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The Fractal Prince (The Jean le Flambeur Series #2)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 790 ratings · 147 reviews

“The good thing is, no one will ever die again. The bad thing is, everyone will want to.”

A physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of “fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a revolution.
And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic ship, is tryi...more

ebook, 320 pages

Published September 27th 2012 by Tor Books (first published September 1st 2012)

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Oct 15, 2012 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-collection, sci-fi

Oh... my.....god.....
Reading this diamond hard sci-fi novel is certainly not for space opera virgins. My mind is bleeding from the attempt. But then again nothing previously written in the genre (except volume one) could prepare one adequately for this frenetically paced, incredibly complex, fractally dense, relentlessly overwhelming work. It is post human, post singularity and post current imagination.
Sui generis indeed, and the gentle reader is not provided with a easy roadmap. Or a lifebelt....more

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Mar 21, 2013 Shantnu Tiwari rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This sequel to the Quantum Thief follows the same style as the 1st. New words are thrown about, and their meaning only explained much later. But we know a bit more about the characters and events mentioned in the 1st book.

The story starts from the last book's end. The thief is going to Earth. While Mars was like ancient Greece, Earth is like the Arab stories. There are jinns in the desert that take over human minds. Adventurous men go out into the desert to steal these jinns (really just bodyles...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Ira Nayman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The science fiction book club I attend looked at Karl Schroeder’s Lady of Mazes one month. One of the members stated that he didn’t much care for post-Singularity novels because there really wasn’t any way of predicting what would happen after all matter in the solar system or galaxy became computation. That, on the other hand, is exactly why I love those stories, as I was reminded by reading Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Fractal Prince, the awesome sequel to his awesome The Quantum Thief.

When I experie...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THE FRACTAL PRINCE is the follow-up to Hannu Rajaniemi’s THE QUANTUM THIEF, and, like its predecessor, is a complex, fast-paced tale of gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur battling gods in a post-singularity world that only a mathematician or physicist will feel completely comfortable. But this time, Rajaniemi adds a layer of Arabian Nights and the power of stories to this hard-SF tale.

As you can probably guess from that first paragraph, THE FRACTAL PRINCE is not the easiest read. There is a reason...more THE FRACTAL PRINCE is the follow-up to Hannu Rajaniemi’s THE QUANTUM THIEF, and, like its predecessor, is a complex, fast-paced tale of gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur battling gods in a post-singularity world that only a mathematician or physicist will feel completely comfortable. But this time, Rajaniemi adds a layer of Arabian Nights and the power of stories to this hard-SF tale.

As you can probably guess from that first paragraph, THE FRACTAL PRINCE is not the easiest read. There is a reason all discussions of a post-singularity Earth tend to peter out into statements along the line of “It will be so unlike our current world,” or “We cannot imagine that future world.” Rajaniemi does an admirable job of trying to avoid such statements and describe a world of humanity with AI-enhanced brains, omnipresent nano-materials, and uploadable consciousnesses. It’s a difficult read, and I found myself at times confused and having to go back and re-read portions of the book.

But despite these difficulties, at its heart, Rajaniemi has written a beautiful story about the power of stories and the extremes to which people will go for love, honor, and family. So THE FRACTAL PRINCE isn’t so foreign after all. It’s just not easy on the readers. That being said, it is also wonderfully written. It’s downright poetic at times–a rare thing among hard-SF novels.

In this book, the second of a proposed trilogy (and do not pick up this book without having read THE QUANTUM THIEF), le Flambeur returns to a damaged Earth on assignment from a goddess. With him again is Mieli and her living ship Perhonen. His job? To break into the mind of a living god to steal codes that would allow him to manipulate reality on the quantum level. If he succeeds, he might earn his freedom. But a gentleman thief always has his own ideas, plans, and goals. While on Earth, he meets sisters who are struggling to survive a revolution that may bring about Earth’s demise.

THE FRACTAL PRINCE moves quickly, if not smoothly. The book takes place over two timelines that don’t meet up perfectly. Subplots are often told as stories within stories, leading to other complications. The ending has an almost epic scale, yet it feels rushed, cramming in so much action and important knowledge. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book. Part hard-SF, part heist, part fairy tale, THE FRACTAL PRINCE will reward the patient reader with a story unlike anything he or she is likely to have read before.(less)

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Nov 16, 2012 Ben Thurley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think Rajaniemi's two novels, this and his earlier, The Quantum Thief teeter on the edge of greatness, almost but not quite living up to their promise. They are full of big ideas, a richly imagined future where new ways of being human play out across the solar system. He is uncompromising in chiselling exposition away, and his language often achieves an elliptical kind of lyricism, even when describing the sharp edges of some technological horror. Although, to my mind, it equally often seemed...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Jon Knight rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I haven't given this a star rating because I'm really not sure how I feel about it. Either I was less with it today than I was when I read the first book or this one is harder to follow. And I say that as someone who's been reading Stress/Gibson/Sterling for 10-15 years. This series is many things, a gentle starting point in post-singularity SF it certainly isn't.

