The Causal Angel
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4.4 • 48 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
With his infectious love of storytelling in all its forms, his rich characterization and his unrivaled grasp of thrillingly bizarre cutting-edge science, Hannu Rajaniemi swiftly set a new benchmark for Science Fiction in the 21st century. Now, with his third novel, he completes the tale of the many lives, and minds, of gentleman rogue Jean de Flambeur.
Influenced as much by the fin de siècle novels of Maurice leBlanc as he is by the greats of SF, Rajaniemi weaves intricate, warm capers through dazzling science, extraordinary visions of a wild future,and deep conjectures on the nature of reality and story.
In The Causal Angel we will discover the ultimate fates of Jean, his employer Miele, the independently minded ship Perhonnen, and the rest of a fractured and diverse humanity flung throughout the solar system.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rajaniemi's largely satisfying third and final tale of posthuman gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur (after The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince) occasionally gets a bit muddled as the plot hits its crescendo. After Jean's rescuer and employer, Mieli, is cast into space, Jean concocts a plan to rescue her with the assistance of former nemesis Matjek, now reincarnated as a child. Meanwhile, Mieli is drawn into the conflict between the Zoku and the Sobornost via the Great Game, and Jos phine, who instigated the events that launched the series, continues her machinations. Rajaniemi's distant future is filled with duplicated bodies and quantum prisons, and at times the relentless terminology ("Founder gogol," "Wang bullet," "qupt") begs for exposition, but context generally prevails for the patient reader, especially one who's read the earlier books. One weakness is the early death of a character who'd seemed destined for more, a symptom of loose ends being too aggressively tied up. But Rajaniemi still offers a thrilling final ride, and fans will walk away satisfied.
Customer Reviews
Exciting Conclusion to the Trilogy
“The Casual Angel” is the final book in the Jean le Flambeur Trilogy by Hannu Rajaniemi. This is one of the wildest, far future, post human, high tech series that I’ve ever read. It is an amazing, action-packed torrent of ideas that carries the reader through a barely comprehensible future.
In this final volume, the famous Quantum Thief, Jean le Flambeur seeks to right some of the wrongs he has been involved in since the beginning of the series. He wants to rescue his Oortian companion from the Zoku on Saturn. He wants to keep the young Chen from being used by others. Lastly, he wants to restore the last residents of Earth’s Shard to physical existence, after their world has been devoured by Dragons. If in the process, he can end the final apocalyptic war that will destroy the solar system, that’s great as well.
This is an amazing work of literature, where the beings of the future can pass between virtual and physical existence by stepping through a gate. Nevertheless, there are understandable and relatable characters, even if they are very different from the humans of today. The reader can empathize with these post-human persons, and come to care about them as individuals.
The only downside of this novel is the ending essentially employs a deus ex machina. However, you can forgive it this device as it has been alluded to for at least two books in the series, and there is hardly any other way to resolve the situation in which the characters find themselves.