HarperCollins Publishers
Maxwell's Demon : A Novel
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Maxwell's Demon
Author(s): Steven Hall
Review(s):
“A wonderfully imaginative, splendidly baroque novel that is a combination of the baffling, teasing, and tantalizing. Part fantasy, part mystery, it is altogether delightful and filled with surprises—in a word, exceptional. No, make that two words; the second is fantastic. A rare, sui generis treat.”
“With Maxwell’s Demon, Steven Hall has created a kaleidoscopic, disconcerting God game in which reality itself is thrown into deep shape-shifting shade. In an era of ‘alternative truths’ — when what we believe to be authentic is often just another spurious story; when chaos and order, fiction and entropy are quicksand underfoot — this novel couldn’t be more timely. Like David Mitchell, Mark Z. Danielewski, and the Christopher Nolan of Inception, Hall has created his own unique world in which readers take a journey as mercurial and unexpected as life itself. Maxwell’s Demon is a radiant and unique achievement.”
“Labyrinthine, mind-twisting and deliciously diabolical, yet also unexpectedly warm-hearted. Maxwell’s Demon is fantastic.”
“Dazzlingly clever, wickedly playful, devastatingly poignant.”
"A cracking detective story that seems to be investigating its own existence. Hall explores that rich border zone that lies between fiction and non-fiction, and does it with verve and a playful, adventurous spirit. A unique voice in exploratory fiction."
“Anyone who enjoyed The Raw Shark Texts will be delighted.”
"Ingeniously plotted and compulsively well-paced, a blend of detective story and science fiction with an epistemology course thrown in."
"A postmodern mystery . . . Ingenious fun . . . Showily postmodern, full of odd typographical elements, altered realities and intertextual jokes . . . Maxwell’s Demon is consistently fun and often impressive."
“Moves at an exhilarating lick, as befits its pop culture propensities, but with highbrow sensibilities, its concerns including the Kabbalah, whether the world is made of words, the origins of the alphabet, the mythopoetic nature of the hero’s journey and what angels look like . . . The genius of the book is that despite it seeming like an elegant orrery, all these wheels within wheels are a carapace, a psychic armor against a grief (and it’s not the grief you were expecting). Beneath this truly beautiful astrolabe is a beating human heart."
"An entropic and sprawling mystery . . . Mind-twisting . . . Introspective and philosophical, the novel explores the dangers that occur when fatalistic urges take over."
ISBN: 9781554681112
Author(s): Steven Hall
This autumn, life is catching up with Thomas Quinn.
Five years ago, his sometime friend Andrew Black wrote a mystery novel that sold a million copies and then disappeared. Now could it be that Quinn is being stalked by the hero of Black’s book? His wife, Imogen, usually has the answers, but she’s working on the other side of the world and talking to her on webcam just isn’t the same.Quinn finds himself in a world that might well be coming apart at the seams. If he can find Black, he might start finding answers.
Maxwell’s Demon forges an entirely new blend of mystery—somewhere between detective fiction, ghost story and philosophical quest. Providing the same white-knuckle thrills as Hall’s first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, this new book is also a freewheeling investigation into the magic power locked inside the alphabet, love through the looking glass, the bond between parents and children and, at its heart, the quest for meaning in a world that, with each passing season, seems to become more chaotic and untidy.Review(s):
“A wonderfully imaginative, splendidly baroque novel that is a combination of the baffling, teasing, and tantalizing. Part fantasy, part mystery, it is altogether delightful and filled with surprises—in a word, exceptional. No, make that two words; the second is fantastic. A rare, sui generis treat.”
“With Maxwell’s Demon, Steven Hall has created a kaleidoscopic, disconcerting God game in which reality itself is thrown into deep shape-shifting shade. In an era of ‘alternative truths’ — when what we believe to be authentic is often just another spurious story; when chaos and order, fiction and entropy are quicksand underfoot — this novel couldn’t be more timely. Like David Mitchell, Mark Z. Danielewski, and the Christopher Nolan of Inception, Hall has created his own unique world in which readers take a journey as mercurial and unexpected as life itself. Maxwell’s Demon is a radiant and unique achievement.”
“Labyrinthine, mind-twisting and deliciously diabolical, yet also unexpectedly warm-hearted. Maxwell’s Demon is fantastic.”
“Dazzlingly clever, wickedly playful, devastatingly poignant.”
"A cracking detective story that seems to be investigating its own existence. Hall explores that rich border zone that lies between fiction and non-fiction, and does it with verve and a playful, adventurous spirit. A unique voice in exploratory fiction."
“Anyone who enjoyed The Raw Shark Texts will be delighted.”
"Ingeniously plotted and compulsively well-paced, a blend of detective story and science fiction with an epistemology course thrown in."
"A postmodern mystery . . . Ingenious fun . . . Showily postmodern, full of odd typographical elements, altered realities and intertextual jokes . . . Maxwell’s Demon is consistently fun and often impressive."
“Moves at an exhilarating lick, as befits its pop culture propensities, but with highbrow sensibilities, its concerns including the Kabbalah, whether the world is made of words, the origins of the alphabet, the mythopoetic nature of the hero’s journey and what angels look like . . . The genius of the book is that despite it seeming like an elegant orrery, all these wheels within wheels are a carapace, a psychic armor against a grief (and it’s not the grief you were expecting). Beneath this truly beautiful astrolabe is a beating human heart."
"An entropic and sprawling mystery . . . Mind-twisting . . . Introspective and philosophical, the novel explores the dangers that occur when fatalistic urges take over."
ISBN: 9781554681112