controlled by his would-be employers’ enemies. Seemingly impossible, even by Belisarius’s standards. But it is a challenge he cannot resist.

The Quantum Magicianworks really well for a broad science fiction reading audience for several reasons. It is a tale which manages to take theoretical concepts and plays with them in a hugely imaginative and entertaining way. The different cultures, and their ways of life make you feel as if someone should be getting sociologists in there to make a study of them (particularly the puppets, whose beliefs and practices are particularly disturbing). There is a rattling good plot and a terrific cast of characters. As an added bonus, each of the main protagonists, selected for their capabilities, interacts really well with each other.

All the different genetically engineered humans are represented in the scheme, the Homo quantus, the Homo puppa, or Puppets and the Homo eridanus, the people of the Mongrel (the mercenary shock pilots of the Congregate navy engineered to survive the benthic depths of another world). There is also Saint Matthew an AI who believes he is a saint. William Gander is a normal human, conman and ex associate of Bels, serving time when Bel goes to collect him. Cassandra, or Cassie, Bel’s previous love and another Homo quantus residing within the security of the Homo quantus home world is a reluctant member of the team. But there are more than Bel’s powers of persuasion at work in her agreement to go along with him. Gates-15 is a puppet who is an outcast from the Puppet community. Human Antonio Del Casal is a doctor with a galaxy-class reputation for genetic manipulation.

My particular favourites though are the foul-mouthed Homo eridanus, Vincent Stills and Marie, the mentally unstable explosives expert with a penchant for baiting Saint Matthew and is more than a match for Stills in the face-off stakes.

The Quantum Magicianis the type of book you go back to the beginning and read again once you know how everything pans out and have those “why didn’t I see that the first time” moments. There’s a great deal to absorb between the pinch of theoretical physics and the insanely complex Ocean’s Eleven-style plot. But each chapter is relatively short, allowing for assimilation of its contents before plunging into the next one.

The Oceans’ cons are children’s games when compared to the heist central to The Quantum Magician. Derek Künsken’s novel is a masterpiece of character driven fiction, a hard sci fi heist that leaves the reader breathless from its scope. The universe is one where genetic engineering has resulted in three species at once human and alien - The puppets - miniature humans designed to experience religious awe in the presence of their creators, the quantum- beings of vast intelligence capable of discarding parts of their subjective persona to expand their perception and understanding, and the mongrels - beings whose forms have been engineered to survive in harsh aquatic environments, some of the most talented and most reckless pilots.

Belisarius is a quantum who long ago fled his world. His need for mental stimulation is satisfied by complex cons. When he is approached with the task of moving 12 warships from one side of the galaxy to the other, Belisarius isn’t given the luxury of being allowed to say no. The reward is great, but the cost could be monumental. Fortunately Belisarius is far more intelligent and far more perceptive than his client expects. He pulls together a team of unforgettable people - a puppet exiled for being unable to sense his deities, an AI who believes he is the reincarnation of St Peter, an explosives expert with a dangerous sense of humor, a mongrel pilot with giant cojones, a dying conman, and the quantum woman Belisarius once left behind.

Künsken makes the universe and the situation believable. Some hard sci-fi neglects the “human” element, but not The Quantum Magician. One of the topics central to the novel is the conflict between objectivity and subjective perception. It is not only form that separates humans from the puppets, quantum and mongrels, it is perception. The Quantum Magician is an amazing novel on many different levels. It is definitely one I plan to keep on my shelf and reread in future.

5 / 5

I received a copy of The Quantum Magician from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

— Crittermom

I enjoyed this immensely. My only criticism is that I found it hard at times to keep straight all the details of who was where and doing what, particularly the locations of all the space vehicles involved. A little more exposition of the plan would have helped.

Humanity is fractured into several genetically-altered type: the Numen and the Puppets who 'worship them; the Mongrel who can't live in less than 500 atmospheres of pressure; and the homo quantus, who become quantum computers. What happens when one of the homo quantus becomes a con man?
You spend the entire book wondering who is getting played.....

I was given an advance copy to write an honest review. This book has wonderful world building. If you like Oceans 11 you will probably like this book (by the way I never liked any of those movies). Arjona is a quantum magician, this means that he has a computer for a brain but really wants to be a “real boy”. I do not know if Arjona is a play on words for the hero of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, who had a dilemma about fighting
Arjona is asked to transfer some ships through a gate. He gathers a team to do this which includes an explosive expert, an AI that believes he is a reincarnation of a saint, a human who has been modified to dive to extreme depth and a few more characters. They are all quirky and most have history with Arjona. This as my favorite part of the book as the author introduces the team and the world where they are found.
The book was not bad and t was well written. The characters were engaging. That being said I did not really like any of them or the con but that is more reflective of me that the book. As I mentioned if you like the Ocean movies you will probably like this

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this book. Eventually a good story with a great finish, but too much pseudo-science and "super-human" angst. Still recommended.

