Loka
Published on 13. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
379 pages
978-1-6625-0506-5 (ISBN)
Description
Finding a place to belong becomes a girl's ambitious quest in a thrilling epic about space, humanity, and self-discovery by S.B. Divya, Hugo and Nebula Award finalist and author of Meru.
Akshaya is the hybrid daughter of a human mother and an alloy, a genetically engineered posthuman-and she's the future of life on the planet Meru. But not if the determined Akshaya can help it. Before choosing where her future lies, she wants to circumnavigate the most historic orb in the universe-the birthplace of humanity: Earth.
Akshaya's parents reluctantly agree to her anthropological challenge-one with no assistance from alloy devices, transport, or wary alloys themselves who manage humanity and the regions of Earth called Loka. It's just Akshaya; her equally bold best friend, Somya; and a carefully planned itinerary threading continent by continent across a wondrous terrain of things she's never seen: blue skies, sunrises, snowcapped mountains, and roiling oceans.
As the adventure unfolds, the travelers discover love and new friendships, but they also learn the risks of a planet that's not entirely welcoming. On this trek-rapturous, dangerous, and life-changing-Akshaya will discover what human existence really means.
Akshaya is the hybrid daughter of a human mother and an alloy, a genetically engineered posthuman-and she's the future of life on the planet Meru. But not if the determined Akshaya can help it. Before choosing where her future lies, she wants to circumnavigate the most historic orb in the universe-the birthplace of humanity: Earth.
Akshaya's parents reluctantly agree to her anthropological challenge-one with no assistance from alloy devices, transport, or wary alloys themselves who manage humanity and the regions of Earth called Loka. It's just Akshaya; her equally bold best friend, Somya; and a carefully planned itinerary threading continent by continent across a wondrous terrain of things she's never seen: blue skies, sunrises, snowcapped mountains, and roiling oceans.
As the adventure unfolds, the travelers discover love and new friendships, but they also learn the risks of a planet that's not entirely welcoming. On this trek-rapturous, dangerous, and life-changing-Akshaya will discover what human existence really means.
Reviews / Votes
"This sequel deepens Meru's extensive worldbuilding and continues to draw on its core themes of what humanity means in a post-human future. However, this is, at heart, a coming-of-age story that will appeal to young adult readers as much as to older fans of Divya's." -Library Journal"Informed by the author's experiences working in science and engineering, and struggles with long-Covid-induced chronic fatigue syndrome, the narrative explores questions of belonging and friendship with a clear-eyed precision, bringing to mind the heartfelt emotion of Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series and the worldbuilding and deep ethical questions of The Terraformers by Analee Newitz. Teen and adult readers alike will easily fall in love with Akshaya and Somya." -Publishers Weekly
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Publishing group
Amazon Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 205 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
374 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6625-0506-5 (9781662505065)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
S.B. Divya is the Hugo- and Nebula-nominated author of Meru in the Alloy Era series, Machinehood, Runtime, and the short-story collection Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations. Her stories have been published in various magazines, such as Analog and Uncanny; on Tor.com; and in several anthologies, including Seasons Between Us and Rebuilding Tomorrow. She holds degrees in computational neuroscience and signal processing, and she worked for twenty years as an electrical engineer before becoming an author. A lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma, she enjoys subverting expectations and breaking stereotypes whenever she can. For more information, visit www.sbdivya.com.