I described it on twitter as both a headf*ck and molecular gastronomy in book form. It blends traditional & unfamiliar ingredient...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Mason Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed Rajaniemi's first book, Quantum Thief, though it had some rough edges, as might be expected from a first novel. My main complaint was probably that he enjoyed throwing around terminology and pseudo-science based on real science a bit too much, and wasn't as clever as he thought he was. With this new one, he continues the story pretty much without a break, and the advantage is that the introduction to the story's universe, and the characters, is already taken care of. I don't kno...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, read-2013

4 Stars

The Fractal Prince is a bit of a letdown to me after having reread book one tQT by Hannu Rajaniemi. It is like the first piece an incredibly ambitious and complex piece of hard science fiction that will challenge you as a reader to keep things straight or even to simply understand what he is talking about. As I mentioned in my review of book one, there is a Wiki page that goes into great detail on the vocabulary, the world, the creatures, and of course the science behind the story of The...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Gerhard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

A character's comment towards the end sums up the experience of this book for me: '... the data stream is a bit of a headfuck. If I go mad or spontaneously transcend in the next five minutes, I'm going to blame you.'

Well, this is certainly a headfuck, and I think Rajanieni is going to have to account for a lot of exploding heads and/or spontaneous transcendence with this one. It is beautifully written and exquisitely crafted, and really has quite a simple by-the-numbers whodunnit plot.

Tacked ont...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-sci-fi

Nothing pleases me more than when a novel refuses the reader exposition. Instead, they immerse you in the world and let you sink or swim. And let me tell you, that first gulp of air is so sweet. I read 'The Quantum Thief,' to which this book is the sequel. I was worried that, having already swam in that ocean of post-human lives, sentient machines, and cultures based solely on MMORPGs, that navigating these waters would be too easy. I was delightfully wrong. I had many gasps of sweet sweet air,...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Matt Harper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent sequel infuses Rajaniemi's action-packed post-human SF-mystery with the essence of "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights." Still tremendously inventive and amusing, with cool characters doing wild things. Reading the first one is required for this one, though. Rajaniemi is not big on exposition, preferring to show as he goes, so tons of references will be lost on the reader who picks this one up without reading The Quantum Thief. Future editions are likely to come with a glossary, I think...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Tegghiaio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Me costó entrarle a la historia mucho más que en el caso de The Quantum Thief, en aquella oportunidad tras los dos capítulos iniciales en los que no tenía las más remota idea de lo que estaba sucediendo, todo empezó a tomar forma a partir del tercero. Sin embargo con The Fractal Prince tuve que superar la marca del 25% para comenzar a comprender las motivaciones de los personajes en esta secuela e interesarme realmente por el libro.

Como leí en un review de Amazon, este libro podría describirse c...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Jose Solis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Fractal Prince es el segundo libro de la serie que comenzó con The Quantum Thief. Es una continuación directa, que expande enormemente el universo planteado en el primer libro. Dicho eso...

¡Wow!

Si con el libro anterior quedé gratamente sorprendido por la complejidad de la historia y el ambiente en el que se desarrolla, con este el autor, el finlandés Hannu Rajaniemi me ha dejado mas que impresionado.

La historia prácticamente continua donde termina la anterior. Nuestro protagonista, el céleb...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Alexander Popov rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

(The review was originally posted in the blog Random's 23 Cents: http://mybiochemicalsky.wordpress.com...)

