Teaser

Centuries from now, humanity has engineered itself beyond recognition. Some of the new breeds are subservient, others resilient, but none are as enigmatic as homo quantus . . .

Review

Okay, so this was not at all the book I expected it to be. A lot of what I knew (or thought I knew) about The Quantum Magician led me to believe it was a work of Hard SF in a similar vein to Stephen Baxter. Honestly, there is an element of that in here. Like pretty much everyone without a degree in the subject, I don’t really understand quantum science. And like Baxter, Kunsken has a knack for taking things that go right over my head, and using them to tell a compelling story.

The central conceit of the The Quantum Magician is that humans have branched off into different subspecies. The Puppets, for example, who are reduced in size and genetically forced to be subservient. Or there’s the homo quantus, who feel reminiscent of Dune‘s mentats, but to a far more devastating degree. Transhumanism is a often a hard sell to me, and perhaps that’s why I’ve stayed clear of Kunsken’s work for so long. Maybe my tastes are too conservative, but I like my humans to be recognisably human. Kunsken, however, has created a really interesting future history. I suppose the ‘big idea’ here is wormholes, put to good use here with the recognition that a spacetime bridge connects not only two points in space, but also two points in team. It’s not a simple gateway, but something rather more complex. Some of the politics is a little hard to grasp, but that’s largely peripheral to the genetic side of things. There are a lot of factions at play here, but only a few are crucial to the plot.

That plot is the big surprise for me. I don’t know what I thought the story would be in such an odd setting, but I was not expecting a heist. Surprising, but a welcome surprise. From The Italian Job to Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, I love a good heist story, and con artists like protagonist Belisarius are a favourite of mine. It’s actually a little odd that I can’t think of any other sci-fi heists off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many, but I am drawing a blank right now. Still, this has to be one of the better ones. It’s got all the hallmarks. A ragtag group of operatives. An inside man. A plan that’s hidden from those involved. Some snarling villains, an unreliable employer, and a prize beyond imagining. After all, it’s not every day someone asks you to smuggle a military fleet through enemy space.

This is where I have to make a small confession. I am becoming an audio convert of late, not just to maximise my bookish time, but also for financial reasons. I am having a really good time with the audiobook experience, but it does come with a downside when it comes to reviewing. I’ve never been the sort to annotate or make notes as I go along, so when I get to writing a review, I have no way of going back to check on a section of the book. The obvious problem here is working out spellings. I do my best to pay attention, even if I am listening while I’m at work, but let’s just say there’s a reason I’m not attempting to spell any character names from this book, beyond the one named in the synopsis. T. Ryder Smith’s narration is good, but as I listen at a speed faster than 1x, some of the French accents in the book did lose me a little. That’s basically just an issue with one character, however, and the rest of the rather large cast are all distinctly drawn.

Given my muddled expectations, The Quantum Thief was a surprisingly fun read, and it looks like Belisarius’ story isn’t done yet. I can say with some confidence that I’ll be picking up the next book whenever I see it.

Audio Stats

• Narrated by T. Ryder Smith
• The Quantum Evolution #1
• First Published 2018
• Runtime 13hrs 8mins