Shelf Awareness: Through humor and heartache, Hutchinson balances an incredible situation with the great emotional depths and fragile relationships of his characters. More than survival or love, Hutchinson’s novel is about personal identity and how we define ourselves through memories, experiences and the perceptions of others.
Audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s sequel to PRINCESS FLORALINDA AND THE FORTY-FLIGHT TOWER, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Italian rights to Margaret Doody’s A WINTER’S MURDER, the first of a new mystery series set in the 19th centry, to Mondadori, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.
Turkish rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s BINTI TRILOGY, AKATA WITCH and AKATA WARRIOR, to Ithaki (Turkey), in a five-book deal, by Merve Ongen at ONK Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Donald Maass.
Congratulations to Martha Wells for having NETWORK EFFECT chosen as Publishers Weekly Staff Picks Best Books of 2020! They write:
Martha Wells’ cranky, TV-binging Murderbot, the star and narrator of four superb novellas before this novel, made for a perfect quarantine companion. Her SecUnit killing machine has favored a solitary existence ever since it hacked its way to sentience. It feels safest hunkered down in a storage bay, mainlining its favorite shows, far removed from the messy emotions and motives of people – a preference that only became more relatable as 2020 stretched on. Vividly imagined and often wryly hilarious, Network Effect stands as the strongest, richest book in the series, as the SecUnit once more must embroiled itself in human affairs, this time with a team and even a friend. Wells’ accomplished storytelling makes this a perfect entry point, but odds are once you’ve become acquainted with Murderbot you’ll want to do what it would: find a quiet spot and rush through the full series.
Publishers Weekly: With this gripping dystopian novel, Shirley (Eclipse) extrapolates a grim vision of a late-21st-century U.S. wracked by climate change. Former U.S. Marshal Darryl Webb is now a world-weary freelance tracker hired to find a missing serial killer believed to be in Stormland, a 400-mile stretch of devastated southeast U.S. coastline. Some 2,000 squatters live in the ruins of Charleston, inhabiting lawless, flooded enclaves—among them an eerie pseudo-religious cult, a gang of drug dealers, scavenger-refugees, and Gerald Fogle, Webb’s quarry. But Gerald, who’s been medically mind-altered with “Neuro-Cellular Behavioral Modification,” is a new man. No longer the killer he was, he now devotes his time to altruistically helping Stormland’s suffering people. Threads involving “experiencers” who install mind-control implants to drive their doomed victims for their own heinous entertainment and a pharmaceutical executive who finds redemption from his destructive greed propel the intricate, action-filled plot as Webb comes to find meaning in his life. Howling super-hurricanes, grisly torture scenes, and the horrors of scientific experimentation on human brains make for harrowing reading. This is a sober warning about the seductive dangers of power.
Author of BENEATH THE RISING Premee Mohamed’s AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT, a story of murder and vengeance in a city where anyone without a valid employment wristband can legally be hunted and killed by the government, to Dave Ring at Neon Hemlock, for publication in summer 2021, by Michael Curry.
Locus: Fugitive Telemetry is an interesting hybrid of murder mystery and space adventure. From the beginning of her career, Martha Wells’ characters have been relatable, understandable, complex, and human; her worldbuilding deft and interesting, filled with graceful detail and implying a universe beyond the page. The Murderbot stories continue this trajectory, with an entertaining protagonist – the incredibly relatable Murderbot – and a wry, witty, darkly humorous voice. Fugitive Telemetry is a brisk, well-paced delight, and fills in a gap in Murderbot’s adventures in a satisfying way. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I hope that Wells continues to tell Murderbot stories for a long time to come.
School Library Journal: Fast-paced dialogue, steamy make-out sessions, and a protagonist who grows throughout her journey will keep most thoroughly engaged.
