The Quantum Thief

Hannu Rajaniemi

Orion Books 2010

My first reaction to this book was confusion. It is full of words and concepts that are poorly explained, if at all. This makes it very hard to get started but gradually the story starts to take shape and settle into a more conventional narrative. Part of the confusion is caused by the regular flashbacks but these are critical to the story, so it’s worth persevering. What emerges is a tight, fast-moving story of planetary rulership and subversion.

Jean le Flambeur is a criminal, the Galaxy’s greatest and best-known thief. His disembodied mind is currently in prison playing endless strategy games against himself, games in which he usually gets killed in painful ways. His memories of his past have largely been wiped. He is sprung from prison by Mieli and her sentient spaceship. He is given a new body and instructions. She has a theft job for him on Mars in the Moving City. This appeals to Jean as the City has a huge memory bank, the Exomemory, that stores every memory of every person. When they reach the end of their allotted Time and die (become “Quiet”) their minds are used to control insectoid creatures that perform public services. After a suitable period they can be “reborn” and all their previous memories uploaded into their new body. The memories are protected by a security system called “gevulot” that allows the memory owner to trade the memories under their control. It can even be used to make them virtually invisible to others. Life can be extended (or shortened) by buying or selling Time. Since Jean came from the City he should be able to restore the memories of his past life, the memories that were erased when he was captured. There is, however, a problem with the Exomemory.

Someone is hacking into the memory banks, getting past the gevulot blocks and editing the memories of the entire population. It is unlikely to be the original Martian settlers, but it could be the refugee Zoku, a secretive clan that uses the Tzaddikim, another group of Quiets, to do their dirty work for them. The Zoku fled from a war with the Sobornost, who also have agents on Mars. What is it that Jean must steal? Who is he really working for? How much of the City’s history is true?

The idea of Time as a currency is interesting. So is the idea of half-physical, half-memory constructs and a City that relies on both to operate.

With the City possibly on the verge of destruction or revolution Jean’s task becomes more urgent but he still finds time to recover some of his old memories, lascivious or otherwise. What he finds is not always flattering.

He is also being hunted by a Detective, Isidore Beautrelet. It becomes more obvious that the two men are working on the same problem from different angles.

Quantum Thief is an interesting and inventive story. A Glossary would certainly have helped initially but it worked out well in the end. If Rajaniemi continues this way he could become an exceptional SF writer.

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