''Terra Ignota'' is a quartet of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novels by the American author
Ada Palmer
Ada Palmer (born June 9, 1981) is an American historian and writer and winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her first novel ''Too Like the Lightning'' was published in May 2016. The work has been well received by criti ...
. The series consists of ''
Too Like the Lightning'' (2016), ''
Seven Surrenders'' (2017), ''
The Will to Battle'' (2017), and ''Perhaps the Stars'' (2021). Set in the year 2454, they follow the events that lead the world to war for the first time after three centuries of peace following the end of the
nation state
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
. The novels have won several awards, including a 2017
Compton Crook Award The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Baltic ...
. The first novel was a finalist for the 2017
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...
, and the series as a whole was a finalist for the 2022
Hugo Award for Best Series
The Hugo Award for Best Series is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The award is available for series of science fiction or fanta ...
.
Setting
The Earth of ''Terra Ignota'' has seen several centuries of near-total
peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and prosperity. Technology is very advanced. Food can be synthesized. The
workweek
The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of th ...
is 20 hours, but vocateurs, or vokers, voluntarily work much more because they love what they do. Everyone is publicly
gender neutral
Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) should avoid distinguish ...
, using they/them pronouns. Families are no longer
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
, but are organized into
co-housing
Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. The term originated in Denmark in late 1960s. Each attached or single family home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typica ...
collectives called bash'houses (from the Japanese ''i-basho,'' meaning 'home' but stronger).
Religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
is legally restricted to private counseling relationships or sanctuary reservations.
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...
is universal; individuals are equipped with personal tracker devices which allow for
telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
and record a person's whereabouts (as the name suggests), but these can be switched off.
Criminals are sentenced to
indentured servitude
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
to repay their debt to society; there is no
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. This peace and plenty is delicately maintained by the relationships among a small cadre of world leaders.
However, there are still tensions among political groups, such as distribution of land,
citizens
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
, and income. The question of "set-sets", people whose nervous systems have been rewired to interface with computers, has caused riots in the recent past.
Nurturists are people who believe that set-set creation is cruel and should be banned, since they are cultivated as
non-consenting children and are not able to change, grow, or interface normally with life.
Hives
Following the invention of
flying car
A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes u ...
s and a series of
religious war
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
s known as the Church Wars, the 22nd century saw the end of the geographic
nation state
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
. Replacing this was a series of Universal Laws and a group of Hives, non-geographical
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
s with voluntary citizenship.
Each Hive has its own legal system, government, language, manner of dress, and capital city. By the year 2454, there are seven Hives, as well as three groups of Hiveless. All
minors are Graylaw Hiveless until they pass their Adult Competency Exam and declare an allegiance. Bash'houses can include people from multiple Hives or all from the same Hive.
The Universal Free Alliance Senate
All the Hives and Hiveless participate in the global Universal Free Alliance Senate, headquartered in the world capital of Romanova. A large section of its Universal Law Code is presented in chapter five of ''The Will To Battle.'' The Senate is composed of two hundred Senators, including representatives from the Hiveless (who can veto) and Minors (who can speak but not vote).
The Senate can send Orders to Alliance departments including the Court, the Sensayers' Conclave, the Censor's Office, the Commissioner General and their police, the Housing Board, and the Archive.
The Six-Hive Transport System
The Six-Hive Transport System is a global network of flying cars, the primary
mode of transportation
Mode of transport is a term used to distinguish between different ways of transportation or transporting people or goods. The different modes of transport are air, water, and land transport, which includes rails or railways, road and off-road t ...
in the series. They are fast enough to circle the globe in less than 4.2 hours, made possible by Cartesian set-sets. ''Mukta'' was the prototype car made in 2073 and now resides in the Saneer-Weeksbooth home.
Utopia operates its own car system, separate to the primary one used in the series. The Utopian system is slightly slower than the primary one, but has 100% fewer accidents.
