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THE PROMISE OF THE CHILD

Tom Toner

Volume One of the Amaranthine Spectrum

"One of the best SciFi books [I've] read in the past few years." (Editor Simon Spanton)
Gollancz lead title in Autumn 2015.
Lycaste is a lovesick recluse living in a forgotten Mediterranean cove who is renowned throughout the distorted people of the Old World for his beauty. Sotiris Gianakos is a 12,000-year-old Cypriote grieving the loss of his sister, a principled man who will change Lycaste's life forever. Their stories, and others, become darkly entwined when Aaron the Longlife—the Usurper, a man who is not quite a man—makes a claim to the Amaranthine throne that threatens to throw the delicate political balance of the known galaxy into ruin.

THE PROMISE OF THE CHILD is a stunning feat of imagination set against an epic backdrop ranging from 14th-century Prague, to a lonely cove near the Mediterranean Sea, to the 147th-century Amaranthine Firmament. Toner has crafted an intelligent space opera filled with gripping action and an emotional scale that is wonderfully intimate, a smart and compelling debut that calls to mind the best of Kim Stanley Robinson or M. John Harrison.

Thomas N. Toner was born in the English countryside to two parents employed by the BBC (his mother was a set designer for Doctor Who). He studied fine art and painting in Loughborough and lives in London. THE PROMISE OF THE CHILD is his first novel.
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Published 2015-09-01 by Night Shade Books

Comments

One of the most ambitious and epic-scale pieces of worldbuilding I've read. Reading The Promise of the Child, you feel you're in the presence of an author at the height of his powers. If this is what Toner is like when he's just getting started, I think we can expect great things from him. Utterly absorbing; a tremendous adventure. - Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep and Sun of Suns

Humming with energy, this is space opera like you've never seen it before. Absolutely brilliant. - Adam Roberts, winner of the BSFA award for best novel for "Jack Glass"

A gorgeously-written, wildly imaginative book. It's like no space opera I've ever read–compelling and addictive. - Will McIntosh, Hugo-award winning author of Soft Apocalypse, and Defenders

An amazing debut—a colourful space opera in the post-human tradition of Iain M. Banks, combined with the razor-sharp plotting of Alastair Reynolds. It left me feverish with delight. - Loren Rhoads, author of The Dangerous Type

UK: Gollancz;

Bold and intense from start to finish, The Promise of the Child is a master-class in innovative, evocative world-building. The entire book buzzes with imagination. - Michael J. Martinez, author of The Daedalus Incident