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This title in other editions

River of Gods

by Ian McDonald

River of Gods Cover

ISBN13: 9781591025955
ISBN10: 1591025958
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

As Mother India approaches her centenary, nine people are going about their business — a gangster, a cop, his wife, a politician, a stand-up comic, a set designer, a journalist, a scientist, and a dropout. And so is Aj — the waif, the mind reader, the prophet — when she one day finds a man who wants to stay hidden.

In the next few weeks, they will all be swept together to decide the fate of the nation.

River of Gods teems with the life of a country choked with peoples and cultures — one and a half billion people, twelve semi-independent nations, nine million gods. Ian McDonald has written the great Indian novel of the new millennium, in which a war is fought, a love betrayed, a message from a different world decoded, as the great river Ganges flows on.

Review:

"This ambitious portrait of a future India from British author McDonald (Desolation Road) offers multitudes: gods, castes, protagonists, cultures. Nine disparate characters, including a cop, a scientist and a stand-up comic, act out their related dramas-be they personal, political or of the mystery-thriller variety-in successive chapters within each of the book's five sections. In the India of 2047, genetically engineered children comprise a new caste, adults can be surgically transformed into a neutral gender, a water war has broken out as the Ganges threatens to run dry, AIs are violently destroyed if they approach levels akin to human intelligence, and something strange has just appeared in the solar system. The deliberate pace and lack of explanation require patience at the outset, but readers will become increasingly hooked as the pieces of McDonald's richly detailed world fall into place. Already nominated for both Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards, this is sure to one of the more talked-about SF novels of the year." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"One of the best SF books I've read this year." Iain M. Banks, The Algebraist

Review:

"A staggering achievement, brilliantly imagined and endlessly surprising...a brave, brilliant and wonderful novel." Christopher Priest, Guardian

Review:

"I will read anything that man writes-he is the most under appreciated genius working in the field today." Cory Doctorow, author of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town; coeditor, boingboing.net

Review:

"Hugely adventurous and entertaining, sumptuously inventive and full of heart...it is likely to rank as Ian McDonald's finest creative achievement." Nick Gevers, Locus

Review:

"Combining real-life issues such as water shortages, runaway technology, and overpopulation with fantastical complications including a message from another world, McDonald's opus deservedly won the 2004 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel." Library Journal

Synopsis:

A Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee has written the great Indian novel of the new millennium, in which a war is fought, a love betrayed, a message from a different world is decoded, as the great river Ganges flows on.
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About the Author

Ian McDonald is the author of many science fiction novels, including Desolation Road, King of the Morning, Queen of the Day, Out on Deep Six, Changa, and Kirinya. He has won the Philip K. Dick Award and the BSFA Award, been nominated for a Hugo Award, and has several nominations for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Michael Cerone, January 1, 2010 (view all comments by Michael Cerone)
The highly complex story, setting and characters should have made this a daunting and difficult read but before I knew it I was through the story. It left me surprised and satisfied.

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Douglas, March 5, 2009 (view all comments by Douglas)
This was a very satisfying read. From the very beginning McDonald drives this novel toward the end. The story and depth of character make this book both exciting and thoughtful, intelligent and tense. River of Gods has a large cast of characters and complexity of plot, but never loses its place. This is a genre book for people who don't care about genre.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781591025955
Author:
McDonald, Ian
Publisher:
Pyr
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Science Fiction and Fantasy-A to Z
Copyright:
2007
Publication Date:
20070931
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Language:
English
Pages:
599
Dimensions:
8.94x6.12x1.25 in. 1.78 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Science Fiction and Fantasy » A to Z
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Science Fiction and Fantasy » A to Z

River of Gods Used Trade Paper
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$9.50 In Stock
Product details 599 pages Pyr - English 9781591025955 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "This ambitious portrait of a future India from British author McDonald (Desolation Road) offers multitudes: gods, castes, protagonists, cultures. Nine disparate characters, including a cop, a scientist and a stand-up comic, act out their related dramas-be they personal, political or of the mystery-thriller variety-in successive chapters within each of the book's five sections. In the India of 2047, genetically engineered children comprise a new caste, adults can be surgically transformed into a neutral gender, a water war has broken out as the Ganges threatens to run dry, AIs are violently destroyed if they approach levels akin to human intelligence, and something strange has just appeared in the solar system. The deliberate pace and lack of explanation require patience at the outset, but readers will become increasingly hooked as the pieces of McDonald's richly detailed world fall into place. Already nominated for both Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards, this is sure to one of the more talked-about SF novels of the year." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "One of the best SF books I've read this year."
"Review" by , "A staggering achievement, brilliantly imagined and endlessly surprising...a brave, brilliant and wonderful novel."
"Review" by , "I will read anything that man writes-he is the most under appreciated genius working in the field today."
"Review" by , "Hugely adventurous and entertaining, sumptuously inventive and full of heart...it is likely to rank as Ian McDonald's finest creative achievement."
"Review" by , "Combining real-life issues such as water shortages, runaway technology, and overpopulation with fantastical complications including a message from another world, McDonald's opus deservedly won the 2004 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel."
"Synopsis" by , A Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee has written the great Indian novel of the new millennium, in which a war is fought, a love betrayed, a message from a different world is decoded, as the great river Ganges flows on.
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