This was like a four star book spliced together with one that I would barely give two stars to. It made for a disjointed reading experience; I alternated back and forth between invested and bored so much I got a little dizzy.

This is a heist novel, and our con-man is Bel; a genetically engineered human who can manually enhance his brain to view quantum states. (If, like me, you barely understand quantum physics the book actually does a really good job of explaining it. Don't let this be a deal-breaker for you). But the thing with heist stories is, they need someone charismatic to lead them. They need a Locke Lamora or a Danny Ocean, and Bel doesn't even come close. He has the confidence but none of the swagger.

The rest of the team (assembled in the time-honoured tradition of a getting the team together montage) fare better. Marie the bombs expert is a delight, Stills the deep diver grows on you, against all odds, and the two form a prickly sort of bond that I enjoyed watching develop. Saint Matthew, the AI who believes he is a saint, is delightful, William, Bel's one time mentor, is steadfast and likeable, and Gates-55 is... Well, he's a puppet.

I mean that quite literally. Bel isn't the only kind of mutated human in this world. Stills is another, basically an unholy mix of a man and manitee, and then Gates-55. Originally of a race bred to be like miniature sized humans (ie, puppets) and biologically hardwired to serve the specific race who created them. And of course they eventually realised that the best way to serve them was to rise up and enslave them. Keep them nice and safe in cages.

The whole thing with the puppets was the best part of this book, in a horrific kind of way. I don't want to go into too much detail because the way the full implications of the puppets and their deal is slowly revealed is just a treat. A really fucked up treat. The little snips of world-building, the visceral revulsion the book makes you feel towards them even though logically you know you should sympathise; it's compelling stuff.

But, sadly, it's not all there is to the book. There's another team member I didn't mention yet; Cassandra. Another quantum-freak like Bel. And his love interest, I guess. I mean the book tries really hard to sell that, but there is absolutely no chemistry between them, and Cassandra is one of the most boring characters I've come across. Her sections are basically endless repetitions of is Bel lying? Why is he lying? Why did he leave home? Is he lying to me? Why is he lying? On and on and on and ugh. Nothing about how Bel feels about Cassandra, or the home they grew up in (which he left, and she didn't) feels real. All tell, no show. And considering it plays a big part in his ultimate motivations, that's a problem.

There's a fun and compelling heist story to be found here, with some really fantastic world-building. But it's dragged down by a flat main character and jarring swaps to pages of hard science that don't gel at all with everything else.

The Quantum Magician tells the story of "Homo quantus" Belisarius Arjona, a genetically-modified human who has the ability to switch off the communication and social interaction parts of his brain in order to allow him to better focus on mathematics, geometry and the quantum world. The Homo quantus were created to provide insights to the nature of the universe, but Belisarius is using his abilities to work as a confidence trickster. Early on he is approached by Major Ayen Iekanjika to run what will, perhaps, be the ultimate con. From here Belisarius sets about putting together his team: an explosives expert, a "Homo pupa" (a “puppet”) a "Homo eridanus” (a “mongrel”), a religious artificial intelligence, a genetics expert, another Homo quantus and a fall guy. This is an amazingly richly-imagined world, which blends hard science fiction with a classic heist story. The quantum physics is, perhaps. a little heavy-going in places. I have a background in the physical sciences myself, but am by no means an expert in quantum physics. I had the sense that someone who DID might find some of the details exasperating, while non-scientists might find it impenetrable. For me, personally, I felt the balance was pretty good and, after all, this is science fiction: some disbelief needs to be suspended. The characters are well-developed and sympathetic on the whole, although the female members of the team felt under-used. In particular, the other Homo quantus, Cassandra, has an poorly-developed story. She is critical to the success of the con, but we don't really get to know her. Similarly, explosives expert Marie is a potentially fascinating character who really comes to life early on, only to be lost later in the story. Still, these are relatively small complaints in an otherwise masterful piece of science fiction world-building. If you like the sound of a science fiction heist story, give this a try.

The Quantum Magician es una novela de contrastes. Basándose en una estructura más que conocida Derek Kunsken realiza un ejercicio de ciencia ficción de ideas apabullante y en ocasiones arrollador, pero abre tantos caminos para la reflexión que solo por eso merece la pena leerlo.

