WHERE THE AXE IS BURIED

All systems fail All societies crumble All worlds end In the authoritarian Federation there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power Meanwhile on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favour of ostensibly more efficient objective and peaceful AI Prime Ministers an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world As the Federation and the West both start to crumble Lilia the brilliant scientist whose invention may be central to bringing down the seemingly immortal President goes on the run trying to break out from a near impenetrable web of Federation surveillance Her fate is bound up with a worldwide group of others fighting against the global status quo Each of them must navigate seemingly insurmountable dangers and threats to remain free and ultimately put humanity s future back into its own hands Nebula Award Ray Bradbury Prize and Arthur C Clarke Award finalist and Locus Award winner Ray Nayler returns with a gripping technological thriller