Set in Sagramanda, city of 100 million, this is the story of Taneer, a scientist who has absconded with his multinational corporation's secret project code and who is now on the run from both the company and his father. Depahli, the fabulously beautiful woman from the 'untouchable class' would die for him, just as surely as his father would like to kill him for shaming the very traditional family for such a relationship. Chalcedony 'Chal' Schneemann doesn't want to kill Taneer, if he doesn't have to, but it wouldn't upset him terribly much if it came to it, and he'll stop at nothing to recover the stolen property for the company that pays him very, very well to solve big problems discreetly and quickly. Sanjay Ghosh, a poor farmer-turned-merchant in the big city of Sagramanda would like to help Taneer unload his stolen items, for the $30 million dollars his 3 percent fee is worth. Jena Chalmette, a crazy French woman pledged to Kali, simply wants to kill for the glory of her god, and she's very good at it. Chief Inspector Keshu Singh would like to put this sword-wielding serial killer away as quickly as possible before the media gets a hold of the story. Then there's a man-eating tiger, come in from the nearby jungle reserve and just looking for his next meal. This is a fast-paced and gripping techno-thriller set in an India just around the corner from today.
Sagramanda
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"I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a techo thriller with near future sci-fi thrown in. It is a well-written and enjoyable tale that is full of the flavor of India, its culture and people, from a forward looking perspective." -- The Dragon Page podcast site, December 25, 2006.
About the Author
Alan Dean Foster has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the New York Times best seller Star Wars: The Approaching Storm and the popular Pip and Flinx novels, as well as novelizations of several films including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so. Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, live in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from an early-twentieth-century miners' brothel. Visit him online at www.alandeanfoster.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A. Ross
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
I'm a casual reader of science-fiction and tend to be most attracted to "near-future" scenarios set on Earth (for example, Ian MacDonald's intriguing River of Gods, Richard Morgan's high-octane Altered Carbon,or Paolo Bacigalupi's disappointing Windup Girl), so this relatively slim book set in near-future India jumped off the shelf at me. To be sure, it's not in the same league as MacDonald's epic River of Godsm, but it has no ambitions to be. Rather, it's a very fun, fast-paced thriller about corporate espionage, a serial killer whose murders are devotions to the goddess Kali, and a man-eating tiger lurking at the edges of the titular megacity (which looks to be modeled on Calcutta).
The main storyline concerns a scientist named Taneer who stole a new invention from his corporate employer and had gone into hiding as he seeks to sell it for something on the order of $100,000,000. Acting as his agent and middleman is the honorable proprietor of a tourist kitch shop, who also dabbles in illegal trade. Unfortunately, for both men, the corporate giant has brought in a highly respected freelance "problem-solver" to track Taneer down and recover the information, alive if possible, dead if not. A further fly in the ointment is the determination of Taneer's estranged father to kill him for taking up with an unsuitable lower-caste woman. Meanwhile, the seemingly unconnected beheadings around the city have attracted the attentions of the police, and an investigation is launched to track down the cruel killer. The book bounces back between the two plots (and the tiger), only to bring them all together in a slightly predictable final confrontation.
The characters are developed in just enough depth for the reader to sympathize with their motivations, but no further. Similarly, the mix of old and new, gods and technology, East and West, is all decently if somewhat predictably, done -- there's not a lot of depth to any of it. However, the story allows Foster to riff on all kinds of technology that's evolved to meet the needs of a 70-million-person megacity. For example, automated transports that gently remove wandering cattle form the streets, high-tech clothing of all kinds, various communication devices, specialized and stylized robots, biometric security systems, self-sealing fast-food bags, and on and on. The thing I liked is that this technology all seemed plausible, while at the same time, there are still teeming masses of destitute people (some so much so that some have become a cannibal gang!) living in the gutter right next to a gleaming 5-star hotel, temples, sadhus, and plenty of street food. It's not a work of genius, but it is an entertaining glimpse of one imagining of a near-future India that would make a great TV miniseries.
