by Ada Palmer
First published 2019
The world's carefully maintained peace shatters when a devastating truth emerges. For centuries, the leaders of the great Hives have preserved global stability through a hidden system of calculated killings. These mathematically planned murders prevented any single faction from gaining dominance. Now the secret spreads beyond the inner circles of power. Corruption and insurgency eat away at the Hive leadership from within. The facade of order that once held civilization together begins to crumble. Utopians and sensayers, emperors and the powerless, all recognize what approaches. Days ago, humanity stood at its peak. Now every person and faction scrambles to ready themselves for the war that seems certain to come. The leaders desperately cling to their remaining authority, knowing that public knowledge of their blood-soaked methods will unleash the very savagery they worked to prevent.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, literary-fiction, political-thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: corruption, power-struggle, societal-collapse
Setting: Hives
Period: Future
352 pages · Paperback · Tor Books
Content warnings: violence