The Archive Undying
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4.3 • 8 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
War machines and AI gods run amok in The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko Candon's bold entry into the world of mecha fiction.
WHEN AN AI DIES, ITS CITY DIES WITH IT
WHEN A CITY FALLS, IT LEAVES A CORPSE BEHIND
WHEN THAT CORPSE RUNS OFF, ONLY DEVOTION CAN BRING IT BACK
When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines.
The Archive Undying is the first volume of Emma Mieko Candon's Downworld Sequence, a sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies.
Come get in the robot.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The ambitious science fantasy that kicks off the Downworld Sequence trilogy from Candon (Star Wars: Ronin) immerses readers in a fascinating if sometimes disorienting world of AI gods, dissolute hermits, and fantastical biotech constructs. Years after the cataclysmic death of Iterate Fractal, the AI that once oversaw the city-state of Khuon Mo, rebellion is stirring against the Harbor, the police state that took over in its wake. Traumatized by his patron deity's death, former archivist Sunai chases oblivion, but when he inadvertently sleeps with a biotech researcher working for the Harbor, he finds himself inexorably drawn back into city life and toward old friends, all of whom have their own agendas. Inhabiting the Downworld universe is often a joy: Candon's fresh, vivid worldbuilding skillfully blends anime staples like giant robots and cigarette-smoking aunties with edgy SFF tropes like dying gods and legendary hybrid beasts. Though the emotional thread of trauma, guilt, and grief is well-executed, the narrative is written in an elaborate, often evasive style that may lead some readers feeling left behind by the plot. Still, fans of diverse, queer genre fiction seeking a challenge should take note.