Hiveless
Since Hive citizenship is voluntary, it must also be possible to be a member of no hive. As such, there are a set of minimum laws that govern all humanity known as the Black Laws. These laws primarily prohibit actions that will result in significant loss of human life or destruction of natural resources, harm a minor, or deprive an individual of the ability to call for help via trackers. Blacklaw Tribunes, the representatives of those without a Hive, have a veto power on any new Black Laws proposed. An additional set of Consensus Laws, known as Gray Laws, reflect reasonable laws frequently recommended to preserve common peace, and ban destructive behaviours such as violence, theft, and exploitation. These laws apply to Minors and those without mental facilities to give informed consent to opt out. Above these is a set of Character Laws known as White Laws, which are used by those that believe that restrictive laws are conducive to moral behaviour, and ban recreational substances and violence, and certain sexual activities. Any adult not a member of a Hive can choose which set of laws they wish to follow and be protected by.
Style and influence
The books start with an in-fiction internal title page of authorizations, disclaimers and trigger warnings. Palmer explained in an interview that French books of the
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
period listed the authorities having approved them for censorship purposes, and that such lists provide insights as to the preoccupations and priorities of the society in which they were published.
Mycroft Canner, a member of the ''Servicer'' program for convicted but paroled criminals, is the primary narrator of the series, which for the most part follows his activities. Mycroft also describes some events that he is not directly implicated in, but which have been relayed to him since the conclusion of the action by others, or which he witnessed through another character's tracker; he also admits to imagining some scenes, in keeping with the intimate narrative voice used throughout the novel. There are occasional "interludes" by other narrators and sections which have been added by later in-universe editors and revisers, such as the Latin translations given in Chapter 21 by someone under the moniker ''9A'' (later revealed to be Mycroft's successor as the ninth Anonymous).
The novels make frequent direct addresses to a reader, inspired by ''
Jacques the Fatalist
''Jacques the Fatalist and his Master'' (french: Jacques le fataliste et son maître) is a novel by Denis Diderot, written during the period 1765–1780. The first French edition was published posthumously in 1796, but it was known earlier in Germ ...
'' from
Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
, which provides the
epigraph, and other pieces of
eighteenth-century literature. However, the "reader" is not the actual reader of the book, but an imagined in-universe reader whom Mycroft supposes is either his contemporary or someone in his future. Mycroft supplies the responses and objections of said reader, written in neo-Enlightenment style. The final two books also feature dialogue with an imagined
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influent ...
. Palmer felt there is a particular "emotional experience" when one reads this kind of book, and so adopted the style herself, to further the connection to the eighteenth century in the world of the series.
Similarly, the narrator makes frequent reference to his act of actually writing the book, and the scrutiny he is under from some other characters, who have apparently acted as editors and censors.
Palmer has stated that "a number of the major themes come from Enlightenment literature: whether humans have the ability to rationally remake their world for the better, whether gender and morality are artificial or innate, whether Providence is a useful way to understand the world and if so what ethics we can develop to go with it."
''Too Like the Lightning'' features frequent references to
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
, referred to as the Patriarch.
Languages
Many different
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
s are spoken throughout the course of the series. Most dialogue is usually rendered in English, but to indicate other languages, and other mediums of communication, various orthographic conventions are used. For the most part, different
quotation mark
Quotation marks (also known as quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas, or talking marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an ...
s are used for each language. To represent words spoken in Japanese, corner brackets 「 like this 」 are used, while French and Greek speech receive
guillemet
Guillemets (, also , , ) are a pair of punctuation marks in the form of sideways double chevrons, and , used as quotation marks in a number of languages. In some of these languages "single" guillemets, and , are used for a quotation inside ano ...
s « like this ».
Inverted question and exclamation marks
The inverted question mark, , and inverted exclamation mark, , are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences or clauses in Spanish language, Spanish and some languages which have cultural ties with Spain, such as A ...