El hilo conductor de la novela es la planificación y ejecución de un timo. Como en El Golpe, hay un plan, un gancho, se recluta un equipo de especialistas, hay traiciones... Este guión un tanto estereotipado constituye un armazón sólido para la novela y da rienda suelta al autor para empezar a lanzarnos ideas y reflexiones de gran calado. Es una elección brillante, porque al aficionado a la ciencia ficción habitualmente le atrae más el fondo que la forma (sé que esta generalización es discutible y me gustaría que habláramos sobre ello) y al escoger esta "plantilla", tiene las manos libres para exponer otros elementos, posiblemente más de su interés.

La manipulación de la genética humana ha dado lugar a nuevos tipos de personas y en The Quantum Magician se nos presentan tres nuevas especies, muy diferentes entre sí pero todas intrínsecamente fallidas, al menos desde el punto de vista de "humano base". El Homo eridanus está modificado para resistir presiones de cientos de atmósferas y por lo tanto su cuerpo apenas se asemeja a un Homo sapiens. Su ámbito de actividad se restringe a las profundidades abisales de las colonias espaciales y para desplazarse necesitan tanques especiales capaces de proveer esa presión. Y sin embargo, son quizá la raza menos truncada de los experimentos, porque tienen claro su rol y, culturalmente, aceptan su papel en el mundo.

Los Puppets, sin embargo, son harina de otro costal. Modificados por los Numen para que los consideraran dioses, sienten la compulsión genética de servir a sus divinidades. Estos autoproclamados seres divinos, veleidosos como eran, han dado lugar a una estructura social profundamente depravada, donde no está claro quién es esclavo de quién. Algunas escenas son realmente repulsivas, ya que esta relación malsana se ha ido pervirtiendo aún más conforme ha pasado el tiempo. La escasez de auténticos Numen hace que los Puppets sufran incluso síndrome de abstinencia y entren en éxtasis solo con revolcarse sobre las deposiciones de sus dioses. Estas escenas son realmente perturbadoras y dejan para la reflexión particular de cada uno el verdadero significado de la religión, en este caso impuesta mediante la manipulación genética, reducida a respuestas hormonales a estímulos predispuestos.

La última raza que conocemos es el Homo quantus, verdadero protagonista de la historia. Humanos con capacidades de computación cuántica que pueden entrar en un estado de fuga donde abandonan la subjetividad de su persona y se convierten en máquinas computacionales capaces de ver todas las posibilidades de la función de onda sin llegar a colapsarla. Estos seres forman una colonia ajena al resto de los mundos y dedican su vida y su tiempo al estudio del cosmos, pero quizá su propio aislamiento les impide acceder a la información que precisan para conseguir sus ambiciones.

El variopinto equipo que se conforma para llevar a cabo la misión tiene un poco de todo, como en botica. Por supuesto, hay al menos un miembro de cada una de estas nuevas especies que he mencionado, pero algunas de las interacciones más interesantes se producen con los "humanos base". De nuevo, el contraste entre lo considerado "normal" y la "evolución" le da a Kunsken un espejo deformado en el que enfrentarnos a nuestros propios miedos, sobre todo el miedo a lo que es diferente, al extraño, al cambio.

Sin dejar de recurrir en ocasiones al humor, como en la escena de huida de la prisión, el autor nos plantea una obra seria y meditada, científicamente verosímil (al menos hasta donde yo entiendo) y exigente a la vez en la lectura.

Con estos mimbres, Derek Kunsken consigue hilvanar una historia tradicional en la forma pero rompedora en el fondo, lanzando ideas que no dejan descansar al lector en ningún momento. No digo que la novela sea perfecta, porque también existen algunos momentos en que la tecnojerga se apodera de la narración y puedes incluso comenzar a dudar de los derroteros por los que anda el libro, pero es una lectura más que recomendable para cualquier interesado en la ciencia ficción de ideas. Un autor al que sin duda habrá que seguir de cerca, al que algunos nombran ya como heredero espiritual del mejor Peter Watts.

I was very excited to read this book, but also a little apprehensive. In theory I love hard science-fi, because it seems so real, so true, so possible. But in practice, I'm easily lost: most hard science-fi books dwells on physics and, if I know that universe and space mean physics, and if I'm genuinely interested in the subject, it's alas a case of unrequited love there... I love science in general, but my kind of science is clearly biology  (which is not, in my opinion, enough developed in science-fi) and advanced physics are difficult for me.

I went through three phases reading this book.

At the very beginning I was quite happy: the story was immediately interesting, the characters were engaging, and the quantum magician seems to be absolutely there, in a human kind of way, not as a concept floating in an esoteric no-space or such as I had feared (in some hard science-fi I frequently have the impression of reading with my eyes closed, as in some dreams, when and where I can never focus whatever the efforts I make). So a good start!

