"A truly extraordinary SF saga of epic scope." Kirkus (starred review)
the dark court
SONGS OF THE SAGE, BOOK 2
A genre-blending dystopian, sci-fi mystery-thriller that will make you think about communication in a whole new way.
The Mind Chant of the Sage is a means of coercive control, an addiction.
Five years after the Great Language Outage, lang-laws have been repealed, but world affairs have only gotten worse. The new automation agenda has resulted in a social caste system based on IQ. Manual employment is a thing of the past, and the lowest soc-ed class, the Unskills, are forced into permanent unemployment.
In a world on the brink of civil war, a deadly insomnia pandemic threatens to kill billions. Lilith King, Interpol’s most celebrated detective, is assigned to the case.
Together with a sleep specialist, Dr. Kace Westwood, Lilith must figure out who or what is behind this new threat. Could the pandemic be the result of the upskilling vagus chips being offered to the lowest soc-ed class? Or are language chips being hacked? And what of the viral conspiracy theories by the mysterious Dark Court, sweeping the globe? Lilith must work every possible angle, and quickly: she is running out of time!
While attempting to stop a vast conspiracy on an intergalactic scale, Lilith also faces shocking revelations about her origin, coming to terms with her own destiny.
A signed bookplate edition is available from The Broken Binding here
Publication/on sale date: 7th May 2024
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7399962-4-6
eBook (ePub) ISBN: 978-1-7399962-5-3
Full cover sleeve
the dark court
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Reviews
"A truly extraordinary SF saga of epic scope ... Grand-scale storytelling of this type is immensely difficult to do well, but Evans masterfully twists together multiple storylines with ease. The pacing is relentless throughout, as is the action, with jaw-dropping set-pieces that rival any in a Mission: Impossible movie. But the two elements that make this novel stand out are its deep character development and thematic profundity."
Kirkus (starred review)
"[The Babel Apocalypse] had already swung for the bleachers ... But the second outing pushes the ideas even further. The Dark Court takes your international conspiracy theories and tech thrills and throws in the concept of an intergalactic war!"
SFBook Reviews [PDF version here]
"This amazing adventure blends science fiction and mystery with a frightening dystopian near future for a non-stop thriller of a story!"
Reedsy Discovery [PDF version here]
"... a book that is almost impossible to put down." Long and Short Reviews (voted book of the month, June 2024) [PDF version here]