Winner of the British Science Fiction Award, Best Novel
Winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Best Science Fiction Novel
“A glowing mosaic of a novel, puzzling, transporting and nigh-on impossible not to start again immediately once finished.”
—Alison Flood, The Sunday Times
“As masterful as it is playful . . . [Priest’s] prose is supple, elegant, and seductive, his insights about memory and perception tantalizing, his skill at visualizing the radically different land and seascapes of the islands endlessly compelling.”
—Locus
“A complex interweaving of plot and ideas, of playful games with reality and serious challenges to our preconceptions. The result is easily one of the richest and most rewarding novels that Priest has written to date.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“[Priest] understands the magic of imaginary worlds, where hot winds race across parched landscapes and everyone is a dreamer. It is his first book for nearly ten years, and well worth the wait… engrossing.”
—Max Davidson, The Mail on Sunday
“…piecing together the rather unpleasant lives of the main characters is entertaining; and there are episodes complete in themselves, short stories really, which are satisfying. The ghosts are excellent. And I consider the thryme an absolutely first-class invention.”
—The Guardian
“Giddying, fascinating, a hugely accomplished slipstream novel.”
—SFX Magazine
“Priest demonstrates once more his ability to surprise and dazzle with this twisty novel in which nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.”
—Library Journal, starred review
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