Step into the Palace of Stories, taste their body of fractals…

I gobbled The Fractal Prince up in just a few days, hungry to devour as many pages as possible during my daily commute between tube stations. Or maybe trying to slow down and savor them, sorry to see the book come to an end. Anything inducing such paradoxical states of mind must be more than just good. The follow-up to The Quantum...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Andreas Enderlin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fractal Prince is very complex. It stands out as 'The most exciting new voice in Science Fiction'. Hannu Rajaniemi's sequel to Quantum Thief continues the journey of Gentleman Burglar Jean Le Flambeur and Oortian Warrior Mieli. The complexity is sometimes overwhelming. The creations of Rajaniemi are so futuristic and at the same time, they don't seem impossible. There are so many aspects, perspectives, stories, scifi elements; all of them create an astonishing work of literature.
Most of the tim...more

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Mar 27, 2013 aPriL MEOWS often with scratching rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bizarre-wtf, brilliant-but-i-don-t-love-it, fantasy, science-fiction

This is a 5 star read in the obvious work involved and for the major attempt to write a science fiction/fantasy novel incorporating mathematics and particle physics into fiction. This is not an insignificant effort.

It is not a great read though, generally speaking. Character development falls flat on its face. I constantly began to like a character only to have the story make me feel it was a waste of caring. The plot kept revealing that this or that being was similar to a Behr can of paint colo...more This is a 5 star read in the obvious work involved and for the major attempt to write a science fiction/fantasy novel incorporating mathematics and particle physics into fiction. This is not an insignificant effort.

It is not a great read though, generally speaking. Character development falls flat on its face. I constantly began to like a character only to have the story make me feel it was a waste of caring. The plot kept revealing that this or that being was similar to a Behr can of paint color that is able to exist in mutiple dimensions of reality with as much caring about physical life or other people as a blade of grass worrying about being mowed. Continuity is strong, which I figured out after reading each chapter twice and going back to reread some chapters again, but it is difficult to follow because explanations are sparse and as a result confusing.

The universe is an odd one: 'gods' who can manipulate particles, which allows them to play with the matter of existence; and ordinary people of flesh, who somehow while living in the physical world are able through access to weird machine devices are able to manipulate reality in a smaller way than the gods; both beings are constrained within certain, unidentified rules, and crazily, care about what 'class' of being they are.

Completely beyond my understanding is a world of ghosts or spirits. They appear to be the personalities of the dead who still occupy space and time, and sometimes they are transferred willingly, and sometimes not, into a variety of strange bio-mechanical bodies and computerized chips, sometimes slaved to gods or people.

Everyone is sparring in serious life and death (true death) games to attain political power or destroy people or gods. To me, these goals make no sense - why would genuine particle manipulators possibly care about politics or the death of others? I can see a defensive war or attack, but they seem to be indulging themselves out of enmity from before the beginning of their transformations. The sense they are simply engaging in vengeance for bad feelings from eons ago when they were normal people gives me little sympathy for any of them. If the book had beautiful writing or a hero or a sensible world-build - but it has none of these. Why is their motivation all about engaging in war and theft against each other and against societies like Mars or Earth? Who cares if a god has forgotten or mislaid a version of himself somewhere, and why does it mean the destruction of societies to find it? HELLO, multiple copies, particle manipulation powers, why physical world concerns would be an interest to them in the first place?!? It's the biggest reason I can't believe or immerse myself in these books and why I'm not going to bother with the third book in the trilogy.

Also the mash-ups of science and fantasy lead the reader down the path of thinking it's possible all of this action is actually occurring inside a computer like the Matrix movie series, but at the end, I don't think so. It's simply a universe where particle manipulation has given rise to these situations. If I follow up with that reality in trying to understand the universe Rajaniemi created, at no point does the author explain why dead souls are still around or why they are necessary for the gods to interact with flesh, or why they'd care about venal and flesh-related matters with powers like they have. At certain points, jinns (souls implanted into chips) seem to want sex with flesh. That's about the only motivation that feels sensible in both books in the series so far.

In an idiot phase of my life, I believed I could become a programmer when I had very little of the correct brain attributes (being primarily a literature/history type), being perhaps too encouraged by my ability to learn and 'be all you you be' ad promotions. I got a degree in programming. It's been useful in reading books like this. But, unless mathematical physics concepts gives you orgasms when you play with them, I'd skip this. However, if you want to test your brains in understanding books written by a mathematical genius author, this is the series. Warning: he's smarter than us normals. Good luck trying to follow his literary thought without high level math or computer science or physics, although if you've watched a lot of the better science fiction movies, that helps.(less)

