The eagerly awaited third volume in the number one bestselling Quantum Evolution series. An all-new, ground-breaking, action-packed new science fiction adventure set in the universe of The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden. The Union-Congregate war rages onward and the Union's premier fighter pilots, the Homo Eridanus, start encountering deadly resistance from strange pilots on the Congregate side. Among wreckage, they find that new Congregate pilots aren't human, but Homo quantus, with strange wiring and AI connections. At the same time, the Puppets come to the Union with offers of an alliance for a dangerous price: the rescue of the geneticist Antonio Del Casal who is a captive at Venus, with over a hundred Homo quantus. The only one who might be able to break through the Congregate defences at Venus is a con man who has given up his profession. Praise for Derek Künsken: "An audacious con job, scintillating future technology, and meditations on the nature of fractured humanity." -- Yoon Ha Lee "Künsken has a wonderfully ingenious imagination.

" -- Adam Roberts, Locus "Technology changes us--even our bodies--in fundamental ways, and Künsken handles this wonderfully." -- Cixin Liu "Künsken's vivid worldbuilding is a knockout. This is a must-read." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review.