At about ten per cent in the story, I had quite a shock: suddenly I was facing a long explanation about the functioning of the quantum man's brain. Quite fascinating in theory, but absolutely abstruse for the reader I am. And - have I told you yet? quite long. I read on, not understanding much, till I had to stop and think about my dilemma. I clearly wasn't able to appreciate this kind of explanation, but on the other hand had really loved the story so far and really wanted to know some more. So I pondered a few minutes and finally decided, sighing sadly, that I was perfectly able to skim through unintelligible passages and understand, if not all of it, at least the general idea. Not comfortable, but manageable. 

Actually, I had kittens for nothing ! Those difficult passages were very few in the books, and always useful, never gratuitous. After some more exposition I understood more and more about the quantum brain and was able to surf upon some other explanations (those less interesting in my point of view). In fact, during the book I never had another difficult moment before the final grand action, which is never my cup of tea anyway (during Still's parts to be precise). The whole read was delightful, and very supple.

In the end I had just two discomforts during my read. The brainy-quantum explanation which happened in my opinion to early in the book (not to mention too long :P). Also I was also frequently discountenanced, in the very beginning, by the narration using the third person, as it had clearly a first person vibe for me. Maybe the very first had been written at the first person before being rewritten in another way? This dissonance disappeared very quickly though (so I could have shut up about it; maybe).

I must seem quite a quibbler there ! If so, it's because I loved this book so much that I was frustrated by these little flaws... And also because I have a self-appointed mission: to reassure the readers who may feel lost at the same very point I was, that it won't be the general tone it the story, and that any reader may be able to appreciate it without any suffering!

The fantastic points are plentiful.

Firstly, absolute different voices for all the characters, which is finally quite rare. The characters are wonderful, their personalities, their stories, their interactions - just flawless!

The story in itself is quite interesting, with a strong general idea around quantum people and why the main character, who differs from the quantum people's norm, decided to chose another live, one of criminal projects. The sub-story around the Puppet people is so brilliant that it could be the only reason to read the book!

One particular aspect impressed me a lot and made for a wonderful read: the way the author skillfully develops its story's background, without never ever frustrating his reader. From the start some particularities of the science-fi world are exposed, as the three new human races, bio-engineered (I must confess a soft spot for this theme, what a treat here!), making the reader wanting to know more about it. Then, through future developments, all you'll need and want to know will be displayed, just at the perfect moment, without any info-dump nor artificial exposition: du grand art, vraiment :) The same thing can be said for the characters' stories, which are unveiled, little by little, with perfect subtlety.

I could rave and rave for hours about this book which, despite one or two details, turned out to be exactly what I expect from a science-fi story, but I'll stop there, hoping to have help future readers! And for me, I'm looking forward reading the next author's book... Soon I hope ?

Thanks to Netgalley & co for an early read.

I'm really proud of how science fiction has developed. We've gone from very loose constructs of the dreams of Asimov to talking about quantum entanglement and Planck theory in so many ways. It's a great time to be a reader.

This book was not a challenge. If you are looking for a fun tale, a story as one reviewer put, an Oceans 11 like romp, it should have easy appeal.

My criticisms I'll lay bare early. There is a bit much of exposition, which was good--but I like a show don't tell more than tell. There was also a character who I thought would understand their role better but when they were put into that role, they seemed to fold like a wet napkin. It might have been proper but there wasn't any supporting evidence of it. Maybe that was a rub all along is most of the characters we learn about are pretty shallow--not in substance just in history so we don't get our hooks deep into their manifestations. Same could be said for the era the book resides in. I don't quite understand it, how it got there, or what it's really doing. It just does. It's like a pocket story in a galaxy that has far more to be explained and shared. Future books I hope?

That's really it though. Easy stuff to overlook.

You get dropped in fast, without knowing a whole lot. It's ok though, you'll get it later. Catching up is a part of the misdirection. Keeps you on your toes for details. Humanity has grown, split among so many lines. Humans though look to have done some further genetic works; a race that is more able to shunt themselves into aspects--savant and a quantum worker. A race that was built for deep pressures and piloting fighters. Also, a race that was built to adore their maker--which has had interesting and disturbing repercussions.

Slap politics on top of that a dash of technology from a race long gone, and a need from a faction to move new technology across a contested quadrant of space. What could happen?

I'm not going to give away any details--it's early enough for you to dive in and find your own way. I like the heist, the great con, the psychology of all these factions and fractures of humanity. All wrapped up in something that was really digestible while still being science-techy.

Enjoy it! I did. :)