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Oct 22, 2012 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Everyone says this is a difficult book because so many new technologies are introduced without being explained, but I disagree. I think part of the fun is guessing how they work. Often they do get an explanation eventually. They are given evocative names: you may not understand how a jinn works, but it's close enough to its namesake that you can understand what it does. However this is indeed a very difficult book for a different reason: it contains many different narratives that are not in line...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Matthew L. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An excellent book, very well written and gripping. With a focus on emulating 1001 Arabian Nights, the book was told in "stories" that gave it a bit of a disjointed feel that wouldn't be a pleasurable read for the light-hearted, especially with the subject matter of abstract quantum science. Despite this, or maybe because of this, the Fractal Prince was an incredibly intense and enjoyable read. Definitely recommend it for those clever enough to keep up, but please read the first book before readi...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera

When I first read The Quantum Thief, I was skeptical. Rajaniemi, a first-time novelist, had been getting all manner of high praise for his new book, and I've learned to be cautious about that. Praising a work for being "hard science fiction" and epithets in that family are reasons to think twice; that is the type of complement attracted by trope-filled excursions into the Kingdom of the Nerds, where quality prose, interesting characters, and literary drama are put to death.

While Thief certainly...more When I first read The Quantum Thief, I was skeptical. Rajaniemi, a first-time novelist, had been getting all manner of high praise for his new book, and I've learned to be cautious about that. Praising a work for being "hard science fiction" and epithets in that family are reasons to think twice; that is the type of complement attracted by trope-filled excursions into the Kingdom of the Nerds, where quality prose, interesting characters, and literary drama are put to death.

While Thief certainly had ample fun with the transhumanism of its setting, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Rajaniemi can actually write. Not only is his prose mostly pain-free (as much as such can be in a genre practically defined by techno-whatsits and info-dumps), but he seems to understand that good stories are more than technical manuals. I found a richness to the story and its setting that I had not expected, if only for its rarity. Iain M. Banks is the only author I can think of off-hand who can combine "science" with mythical and literary themes to such effect (Simmons did in the Hyperion books, and Alistair Reynolds can get close, as can Ken MacLeod and John C. Wright at his best). There are doubtless others slipping my mind, but the point is it is a refreshing change to see a "genre" author willing to entertain the literary, the poetic, the metaphorical; humanities are a sorely-needed counterpoint to the typical fare in SFF books.

This is not to say we are dealing with a work of perfection. The neologisms and techno-jargon can at times feel like a bandage over a cleverly-disguised vacuum in the plot. I am far more forgiving of nerd-details when the attempt has been made to make something more than the mediocre, however, and on the whole the annoyances were muted next to the good things about this book. The story made sense, more or less, which is to say it worked for me thematically (as far as consistency or technical detail, that's as beyond my scope as it is my concern).

The Fractal Prince takes off right after the events of Thief, revisiting Jean le Flambeur and his system-wide caper to steal something incredibly valuable -- only he can't remember what, or why he needs it in the first place. This story alternates chapters with a young woman, Tawaddud, in the desert nation of Sirr, and the two plots eventually braid together.

What I found interesting is the choice of narrative structure which recounts each chapter as a "story". As memory and identity were central themes in the first book, it is the literary and mythical that serves as the anchor here. That said, I felt that Prince lacked some of the depth of its predecessor. Something about the book struck me as shallow in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's the abrupt whirlwind of an ending, which is an obvious cliffhanger for a third book -- and honestly the last 30-40 pages happened so fast that I'm still not sure what actually happened. In any event, the book as a whole felt less engaging.

All of that said, my experience with this book was above average. I enjoyed the themes of mind and identity which aren't often tackled with any depth or skill in this genre, and likewise for Rajaniemi's willingness to use characters that (even if only slightly) transgress modern boundaries of normativity. There are flaws, and these will put off scrupulous readers-of-science-fiction who are in it mostly for the science (and, unfortunately, perhaps those who are not thanks to the setting and requisite jargon-ladenness). The bright spots more than made up for the shortcomings for me. (less)

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Apr 21, 2013 Jason Bucky Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Yes

The world of the Quantum Thief was brilliantly executed, and so slyly construed as to make a Lupin-style fable possible even in a post-human world that I wondered if Hannu could keep the magic going for another book.

Not only is the Fractal Prince a worthy sequel, I think it might actually top the Quantum Thief -- certainly, the implications of its world have continued to haunt my thoughts (or perhaps I should say, its memes live a life of their own in my mind) daily.

The set piece for this second...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Siina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-scifi, fiction

Again I really wanted to like this, but...The book isn't bad, it's just not so good either and there are quite a lot of reasons for that. Mostly I must say that Rajaniemi's style is as stable as in the first book, but that can be both good and bad. I do understand that he desn't want to explain all the details in his books and that didn't bother me. What bothered me was that if he's made such a decision than why does he need to explain what happened in the first book in this one? Not merely the...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, exposition is so scarce in Hannu Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur series that I found myself getting excited and highlighting passages whenever a modicum of the stuff ever did finally come around. Though while there's something challenging about being dropped into a strange world with no explanation, it can also be incredibly satisfying to stretch one’s mental muscles in the way that only such a sink-or-swim lack of background can provide.

