In a future controlled by an artificial intelligence known as the Djinn, Sevan leads an isolated life on Earth. But when his childhood friend Miah vanishes while stationed on America’s dystopian Venus colony, he must risk a dangerous journey to save her.

Miah, a diplomat for the African-led Humanitarian Service, is abducted by a power-hungry Venusian nationalist named Orion. Her fate becomes intertwined with that of the Venusians, whose American occupiers seek to civilize them and neutralize the Djinn. While Miah becomes Orion’s pawn, Sevan becomes entangled with American elites and missionaries, and both their lives and loyalties hang in the balance as they navigate an alien culture, an irrational bureaucracy, and the looming Venusian uprising no one expected.

In his award-winning debut novel, author Christopher Dainton draws on his personal experience of humanitarian aid in West Africa and beyond. Fans of A Memory Called Empire will applaud the clash of cultures in this anti-colonial science fiction adventure.