¡¿like this?! are used to distinguish speech in Spanish. German receives no special punctuation, but text that is translated from German preserves the rules of
noun-capitalization of that language, "so the Text looks like this, with all the Nouns capitalized". Masonic Latin, as well as J.E.D.D. Mason's own variety, is often left untranslated, and italicised, but is usually followed by an English translation in brackets, supplied either by Mycroft or 9A. Despite these being the seven languages that Mycroft speaks, occasionally other languages do appear, and they have their own conventions: for instance, when a character speaks Hindi, the
full stop
The full stop (Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point , is a punctuation mark. It is used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation ...
is replaced by the Hindi ''poorna viraam'' ("।") (U+0964 "Devanagari
Danda
In Indic scripts, the daṇḍa (Sanskrit: दण्ड ' "stick") is a punctuation mark. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke.
Use
The daṇḍa marks the end of a sentence or line, comparable to a full stop (period) as commonly u ...
"). Set-sets communicate only via text seen through trackers, and their dialogue is enclosed in
less-than and
greater-than sign
The greater-than sign is a mathematical symbol that denotes an inequality between two values. The widely adopted form of two equal-length strokes connecting in an acute angle at the right, , has been found in documents dated as far back as the 1 ...
s, with all text rendered in lower case letters. Other text appearing over trackers is also enclosed in less-than and greater-than signs, but with proper capitalization.
Gendered language
By default, almost all characters use
gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language is language that avoids bias towards a particular sex or gender. In English, this includes use of nouns that are not gender-specific to refer to roles or professions, formation of phrases in a c ...
, with "
they/them
Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...
" the predominant
pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
used. Mycroft, the primary narrator, finds his world's obsession with gender-neutrality oppressive, so often uses gendered pronouns to refer to other characters, assigning genders based on the characters' personalities and roles, as they relate to traditional Western
gender roles
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
. For instance, Chagatai is referred to using "she/her" pronouns because of their fierce, lioness-like strength when protecting their nephew from attack. The author has explained that Mycroft frequently "misuses" gendered pronouns, just as people in real life often make mistakes when using gender-neutral pronouns.
Also, in its chapter at the start of ''Seven Surrenders'', Sniper advises the reader to not "trust the gendered pronouns Mycroft gives people, they all come from Madame".
Mycroft sometimes varies the gendered pronouns he gives characters. For instance, Carlyle is mostly referred to using she/her pronouns starting with ''Seven Surrenders'', whereas in the first book Carlyle is referred to with he/him pronouns.
The titles' origins
* The series' title, ''Terra Ignota'', is an alternate form of the archaic topographical term ''
terra incognita
''Terra incognita'' or ''terra ignota'' (Latin "unknown land"; ''incognita'' is stressed on its second syllable in Latin, but with variation in pronunciation in English) is a term used in cartography for regions that have not been mapped or do ...
'' (Latin for "unknown land"), once used to denote regions that had not been mapped or documented. Ada Palmer repurposes the term as a new type of
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
pleading
In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement of a party's claims or defenses to another party's claims in a civil action. The parties' pleadings in a case define the issues to be adjudi ...
that is entered by a character during a criminal trial in ''The Will to Battle''. The earliest known use of the term appears in
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's ''
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
'' c. 150 CE, which regained a degree of influence during the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
.
* The first novel's title, ''Too Like the Lightning'', is taken from ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'' (Act II, Scene 2), and was the original inspiration for the series.
* ''Seven Surrenders'' describes the events of the book, in which all seven Hives abdicate part of their autonomy to a central character.
* ''The Will to Battle'' is taken from
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influent ...
's ''
Leviathan
Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
'', and describes the state of the world during the novel, before fighting actually begins, but "the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known."
*''Perhaps the Stars'', the title of the fourth book in the series, is also the title of the thirteenth chapter of the first novel, which introduced the Utopian hive to the story.
Plot
''Too Like the Lightning''
Set in the year 2454, the novel is a fictional memoir written by self-confessed
unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unrel ...