The Fract...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Daniel Burton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

One of the reasons I read non-fiction and classics is that they tend to challenge me more than the books I enjoy reading the most. I'll pick up science-fiction or fantasy because I want to escape, relax, and take a break. But too much, and I get bored.

I did not have that problem when I read this book. Not one bit.

Hannu Rajaniemi, though, has found a way to both escape and challenge my mind at the same time. The challenge is such that, as I have seen one reviewer note, I would not recommend Raja...more

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Dec 29, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The second book in the Quantum Thief Trilogy, the Fractal Prince is a great,fun read, full of ideas, action, and good writing. I'd rate it just below the Quantum Thief itself, perhaps because second books, or seconds-in-sequels are a lot like seconds at a feast--delicious, but you're already satisfied, tasted the novelties, so it's hard for the food to taste as good as it did at first. The book continues the story of the Quantum Thief, Jean le Flambeur, and introduces new characters and a ruined...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Niklaus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Admittedly even more confusing than the Quantum Thief, but even better in its ability to resurrect an old genre in a vivid and bizarre hard-SF transhumanist future. The ideas are awesome but they notably don't get in the way of the character-driven plot, as we learn much more about Flambeur, Miele and the Founders of Sobornost.

It leaves a whole lot unresolved, which is to be expected of the second part of the trilogy. But consider yourself warned; the ending is not as abrupt as Quantum Thief's b...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Tim Nowotny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first I found the "no exposition" attempt of this book a little bit frustrating. I found the last book a fun read and the head scratchers in far and between. THis one was different.
What kept me reading was the grounding with the characters and the story telling introspective that I found really interesting. And how happy I am that I kept reading. Eventually you blend in with the word and learn your way though it.
The story becomes very epic in this volume and the end lets you lust for the thir...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Wes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A complex, confusing book, at times. A true post-human future, which can be difficult to wrap your head around. Rajaniemi doesn't always directly address what some things are, letting you sort of fill in the gaps as you move through the book. Personally, I found that this pulled me away from the narrative, as everyone in the book understood what all of these things were, but as a reader I didn't. Either a glossary in the back, or just a bit of an internal explanation would have helped smooth thi...more

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Oct 26, 2012 John Xero rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a really hard review for me to write (hence the delay...).

I'm going to return to old habits and wish I had a half star to give, for four and a half.

Hannu Rajaniemi's first book, Quantum Thief, was a revelation, it easily jumped into my favourite books of all time, possibly to the very top of that pile, so it was with great anticipation that I was looking forward to this one, and some trepidation - could it possibly be as good?

Well... I loved this book, once I got into it, and until I rea...more This is a really hard review for me to write (hence the delay...).

I'm going to return to old habits and wish I had a half star to give, for four and a half.

Hannu Rajaniemi's first book, Quantum Thief, was a revelation, it easily jumped into my favourite books of all time, possibly to the very top of that pile, so it was with great anticipation that I was looking forward to this one, and some trepidation - could it possibly be as good?

Well... I loved this book, once I got into it, and until I reached the end.

Let me explain. Quantum Thief has plenty of heavy SF jargon, but through clear context and smooth exposition it's never a problem, the book is a joy to read. The Fractal Prince gets too heavy, too quickly, and is a challenge to understand early on, despite the genuinely lovely, flowing prose. It does settle down later on, and then the prose really gets to shine through, although it often still requires your full attention (not an entirely bad thing, imho).

The book itself has an almost fractal nature (it's a theme that is returned to often), like the referenced 1,001 Arabian Nights it has stories nested in stories nested in stories... It's cleverly done and one of the things I really loved about the book, although, again, to start off with the disparate story lines make it a little harder to settle into the book. Once they come together though, fireworks. (And they will have come together before you've even realised it.)

There is a scene towards the end that, for me, is one of the most awe-inspiring scenes I have read in a long time. It had me grinning and almost cheering, and I would recommend anyone push through the beginning of the book to reach that scene alone.

