“Steel Sky is a great debut novel by a rising talent in science fiction ... with a strong imagination and real storytelling verve.”

Centuries after global disaster, the remnants of humanity endure in a world turned inside out, a bubble of steel in infinite stone. In the Hypogeum the very air is poison, invisible assassins cull the weak, and privacy is a thing of the past.

At the top of this radically stratified society sits the Orcus family, corrupt and contentious, but heir to a secret that allows them to wield uncontested power — until the appearance of a mythical, seemingly superhuman avenger disrupts their careful machinations. But behind his mask, the Winnower is a man haunted by his own misdeeds, as much in need of redemption as the people he seeks to champion.

The Winnower’s arrival precipitates society’s collapse, and possibly an end to all of humanity — save through the interactions of an unlikely confluence of characters: a reluctant dictator, a disfigured outcast, a defiant victim, and an enigmatic artificial intelligence. The true power of Steel Sky lies in the richness of these characters and their personal stories of ambition, bravery, revenge, and love.