Mycroft Canner, a brilliant, infamous, and paroled criminal who often serves the world's most powerful leaders. He has been commissioned by several other characters to write the "history" that the series is presented as. Mycroft frequents the Saneer-Weeksbooth home, in which an important stolen document has been planted. The mystery of why and by whom serves as a focal point which draws many different characters, vying for global power and peace, into involvement with the family. Meanwhile, Mycroft tries to protect and conceal a child named Bridger, who has the power to make the unreal real.
''Seven Surrenders''
''Seven Surrenders'' describes the final three days of Mycroft's history of the "seven days of transformation", March 27–29, 2454. What began as an oddly obvious minor crime turns out to be a revenge plot thirty years in the making, which threatens to unravel the global system of government. The centuries-long golden era has been propped up by sanctioned assassinations, the death of a few for the good of the many. But as the Hives begin to fall, everyone will have to choose a side in a war with no limits.
''The Will to Battle''
The world is experiencing higher tensions, threatening to burst into war at any provocation. Sides are formed: Sniper's Hiveguard and J.E.D.D. Mason's Remakers. All sides agree to a truce until the Olympic Games in August, in order to prepare and reduce the lethality of the war. The novel ends with a ceremony, an attack, and the world newly at war.
''Perhaps the Stars''
The series finale covers the entire world war. At the start, trackers are disabled and the car system is no longer available. Violence begins as each faction starts to self-identify with uniforms. Beginning with the new Anonymous in Romanova, the war solidifies between the Remakers (who want the Prince to lead the world) and the Hiveguard (who don't). A sub-war between Brillist Gordian and Utopia for the future of humanity is exposed - should they focus on improving life on Earth or exploring space? Some major figures from the previous books appear and are killed. J.E.D.D. Mason eventually unites the world, ends the war, and builds a new global structure, more balanced and hopefully able to last many more centuries.
Characters
Note: This list is for the entire series. Some characters listed here do not appear in the earlier books. In order to avoid spoilers, this list's plot relevant details such as Hives or ranks are based on initial appearances of each character. Changes can be found in the character lists for the later books.
* Mycroft Canner: a brilliant polymath and infamous convicted criminal. He serves his sentence as a Servicer, works for many of the most powerful world leaders, and secretly protects Bridger. He is thin and stooped, with curly overgrown hair, reconstructed limbs, distinctive scars, and slightly dark skin. Wears a round, shapeless hat. Thirty-one years old. Of Greek descent.
* Bridger: a 13-year-old boy who can "miracle" toys or representational objects to become real. Bears narrative similarity to the Greek mythical character Asclepius. Fair skin with blondish brown hair, very beautiful.
* The Major a.k.a. Achilles Mojave: the leader of toy soldiers brought to life by Bridger.
* Lieutenant Aimer a.k.a. Patroclus: the Major's lieutenant and second in command of the toy soldiers.
* Croucher: a toy soldier who consistently disagrees and questions those around him.
* Other toy soldiers: Private Pointer, Looker, Crawler, Medic, Stander Yellow, Stander Green, Nogun, and Nostand.
* Mommadoll: an animated doll who cooks and cares for Bridger and the soldiers.
Cousins Hive
* Carlyle Foster: a sensayer (spiritual counselor). Becomes a spiritual and ethical guide for Bridger. Blonde and gaunt, thirty-one years old, of European descent. A male assigned he/him and she/her pronouns in different periods of the narrative.
* Bryar Kosala: Chair of the Cousins Hive. Looks tall and imperious, but is deeply kind. Spouse of Vivien Ancelet. Of Indian descent.
* Lorelai "Cookie" Cook: Romanova's Minister of Education. A Nuturist faction leader, opposing the creation of set-sets. A male assigned 'she' pronouns.
* Darcy Sok: Cousins' Feedback Bureau Chief.
European Hive
* Isabel Carlos a.k.a. Spain: Former Prime Minister of the European Hive. King of Spain. 59 years old, with nearly black hair. Of Spanish and Chinese descent.
