Context — John Meaney

Nulapeiron: a world isolated for twelve centuries. Its billions of inhabitants occupy subterranean strata, ruled by a trained aristocracy of lords and ladies whose power base is upheld by oracles. But revolution has touched all of its many cultures â€" failing in its intent, yet changing everything. Now Lord Tom Corcorigan â€" the commoner-turned-noble who renounced his power; the poet, logosopher, and holder of the key to understanding the myriad wonders of mu-space; the legendary one-armed warrior, former revolutionary, and would-be peacemaker â€" lies fatally wounded. His survival is dependent on his meeting with a mysterious seer whose spacetime-warping talents transcend the merely Oracular. It is a confrontation that will result in bitter tragedy and loss. Can the woman he loves be truly dead, or can quantum mysteries lie beyond the grave? Turning his back on a society sliding once more into anarchy and chaos, a disillusioned and despairing Tom wanders this strange, stratified world in search of meaning, love, and his own salvation. But it seems Nulapeiron is threatened by a vast, insidious, and terrifying enemy whose origins may lie beyond their world, beyond their understanding. And now is the time for legends to be reborn. Sequel to the acclaimed Paradox and the second book in the Nulapeiron Sequence, Context is a thrilling, daring and complex novel that confirms John Meaney as one of British science fiction's most original and exciting practitioners.