The main storyline concerns a scientist named Taneer who stole a new invention from his corporate employer and had gone into hiding as he seeks to sell it for something on the order of $100,000,000. Acting as his agent and middleman is the honorable proprietor of a tourist kitch shop, who also dabbles in illegal trade. Unfortunately, for both men, the corporate giant has brought in a highly respected freelance "problem-solver" to track Taneer down and recover the information, alive if possible, dead if not. A further fly in the ointment is the determination of Taneer's estranged father to kill him for taking up with an unsuitable lower-caste woman. Meanwhile, the seemingly unconnected beheadings around the city have attracted the attentions of the police, and an investigation is launched to track down the cruel killer. The book bounces back between the two plots (and the tiger), only to bring them all together in a slightly predictable final confrontation.
The characters are developed in just enough depth for the reader to sympathize with their motivations, but no further. Similarly, the mix of old and new, gods and technology, East and West, is all decently if somewhat predictably, done -- there's not a lot of depth to any of it. However, the story allows Foster to riff on all kinds of technology that's evolved to meet the needs of a 70-million-person megacity. For example, automated transports that gently remove wandering cattle form the streets, high-tech clothing of all kinds, various communication devices, specialized and stylized robots, biometric security systems, self-sealing fast-food bags, and on and on. The thing I liked is that this technology all seemed plausible, while at the same time, there are still teeming masses of destitute people (some so much so that some have become a cannibal gang!) living in the gutter right next to a gleaming 5-star hotel, temples, sadhus, and plenty of street food. It's not a work of genius, but it is an entertaining glimpse of one imagining of a near-future India that would make a great TV miniseries.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars
7 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society
26 Oct 2006
By Harriet Klausner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Sagramanda, India is a Megatropolis of 100 million residents; the city like all major urban areas run the gamut of the economic spectrum from affluent international CEOs to those so hopelessly poor one would classify them as being beneath the food chain's lowest rung of wretchedly poor existing in the ooze. Those of wealth would do nothing to hurt their status as all one has to do is look at the legions of poor as a reminder of how good life is for those with money and power.
His family, especially his humiliated father, cannot believe that the heir scientist Taneer Buthlahee ran off for a forbidden love with his Untouchable beloved Depahli. Worse than that shame, he also stole research secrets he was working on; an insult his father plans to correct by having his son killed by company fixer Chal Schneemann before the information is sold on the black market. Taneer contacts street fixer Sanjay Ghosh to help his with the sale that will finance his escape with his beloved Depahli. Complicated as that family squabble may seem, a born again Hindu worshipper whose drug induced brain thinks she must sacrifice people to Kali believes that the two lovers would be a perfect send off while Sagramanda Police Chief Inspector Keshu Singh closes in on the sword slashing serial killer.
This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society in which the gap between haves and the have-nots are wider than the Grand Canyon and the number of the lower class is so great, substrata have been defined within the social group. The superb story line contains several other subplots besides those above, but all are developed and ultimately tie together in a final exhilarating confrontation. Readers will enjoy this strong tale of near future India.
Harriet Klausner
His family, especially his humiliated father, cannot believe that the heir scientist Taneer Buthlahee ran off for a forbidden love with his Untouchable beloved Depahli. Worse than that shame, he also stole research secrets he was working on; an insult his father plans to correct by having his son killed by company fixer Chal Schneemann before the information is sold on the black market. Taneer contacts street fixer Sanjay Ghosh to help his with the sale that will finance his escape with his beloved Depahli. Complicated as that family squabble may seem, a born again Hindu worshipper whose drug induced brain thinks she must sacrifice people to Kali believes that the two lovers would be a perfect send off while Sagramanda Police Chief Inspector Keshu Singh closes in on the sword slashing serial killer.
This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society in which the gap between haves and the have-nots are wider than the Grand Canyon and the number of the lower class is so great, substrata have been defined within the social group. The superb story line contains several other subplots besides those above, but all are developed and ultimately tie together in a final exhilarating confrontation. Readers will enjoy this strong tale of near future India.