* Casimir Perry: the unpopular, "second-choice" Prime Minister of the European Hive.
* Leonor Valentín: Crown Prince of Spain. Appeared on the false ''Black Sakura'' Seven-Ten list. Allied with Perry.
* Julia Doria-Pamphili: Head of the Sensayers' Conclave a.k.a. Pontifex Maxima (high priestess). A vocateur specializing in intense one-shot sessions and Mycroft's court-appointed sensayer. Expresses a distinctly feminine gender. Of Italian descent.
* Ektor Carlyle 'Papa' Papadelias: Romanovan Commissioner General. Obsessed with the details of Mycroft's case. One hundred and two years old. Of Greek descent. A female assigned 'he' pronouns.
Gordian Hive
* Felix Faust: Headmaster of the Brillist Institute & Gordian Hive. Seventy-eight years old with a voyeuristic, playful, and sarcastic nature. Of European descent.
* Jin Im-Jin (Gordian): Speaker of the Universal Free Alliance Senate in Romanova, whom Mycroft calls its Grandpa. At least 150 years old. Of Korean descent.
Hiveless
People who, either by choice or by youth, are not part of any Hive.
* Jehovah Epicurus Donatien D'Arouet "J.E.D.D." Mason: Strange but brilliant. A Graylaw Tribune, ''Familiaris Candidus'', and shadow co-leader of every Hive. Wears all black, unfrilly 18th century clothing. Other names/titles used by various Hives include: Jed, Tai-Kun, Xiao Hei Wang, Jagmohan, T.M., Mike, ''Porphyrogene,'' ''
'`''Aναξ (''Anax''). Twenty-one years old.
* Dominic Seneschal a.k.a. ''Canis Domini,'' Hound of the Lord: A polylaw investigator, sensayer, and J.E.D.D. Mason's abrasive personal valet. A Blacklaw with aggressive, anachronistic style: brown hair in a ribboned ponytail, all-black 18th century European clothes, and a rapier. A female assigned 'he' pronouns; intensely masculine in gender expression.
* Vivien Ancelet: Appointed for life as the Censor (master of the census) of Romanova and secretly the Anonymous. Spouse of Bryar Kosala. Wears slim, shoulder-length dreadlocks. Of French and African descent.
* The Anonymous a.k.a. the Comte Déguisé: An extremely well-respected political commentator. A role, not an individual, and therefore not a member of any Hive. Elected Vice President of the Humanist Hive by proxy.
* "Madame" Joyce Faust D'Arouet: J.E.D.D. Mason's biological mother and madam of the Gendered Sex Club. Blacklaw. Wears a large white wig, elaborate gowns, many gems, and doll-like makeup.
* Saladin: Mycroft's ba'sib, lover, and secret accomplice. Thought dead since childhood by all but Mycroft. Wears Apollo Mojave's Utopian coat, full of weapons. Of Greek descent.
* Gibraltar Euphrates Chagatai: J.E.D.D. Mason's cook. She is large, strong, and bearded. Blacklaw. Of Mongolian descent.
* Jung Su-Hyeon Ancelet-Kosala: Deputy Censor. Tiny, with black hair. Appeared on the false ''Black Sakura'' Seven-Ten list. A female assigned 'he' pronouns to match Vivien Ancelet's. Graylaw. Of Asian descent.
* Heloïse D'Arouet: a nun who lives at Madame's, devoted to J.E.D.D. Mason.
* Castel Natekari: The Rumormonger of Hobbestown and Blacklaw Tribune. Retired leader of the Algheni Group. Has black hair and a scar on her left cheek. Of Indian descent.
* Outis: A Servicer, Mycroft's protégé, (fictional) editor of the series, and the Ninth Anonymous (9A). Their crime was murdering the murderers of their ba'sib. Formerly Humanist. Of Greek descent.
