SOLVED. YA Fantasy. Sentient AI Antagonist, Magic+Technology, One of the races in the book really loves gold. Spoilers. [s]

[John]

I believe that I read the book/s between 2010 and 2015. I think it was published in the 2000s or 2010s. It seemed like a newer book at the time and I am pretty sure that it is a series of books. I read it through a physical copy and it was written in English.
I remember the ending of the book so I will add some spoilers with that information.

SPOILERS




(view spoiler)[ One of the main antagonists isn't revealed to be a sentient AI until later in the story. There is a race/group of people who have an extreme love of gold (i.e. gold coins, bars, anything gold). There were these "mythical" beings or deities that the reader discovers are actually astronauts from Earth who landed on the planet and weren't able to go back. They use their knowledge of science and technology to develop the world and create races descended from themselves. I am pretty sure that there are nanobots in the world that somehow makes magic work. It seemed like a "sufficiently advanced magic" type of story where it seems like magic but it is actually technology enabling that "magic". There is a point in the story where the main character goes into an abandoned underwater laboratory left by one of the "astronaut" people. They have to turn on the power for some reason. Another major plotline near the end is that the main character needs to give the gold-loving people/race a large amount of gold in exchange for a spherical relic, almost like a dysonsphere but not for the purpose of harvesting energy. The relic is then used as a shield to protect the planet. (hide spoiler)]

Most of the things that I remember are spoilers for the book as it is the ending. I don't remember very many details about the main character. They might have been working in some type of library or castle in the beginning of the story or first book and didn't have any parents but I could be wrong.

I have asked about this book on reddit and I got suggested Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. That isn't the book that I am looking for. It isn't quite as centered on religion or deities so much as the fantasy, magic, and technology side.

[John]

Still looking for this, haven't found any new leads yet.

[John]

Will keep trying to find the book but I haven’t had any luck yet.

[Rainbowheart]

I know you don't recall a lot about the main character, but do you remember any basics?

Male or female? Age?

[John]

Rainbowheart wrote: "I know you don't recall a lot about the main character, but do you remember any basics?

Male or female? Age?"


I am not 100% positive but I think they were a young male. I'll try to see if I can remember anything thing else and update it here.

[John]

Hi, I recently went to a used book store and was able to find the book. It's a series called "Relic Master" by Catherine Fisher (https://www.goodreads.com/series/5773...).

I'm going to edit the title to solved.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book series, John.

The Dark City (book 1) of the Relic Master series by Catherine Fisher.