by Iain Banks
First published 2024
Fassin Taak serves as a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers in 4034 AD. The Dwellers live on a gas giant at the galaxy's edge, waiting for their wormhole connection to galactic civilization. Other species view them as decadent barbarians who hoard information chaotically, hunt their offspring, and wage meaningless ceremonial conflicts. The Mercatoria, the current galactic power structure, assigns Fassin to a military-religious order he barely knows. His mission takes him back among the Dwellers to locate a secret that has remained hidden for five hundred million years. War approaches with each passing day, threatening to destroy everything Fassin has ever known. The gas giant setting proves as turbulent and spectacular as the political forces converging around this ancient mystery. Fassin must navigate the Dwellers' bizarre culture and the Mercatoria's complex hierarchy while racing against time to prevent galactic catastrophe.
Genres: science-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, space-opera
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, race-against-time
Setting: Nasqueron, Mercatoria
Period: 4034 AD
696 pages · Kindle Edition · Orbit