Humanist Hive
* Ganymede Jean-Louis de la Trémouïlle: Duke President of the Humanist Hive. Brother of Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle. He wears ostentatious 18th century garb to complement his blue eyes and golden shoulder-length hair. Of French descent.
* Brody DeLupa: Proxy Vice President for the Anonymous.
* Aesop Quarriman: The one unelected Humanist Senator chosen annually by heroics. Originator of the bull's eye symbol. Born in Antarctica. Her Humanist boots are fitted polymer for protection and mobility, with many Olympic medal stripes.
The Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'house (family)
A Humanist bash' which invented the global flying-car system and has run it for almost 400 years. Their home and headquarters is in the "Spectacle City" of Cielo de Pájaros, Chile. The current members' parents and predecessors all recently died in a white-water rafting accident.
* Ockham Prospero Saneer: the leader of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'. Quite muscular and knightly, Ockham possesses the extremely rare right to use lethal force. His Humanist boots are steel and leather. Of Indian and possibly Mestizo descent.
* Thisbe Ottila Saneer: another of Bridger's secret protectors and a witch. Besides helping her bash' run the cars, Thisbe is an award-winning "smelltrack" creator for movies. Black-haired, dark-skinned, and confident. Her Humanist boots depict a mountainous brush-pen landscape. Of Indian and possibly Mestizo descent.
* Ojiro Cardigan Sniper: Second in command of the Saneer-Weeksbooths, a world-famous athlete, performance artist, model, and professional living doll. Sniper is genderfluid and intersex but Mycroft assigns 'he' pronouns to parallel with rivals, Ockham and Ganymede; 'it' pronouns from ''Seven Surrenders'' onwards. Sniper's Humanist boots are leather-rimmed with metallic stripes for his Olympic medals. Of Japanese, European, and South American descent.
* Cato Weeksbooth: a brilliant but unstable science teacher. Volunteers at the
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) is a science museum located in Chicago, Illinois, in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood between Lake Michigan and The University of Chicago. It is housed in the former ''Palace of Fine Arts'' fro ...
, teaching children. His Humanist boots are made of Griffincloth and display various internal anatomy of feet. Of Chinese descent.
* Eureka Weeksbooth: a Cartesian set-set who directly interfaces with the car-system data via sight, sound, smell, touch, temperature, and taste. Female and assigned 'they' pronouns. Of Chinese descent.
* Lesley Juniper Sniper Saneer: adopted by the Saneer-Weeksbooths after her own bash' was killed in a flying-car accident. A compulsive doodler. Ockham's spouse. Energetic, with curly black hair. Her Humanist boots are made of screen cloth, on which doodles change every day. Of Chinese and African ancestry.
* Sidney Koons: a Cartesian set-set who directly interfaces with the car system data. Was not born in the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash.
* Kat Typer: One of the identical, interchangeable twins who hate each other. Fascinated with the pseudo-scientific spiritualist double-think of the 19th century.
* Robin Typer: One of the identical, interchangeable twins who hate each other. Likes bikes.
Masonic Hive
* Cornel Semaphoros MASON: Emperor. Black-haired and bronze-skinned, he wears a square-breasted suit in an exclusive shade of iron gray. His black right sleeve indicates his sole right to order execution. His left foot is prosthetic, the original having been removed during the Masonic Testing of the Successor.
* Mycroft 'Martin' Guildbreaker: A polylaw investigator for Romanova and Minister to J.E.D.D. Mason. A ''Familiaris Regni,'' the first member of ''Ordo Vitae Dialogorum,'' and ''Nepos:'' one of the Emperor's inner circle and absolute subject of his will. Thirty-two years old. Of Persian descent.
* Xiaoliu Guildbreaker: Martin's spouse. Born Mitsubishi, he is the first non-Mason to join the Guildbreaker bash' in generations. The Masonic judge in Ockham Saneer's ''terra ignota'' trial. A ''Familiaris Regni'' and member of ''Ordo Vitae Dialogorum.'' A female assigned 'he' pronouns.
