The Promise of the Child

(Paperback)

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'among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years' TOR.COM

An extraordinarily inventive and hugely original SF novel that charts a compelling vision of a future and spins an hypnotic narrative around it. A novel that could command the same amount of attention and furore that met the publication of The Quantum Thief. The richness and originality of its vision combined with its playful take on hard science make this a novel with real commercial potential that will be talked about for years and should launch a major career in SF.

In the far future man has spread out into the galaxy. And diversified. Some have evolved physically into strange new forms, some have become immortal. Some hark back to the old ways. We have built a glorious new future. One that stretches from the sleepy Old World, to new terraformed planets and Dyson spheres built around artificial suns. For as long as we can remember (and some have lived 12,000 years) we have delighted in a rich new existence. Yes there have been wars but we are content in our splendour. Art is revered, life is easy, death forgotten for many. But now there are rumours of a bid to oust the Emperor and a worrying story that our history is not as we remember it - not only man left Earth...

Reviews

an incredibly impressive debut novel novel, with an engrossing plot and delightful oddness that should satisfy any space opera aficionado - Sci-Fi Now

Marvellous...a space opera of surpassing gracefulness, depth, complexity, and well, all-round weirdness - Locus

Intense, bold writing; inventive worldbuilding; excellent plotting. - SF Signal

The prose is baroque, the pacing stately - Financial Times

To call The Promise of the Child one of the most accomplished debuts of 2015 so far is to understate its weight-instead, let me moot that is among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years. Granted, you've got to give it your all, but give it that and you'll get all that and more besides back - TOR.COM

This is the purest example of space opera we've seen in some time, thoroughly blurring the line between science fiction and fantasy. The wildly divergent post-humans of our future galaxy could just as well be from the pages of Tolkien; the science can be indistinguishable from magic. (Not unrealistically, come to think of it.) A lot of sci-fi draws straight lines between now and all the tomorrows to come, but Toner posits a weirder, wobblier path to the future. This first-in-a-trilogy builds an intriguing new world, and gives us every reason to have high hopes about what's coming next. The book is challenging, ambitious, and rewarding, and it's impossible not to admire Toner's wild imagination and carefully constructed world. This thing is bonkers, no question. It's also one helluva debut. - BarnesandNoble.com

Author Bio

Tom Toner was born in Somerset, England, in 1986. The Tropic of Eternity is the concluding volume in Toner's debut trilogy, following The Promise of the Child and The Weight of the World.