Harriet Klausner
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and Worth Reading
28 Sep 2006
By Baruch Spinoza
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Sagramanda brings back some of ADF's genius. He does not dumb-down India's many religions as other author's would. Many seemingly separate plot threads connect at the end and the mystery of what is being sought is not easily guessed. The characters seemed more real and deeper than those of some of his more recent books. The only negative is that one could not 'bond' with any of the characters sufficiently to care about them too much. As a long-time ADF fan, I enjoyed this book due to 1) the different setting, 2) intelligent relationship between the religions of India and the characters, and 3) ADF's treatment regarding the clash between traditionalism and modernity.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable thriller set in near future India
15 Jan 2007
By Richard R. Horton
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Sagramanda is a novel set in near future India, following several different viewpoint characters in an eventually interlocking narrative. As such it superficially resembles Ian McDonald's brilliant River of Gods. Foster's novel is not so brilliant as McDonald's, and really it makes no attempt to be brilliant at that level. Rather, it is an enjoyable and fast-moving thriller - and quite successful as such.
Taneer Buthlahee is a scientist who has taken a spectacularly valuable piece of new technology from his company. He wishes to offer it to a rival company - for enough money to make he and his fiancée, the beautiful Depahli De, secure for life - away from India. For Depahli is an Untouchable, and a former prostitute, and thus their relationship is unacceptable to many in their home country. Taneer, thus, is a target - his company has sent a specialist to retrieve him, dead or alive. And his father is after him, to prevent the stain on their family's honor of a link with an Untouchable. Taneer also involves a middleman to help him make a deal, a poor merchant, Sanjay Ghosh, who likewise is trying to make a secure life for he and his beautiful wife. At the same time their city of Sagramanda (transparently a fictionalized Calcutta) is threatened by two very different beasts: a man-eating tiger, and a Frenchwoman who has become a serial killer in worship of Kali. The novel follows, in short segments, all these characters - Taneer, Depahli, Taneer's father, Sanjay, the tiger, the serial killer, the policeman investigating the murders, and more. And, as the reader knows from the start, all these threads will converge, some naturally, some by coincidence.
It's quite an exciting read. The plot moves sharply, and quite believably. The characters are engaging enough, though rather two-dimensional. The portrait of fairly near-future India is fairly well-done, though here the book truly does suffer by comparison with McDonald's altogether more complex and deeper portrait. Sagramanda is no masterpiece, but it is fun and not without deeper shadings.
Taneer Buthlahee is a scientist who has taken a spectacularly valuable piece of new technology from his company. He wishes to offer it to a rival company - for enough money to make he and his fiancée, the beautiful Depahli De, secure for life - away from India. For Depahli is an Untouchable, and a former prostitute, and thus their relationship is unacceptable to many in their home country. Taneer, thus, is a target - his company has sent a specialist to retrieve him, dead or alive. And his father is after him, to prevent the stain on their family's honor of a link with an Untouchable. Taneer also involves a middleman to help him make a deal, a poor merchant, Sanjay Ghosh, who likewise is trying to make a secure life for he and his beautiful wife. At the same time their city of Sagramanda (transparently a fictionalized Calcutta) is threatened by two very different beasts: a man-eating tiger, and a Frenchwoman who has become a serial killer in worship of Kali. The novel follows, in short segments, all these characters - Taneer, Depahli, Taneer's father, Sanjay, the tiger, the serial killer, the policeman investigating the murders, and more. And, as the reader knows from the start, all these threads will converge, some naturally, some by coincidence.
It's quite an exciting read. The plot moves sharply, and quite believably. The characters are engaging enough, though rather two-dimensional. The portrait of fairly near-future India is fairly well-done, though here the book truly does suffer by comparison with McDonald's altogether more complex and deeper portrait. Sagramanda is no masterpiece, but it is fun and not without deeper shadings.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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