* Charlemagne Guildbreaker, Sr.: A well-respected Alliance Senator, whom Mycroft calls the Senate's Grandma. A ''Familiaris Regni.'' Martin's grandparent. Bearded. Of Persian descent. A male assigned 'she' pronouns.
Mitsubishi Hive
* Hotaka Andō Mitsubishi: Chief Director of the Mitsubishi Executive Directorate, husband of Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle. Of Japanese descent.
* Danaë Marie-Anne de la Trémouïlle Mitsubishi: A world-famous beauty, incredibly adept at social manipulation and gentle interrogation. Named for the
Danaë
In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.
Family
Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acris ...
of Greek mythology. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Intensely and expressively feminine. Of French descent.
* Tsuneo Sugiyama: Retired reporter for the ''Black Sakura'' newspaper; writer of the original Seven-Ten list. Eighty-nine years old. Of Japanese descent.
Andō and Danaë's adopted children, unfinished "Oniwaban" set-sets
* Harue Mitsubishi
* Hiroaki Mitsubishi: In training with the Cousins' Feedback Bureau, education section. Her sleeveless Brill sweater indicates her skill at math. Of Southeast Asian descent.
* Jun Mitsubishi: Rejected from Brill's Institute. Applied for secretary's post with Gordian's Brain 'bash. In ''Too Like the Lightning'', described as European and freckled. In ''Seven Surrenders,'' described as classically Japanese.
* Masami Mitsubishi: An intern at the ''Black Sakura'' and writer of the fake stolen Seven-Ten list. Dark-skinned, of Japanese Ainu descent.
* Michi Mitsubishi: Interning with Europe's Parliament.
* Naō Mitsubishi
* Ran Mitsubishi: Attempted to work in Ganymede's offices but was rejected. Of Middle Eastern descent.
* Setsuna Mitsubishi
* Sora Mitsubishi: Personal secretary to the Humanist Praetor in Romanova.
* Toshi Mitsubishi: An analyst with the Censor's office and Graylaw Hiveless. Wears her hair in many small twists and a Japanese nation-strat insignia. Of African and European descent.
Utopian Hive
* Aldrin Bester: A Utopian investigator, wears a coat depicting a space city. A ''Familiaris Candidus,'' in the Emperor's inner circle but not subject to his capital powers. Named for astronaut
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
and science fiction author
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. He is best remembered for his science fiction, inclu ...
.
* Voltaire Seldon: A Utopian investigator, wears a coat depicting swampy ruins. A ''Familiaris Candidus,'' in the Emperor's inner circle but not subject to his capital powers. Named for philosopher
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
and psychohistorian
Hari Seldon
Hari Seldon is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' series. In his capacity as mathematics professor at Streeling University on the planet Trantor, Seldon develops psychohistory, an algorithmic science that allows him to predict ...
.
* Mushi Mojave: First entomologist on Mars, wears a coat depicting billions of ants. One of Apollo's ba'pas.
* Huxley Mojave: Mycroft's Utopian guard. Voted to abandon Earth and lost, but was made ambassador anyway. Wears a coat of storms.
Mardi bash' (multi-hive)
A bash' of virtuosos obsessed with war, each brilliant in their respective fields. Neighbors of Mycroft's foster bash' and the victims of his murder spree. All but one are deceased at the beginning of the narrative, but are often mentioned.
* Apollo Mojave: Utopian. Named for the Greek god Apollo and the Mojave desert. Golden-haired. Fifteen years older than Mycroft.
* Aeneus Mardi: A Romanovan Senator. Stabbed to death on the Ides of March. Body left on the Altar of Peace.
* Chiasa Mardi: Historian. Mason.
* Geneva Mardi: Senator. Mason raised by Cousins. Crucified.
* Ibis Mardi: Had been in love with Mycroft. Would have become a Cousin. Beaten to death, raped, cooked and eaten alive. One year younger than Mycroft.
