The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
-
-
4.0 • 7 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
A "Best Of" pick in BookBub | Lit Hub | Book Riot | The Mary Sue
Highly anticipated in Library Journal | Goodreads | io9 | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books | Tor.com | We Are Bookish | The Portalist
“So much fun!”–Ann Leckie, New York Times bestselling author
From international bestseller Samit Basu, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is an exuberant new sci-fi adventure with heart that reads like a mash-up of “Aladdin” and Murderbot—with gloriously chaotic results
Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren’t helping anyone but themselves.
Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born.
Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves—even if they do take him for granted.
When Shantiport's resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix… None of the city's powers will know what hit them.
Also by Samit Basu
The City Inside
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bollywood meets a cyberpunk take on The Nutcracker in this action-packed frolic from Basu (The City Inside). Now "a planetwide symbol of decay, disrepair and decline," the once sumptuous capital city Shantiport is ruled by the ineffectual Tiger Clan, which employs a menagerie of drones to conduct surveillance on its inhabitants, including Lina, a tour bus driver, and her brother, Bador, a martial artist monkey-bot yearning to become a space adventurer. Lina uses her talent for espionage to conduct mysterious and mostly dead-end missions connected to her long-missing father's shady past as a dissident and smuggler of "alien tech." Meanwhile, Bador gets into a fight with some crocodile-cyborgs over an empty box that once contained an ancient ring, leaving Lina determined to find the ring and learn its powers. To do so, she turns to Shantiport's most unsavory personalities, including oligarch Shakun Antim, who claims to be her father's old comrade. As the phantasmagorical plot comes to a head, Lina and Bador face a tragicomic climax involving a royal engagement, an Aladdin-era lamp, and a jinn-bot who grants wishes. Though both Lina and Bador could be better developed, Basu's sharp social commentary and sense of pageantry enhance this wild romp. Readers will have no choice but to get caught in the whirlwind.
Customer Reviews
So interesting!
I bought this book because it sounded different, and very different it was. I loved it, but I did not give it a full 5 starts because I reserve those for most favorites. If I would, I’d categorize it as an excellent YA book.The stories are catchy, the characters very interesting and the ending was very good.
I recommend it.