Neptune's Brood
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4.3 • 86 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The year is AD 7000. The human species is extinct—for the fourth time—due to its fragile nature.
Krina Alizond-114 is metahuman, descended from the robots that once served humanity. She’s on a journey to the water-world of Shin-Tethys to find her sister Ana. But her trip is interrupted when pirates capture her ship. Their leader, the enigmatic Count Rudi, suspects that there’s more to Krina’s search than meets the eye.
He’s correct: Krina and Ana each possess half of the fabled Atlantis Carnet, a lost financial instrument of unbelievable value—capable of bringing down entire civilizations. Krina doesn’t know that Count Rudi suspects her motives, so she accepts his offer to get her to Shin-Tethys in exchange for an introduction to Ana.
And what neither of them suspects is that a ruthless body-double assassin has stalked Krina across the galaxy, ready to take the Carnet once it is whole—and leave no witnesses alive to tell the tale…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this loosely connected follow-up to 2008's Saturn's Children, Stross injects the trappings of space opera with his own wildly imaginative concepts, weaving a tale of economic intrigue against a backdrop of eons and light years. In the year 7000, Krina Alizond-114, one of the robot-descended metahumans who succeeded humankind, is on a quest to find her missing sister Ana. As Krina travels across the galaxy one step ahead of a deadly assassin, she encounters eccentric monks in a spacefaring chapel, feral insurance underwriters, and undersea civilizations. At stake is a financial document worth untold amounts, and a secret that could rock the very underpinnings of the galaxy-wide economy if revealed. As always, Stross feels like the smartest guy in the room, pushing the boundaries of identity and humanity while offering up what may be the first epic tale of futuristic macroeconomics. It's a little convoluted at times but wholly entertaining as the big picture comes to light.
Customer Reviews
Major nerd cred
While primarily a book about economics i was suckered by the intricate descriptions of the distant future. Right on the border of hard science fiction as everything in the book is possible in theory.
Great Hard Sci-Fi
I was enjoying Stross's descriptions of an interstellar economy enough when I thought they were just world building. It was great to see them turn into major plot mechanics for the story.
Also, it was nice to see a space opera that focused on sisterly love, rather than steamy romances.
Exciting Second Freyaverse Novel
“Neptune’s Brood” is the second novel in the Freyaverse book series by Charles Stross. The previous book is “Saturn's Children” which is only loosely connected to this novel. Both are subtitled “A Space Opera” and they absolutely live up to this description. They are also appropriately considered a post-human novels. This is in a literal sense, as the human race had went extinct and been resurrected more than once before this novel takes place.
The inheritors of the galaxy are the various forms of artificial life that humanity created. They are based on synthetic biology as well as mechanical structure. They are much more robust than humans, which are known as the “fragile.” However, these post-humans are based on their creators, and share in our weaknesses. Two of which are on display in this work are power and greed.
Our protagonist in this novel is a meta-human known as Krina Alizond. She is a accountant and scholar who studies the history of fraud. Her sister, who she was on the way to study with, has went missing on the water world of Shin Tethys. Now it seems several parties are now seeking both her and her sister, for suspicious purposes.
This novel is fast paced and gripping, but it is also a mystery involving interstellar economics. Mr. Stross has created a convincing monetary system that drives the the meta-human uber-capitalist of the far future to expand through the galaxy. It is the most extreme form of fraud ever carried out that Krina and her siblings have stumbled upon, and parties will do genocidal actions to keep these secrets.
I think I liked this novel more than “Saturn’s Children” because of its larger scope and farther future setting. It’s also interesting to see how much more advanced his post-humans have become. It’s a page-turner that delivers action right to the last page.