But be warned. The ending just lost me. A minor character from book one just reappears, and I had pretty much forgotten them. And the circumstances of the reappearance, and what it meant for the rest of the book left me puzzled. I was sat for about half an hour with both books in my hands flicking back and forth trying to figure it out. And I understand it... to a degree. If I think about it too hard though, some part of it still doesn't make sense to me, which is a crying shame.

I thoroughly recommend the first book. The Quantum Thief is amazing, and strikes a perfect balance between SF elements, story, and character; every SF fan should read it. I recommend this book too, with a certain amount of caution, it has wondrous moments, it has beautiful prose, but it has an ending that might leave you screaming, and not in a good way.(less)

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May 29, 2012 Mikolaj Habryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved the previous book, but I read it too long ago to remember if I found it as hard to grasp as this one. There's several story-lines that play out simultaneously in very different worlds, and on top of that there's what feels like a very deliberate tribute to 1001 Nights in the use of nested stories and many of the universe's elements. Once everything is revealed, the layering and plot manipulations are simply grand, but I was well past the halfway point of the book before I felt like I had...more

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May 02, 2013 Asphyxiac rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera, sci-fi-action

Though I enjoyed the Lupin references and the fast pace of the first book, there was a rapidly growing level of disconnect between myself and the characters as I progressed through the second book. This was mostly due to the completely unimaginable (or perhaps poorly described) technology that was used to explain much of the motivation behind the main character's actions. Like, I still don't understand anything about Matjek Chen or what the deal with Gubernaiya minds is. By the end of the second...more

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About Hannu Rajaniemi

EN: Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a founding director of a technology consultancy company, ThinkTank Maths.

Rajaniemi was born in Ylivieska, Finland. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Oulu, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Ca...more EN: Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a founding director of a technology consultancy company, ThinkTank Maths.

Rajaniemi was born in Ylivieska, Finland. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Oulu, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to starting his Ph.D. candidature, he completed his national service as a research scientist for the Finnish Defence Forces.

While pursuing his Ph.D. in Edinburgh, Rajaniemi joined Writers' Bloc, a writers' group in Edinburgh that organizes semi-regular spoken word performances and counts Charlie Stross amongst its members. Early works included his first published short story Shibuya no Love in 2003 and his short story Deus Ex Homine in Nova Scotia, a 2005 anthology of Scottish science fiction and fantasy, which caught the attention of his current literary agent, John Jarrold.

Rajaniemi gained attention in October 2008 when John Jarrold secured a three-book deal for him with Gollancz, on the basis of only twenty-four double-spaced pages. His debut novel, The Quantum Thief, was published in September 2010 by Gollancz in Britain and will be published in May 2011 by Tor Books in the U.S. A sequel, The Fractal Prince, is in progress.

FI: Hannu Rajaniemi on Edinburgissa, Skotlannissa asuva suomalainen tieteiskirjailija, joka kirjoittaa sekäs suomeksi että englanniksi. Rajaniemi on opiskellut matemaattista fysiikkaa Oulun ja Cambridgen yliopistoissa ja väitellyt säieteoriasta filosofian tohtoriksi Edinburghin yliopistossa. Hän on perustajajäsen matematiikan ja tekniikan konsulttiyhtiössä nimeltä ThinkTank Maths.

Opiskellessaan Edinburgissa Rajaniemi liittyi kirjoittajaryhmään, joka järjesti tekstien lukutilaisuuksia. Hänen varhaisia novellejaan on ilmestynyt englanniksi Interzone-lehdessä ja Nova Scotia -antologiassa. Näistä jälkimmäinen kiinnitti Rajaniemen nykyisen kirjallisuusagentin kiinnostuksen vuonna 2005.

Vuonna 2008 Rajaniemi solmi kustannussopimuksen kolmesta romaanista brittiläisen Gollancz-kustantamon kanssa. Valmiina oli silloin ainoastaan romaanin yksi luku. Esikoisromaani The Quantum Thief ilmestyi syyskuussa 2010. Hänellä on näiden kolmen romaanin julkaisusopimus myös yhdysvaltalaisen Tor-kustantamon kanssa. Suomeksi Rajamäen esikoisteoksen julkaisee Gummerus nimellä Kvanttivaras.(less)

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Books by Hannu Rajaniemi

The Quantum Thief (The Quantum Thief Trilogy #1)

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection

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Quotes from The Fractal Prince

“If reality is not what you want it to be, change it.” — 4 people liked it

“Live on berries in a hollowed-out comet lit by artificial suns long enough, and you start to have delusions about achieving enlightenment.” — 3 people liked it

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The Fractal Prince (The Jean le Flambeur Series #2)

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