* Jie Mardi: Historian. Chinese water torture. Mitsubishi.
* Jules Mardi: Historian. Mason.
* Ken Mardi: A prodigy and would-be swordsman. Kohaku's biological child. Four years younger than Mycroft. Dismembered and left to freeze in the Arctic at thirteen years old.
* Kohaku Mardi: An analyst in the Censor's office. Poisoned, then seppuku'd himself and wrote the point-of-no-return statistics on a wall in their blood. A female assigned 'he' pronouns.
* Laurel Mardi: The golden boy of the bash's younger generation. Dismembered, guillotined, and fed to Mycroft's dog. Three years younger than Mycroft.
* Leigh Mardi: Cousin. Fed to lions in the Great African Reservation.
* Luther Mardigras: Professional party-thrower. Tully's father. Tortured and dismembered over the course of five days and finally burned in a wicker man.
* Mercer Mardi: A Gordian and Brillist Fellow. Tully's mother. Vivisected.
* Makenna Mardi: Historian. Jug-and-funnel water torture.
* Malory Mardi: Humanist.
* Seine Mardi: Apollo's lover. Humanist.
* Tully Mardi/Mojave: The last surviving Mardi, hidden by the Utopians in Luna City on the Moon for the thirteen years since the murder spree. Graylaw Hiveless. Tall and dependent on crutches from growing up in low gravity. Nine years younger than Mycroft.
Publication history
The
worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task fo ...
process took five years,
and was first inspired when Palmer heard the line in ''Romeo and Juliet'' that gives the first book its name. Palmer states that the original inspiration was for a structure involving the loss of something precious at the midpoint, and that the outline and worldbuilding grew out of that. The Mycroft character was developed after most of the other central characters, but before the plot.
Palmer found out that she had sold the story to
Tor Books
Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...
at San Antonio
Worldcon
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
2013, five years after she had first submitted it. By the time the first manuscript had been sold, Palmer had written drafts for the second and third.
Reception
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
qualifies the book as "dense and complex" and the worldbuilding as a "thrilling feat", comparing with
Gene Wolfe
Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...
and
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work exp ...
worlds. The critic describes ''Too Like The Lighting'' as "one of the most maddening, majestic, ambitious novels – in any genre – in recent years" but deplores the abrupt ending. The
New York Review of Science Fiction
''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' is a monthly literary magazine of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarsh ...
compares the narrator with Alex from ''
A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
''.
Paul Kincaid
Paul Kincaid (born 22 September 1952 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British science fiction critic.
Career
Kincaid's writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including New Scientist, Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, New York ...
in ''
Strange Horizons
''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables.
History and profile
It was launched in September 2000, and ...
'' was disappointed by the gender treatment in ''Too Like the Lightning'', deploring the direct abandon by the narrator, preferring the style in ''
Ancillary Justice
''Ancillary Justice'' is a science fiction novel by the American writer Ann Leckie, published in 2013. It is Leckie's debut novel and the first in her Imperial Radch space opera trilogy, followed by ''Ancillary Sword'' (2014) and '' Ancillary Me ...
''.
They consider the book concepts had the potential to be "one of the most significant works of contemporary science fiction" but fails to "
iveup to its aspirations".
Stuart Conover of Horror Tree felt that "'Perhaps the Stars' is a fitting conclusion to the Terra Ignota series. It ties up loose ends and provides a satisfying resolution to the story, while also leaving room for the reader to imagine what might happen next."
Awards
''Too Like the Lightning'' was a finalist for the 2017
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...
, and won the 2017
Compton Crook Award The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Baltic ...
for the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year.
References
{{reflist
2016 science fiction novels
2016 American novels
American science fiction novels
Metafictional novels
Novels set in the 25th century
American philosophical novels
Novels about religion
Novels by Ada Palmer
American LGBT novels
Utopian fiction
Literature by women
Dystopian novel series
Science fiction novel series