book cover of The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
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The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

(2024)
A Novella by

 
 
Named a Best Sci-Fi Book of 2024 by Esquire

“I am in love with Sofia Samatar's lyricism and the haunting beauty of her imagination. Her stories linger, like the memory of a sumptuous feast.”—N. K. Jemisin

A Most Anticipated in 2024 Pick for Goodreads | LitHub | Book Riot | She Reads | The Nerd Daily | New Scientist

Celebrated author Sofia Samatar presents a mystical, revolutionary space adventure for the exhausted dreamer in this brilliant science fiction novella tackling the carceral state and violence embedded in the ivory tower while embodying the legacy of Ursula K. Le Guin.

The boy was raised as one of the Chained, condemned to toil in the bowels of a mining ship out among the stars. His whole world changes—literally—when he is yanked “upstairs” and informed he has been given an opportunity to be educated at the ship’s university alongside the elite.

Overwhelmed and alone, the boy forms a bond with the woman he comes to know as “the professor,” a weary idealist and descendent of the Chained who has spent her career striving for validation from her more senior colleagues, only to fall short at every turn.

Together, the boy and the woman will embark on a transformative journey to grasp the design of the chains that fetter them both—and are the key to breaking free.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genre: Science Fiction

Praise for this book

"An extraordinarily moving tale of power, connection, and community, and a thought experiment perfectly designed to meet our times." - Matt Bell

"Full of spirit and heart, razor critique, and compassionate insight...Sofia is a poetic seer, a prophet of human possibility." - Andrea Hairston

"The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain does what only Samatar can do: cut to the bone, but with a loving hand. It's a hopeful, humane, and bruisingly perceptive fable about the chains we build, and what it takes to break them." - Alix E Harrow

"I am in love with Sofia Samatar's lyricism and the haunting beauty of her imagination. Her stories linger, like the memory of a sumptuous feast." - N K Jemisin


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