Neom

August 1, 2022
World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar takes readers back to the fascinating far-future world of 2016’s Central Station in this gentle narrative about self-fulfillment and one robot’s quest to reunite with a lost love. In Neom, a port city between Earth and space on the shores of the Red Sea, Mariam de la Cruz divides her days between several odd jobs while her nights are spent longing for quietude. Meanwhile, shurta officer Nasir questions the point of law enforcement as he spends most of his time handing out tickets for littering. An unnamed robot reunites these two childhood friends when Nasir and Mariam become entangled in the robot’s mission to resurrect a “golden man” of legend. These quiet personal stakes play out against a vividly imagined world where ancient war machines stalk the deserts and seas, terrorist “art installations” explode forever within stasis fields, and the human population in space tell stories of the eldritch creatures inhabiting the Oort clouds. Meanwhile, Tidhar offers a heartfelt exploration of artificially intelligent beings’ struggles to find existential meaning while being restrained by both coding and form. Fans of literary sci-fi are sure to be enchanted by the imaginative worldbuilding and tenderly wrought characters. Agent: John Berlyne, Zeno Agency.

September 1, 2022

Tidhar (Central Station) writes another story that takes place within his Central Station universe. Neom is a future-oriented, techno city: a port of call to the stars for humans and a neighbor to the robots that roam the nearby desert searching for a purpose. Destinies will collide as a mechanical man initiates a robotic revolution, a former "terrorartist" seeks her buried memories, and three humans--Saleh, Mariam, and Nasir--have a chance to realize their dreams. Tidhar is a unique voice in science fiction and an author with many awards to his name. An enrapturing conglomeration of philosophy, psychology, and storytelling, the novel melds the what-ifs with a believable and relatable scenario. This is not a sequel so much as another saga in a well-developed and thought-out world. VERDICT Old and new fans alike will adore this fascinating new addition to Tidhar's future Earth universe, and science fiction buffs would do well to put Tidhar on their radar of must-read authors.--Laura Hiatt

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2022
Mariam works many jobs, and selling at the flower market is just one of them. But when an advanced robot arrives and buys a red rose, a string of events is set into motion that will entangle her, the policeman who has a crush on her, and a young boy from the desert in a whirlwind that could end in robotic warfare. While the novel is set in the world of Tidhar's award-winning novel Central Station (2016), readers don't need to have familiarity to enjoy this book of a few characters trying to make it and a robot trying to figure out where he belongs in a human world. The novel is richly built without being overwhelming, and the narrative moves quickly even while juggling several moving parts and mysteries. The concept of ""terrorartists"" is particularly horrifying and compelling, and Tidhar makes it easy to care about his characters. Altogether, Neom is a very cozy sf novel, which is particularly impressive given its narrative of possible impending robotic doom.

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