A smart and thought-provoking piece of work - FINANCIAL TIMES, Pick of the Best New Science Fiction'One of the most captivating epics I've read in ages, evoking a convincing sense of fragile social structure reminiscent of China Mieville at his best, in combination with a philosophical underpinning that lends real weight to the stakes. It reads like Mad Max as imagined by Neal Stephenson. It's luxuriantly immersive, truly transporting in a way that is invaluable during these trying times' CHRIS BROOKMYRE, bestselling author of FALLEN ANGELIn this riveting political thriller, The Commonwealth, a post-apocalyptic civilisation on the rise, is locked in a clash of ideas with the Keepers, a fight which threatens to destroy the world . . . again.When Lilly was first Chief Engineer at The Commonwealth, nearly fifty years ago, the Central Archive wasn't yet the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world, protected by scribes copying
every piece of found material - books, maps, even scraps of paper - and disseminating them by Archive Runners to hidden off-site locations for safe keeping. Back then, there was no Order of Silence to create and maintain secret routes deep into the sand-covered towers of the Gone World or into the northern forests beyond Sea Glass Lake. Back then, the world was still quiet, because Lilly hadn't yet found the Harrington Box.
But times change. Recently, the Keepers have started gathering to the east of Yellow Ridge - thousands upon thousands of them - and every one of them determined to burn the Central Archives to the ground, no matter the cost, possessed by an irrational fear that bringing back the ancient knowledge will destroy the world all over again. To prevent that, they will do
anything.Fourteen days ago the Keepers chased sixteen-year-old Archive Runner Elimisha into a forbidden Gone World Tower and brought the entire thing down on her. Instead of being killed, though, she slipped into an ancient unmapped bomb shelter where she has discovered a cache of food and fresh water, a two-way radio like the one Lilly's been working on for years . . . and something else. Something that calls itself 'the internet' . . .
'If like me you loved Norwegian by Night and American by Day, dive straight into Radio Life. It's a post-apocalyptic exploration of how we rebuild, but much more than that, it's a gripping, clever, frightening, funny adventure. Trust me, it's a good one.' VAL McDERMID, No. 1 bestselling author of STILL LIFE'
A complex mosaic novel filtered through the viewpoints of a large cast that builds a convincing picture of a future world riven by opposing ideo
Industry Reviews
His world-building is
enthralling; hundreds of tiny details enchant as he renders our civilisation strange by showing it through retrospective eyes - SUNDAY TIMES
A
smart and thought-provoking piece of work - FINANCIAL TIMES, Pick of the Best New Science Fiction
A
complex mosaic novel filtered through the viewpoints of a large cast that builds a
convincing picture of a future world riven by opposing ideologies - The Guardian
One of the
most captivating epics I've read in ages, evoking a
convincing sense of fragile social structure
reminiscent of China Mieville at his best, in combination with a philosophical underpinning that lends real weight to the stakes. It reads like
Mad Max as imagined by Neal Stephenson. It's l
uxuriantly immersive,
truly transporting in a way that is
invaluable during these trying times - CHRIS BROOKMYRE, bestselling author of FALLEN ANGEL, on RADIO LIFE
Witty, intelligent,
thought-provoking and
immensely entertaining . . . I know it is only January, but this is surely a candidate for the
best novel of 2021 - Shots Magazine
An
ambitious detour into pure science fiction - Crime Time
The book is
gloriously readable from its opening sentence . . . I loved it.
I just loved it - Blue Book Balloon
A lot of
thought-provoking ideas but also this
is wildly entertaining with lots of relationship drama and a good dose of
edge-of-the-seat action - Liz Loves Books
