Plague Birds
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For fans of Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy and Dreamblood duology¸ Meyer's The Host¸ Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy¸ weird and unsettling AI stories¸ creepy children with godlike powers¸ and cross-species friendships.
-From J.Z. Kelley's review of Plague Birds
Glowing red lines split their faces. Shock-red hair and clothes warn people to flee their approach. They are plague birds¸ the powerful merging of humans and artificial intelligences who serve as judges and executioners after the collapse of civilization.
And the plague birds' judgment is swift and deadly¸ as Crista discovered as a child when she watched one kill her mother.
In a world of gene-modded humans constantly watched over by benevolent AIs¸ everyone hates and fears the plague birds. But to save her father and home village¸ Crista becomes the very creature she fears the most. And her first task as a plague bird is hunting down an ancient group of murderers wielding magic-like powers.
As Crista and her AI symbiote travel farther from home than she ever imagined¸ they are plunged into a strange world where she judges wrongdoers¸ befriends other outcasts¸ and uncovers an extremely personal conspiracy that threatens the lives of millions.
Plague Birds is a genre-bending mix of science fiction and dark fantasy and the epic story of a young woman who becomes one of the future's most hated creatures¸ with a killer AI bonded to her very blood.
Praise for Plague Birds
"A masterpiece in world-building¸ Plague Birds is a wildly imaginative thrill ride set in a weird future populated by biogenetically engineered human/animal hybrids¸ benevolent and malevolent AIs¸ alien forces and-strangest of all-plague birds¸ powerful arbiters of justice who are bonded to AIs that course through their veins. An action-packed and riveting page-turner¸ I couldn't put it down."
-Mercurio D. Rivera¸ World Fantasy Award-nominated author
"Such a perfect blend of sf and fantasy weaving memory¸ loss¸ technology¸ and family into a wholly unique tapestry that left me turning the pages just to see what he would do next"
-Maurice Broaddus¸ author of Pimp My Airship and Kingmaker
"A book thick with bloodlines of family¸ friendship¸ and history. This is truly Jason Sanford at his finest: a story with real bite. Its characters are so clear and so real that I laughed with them¸ cried with them¸ and sat gripping the final pages because I didn't want to let them go. With cities that come alive (literally) and prose with personality¸ Plague Birds is a book that I'll be thinking about for days¸ months¸ years to come."
-Jordan Kurella¸ author of the forthcoming novel I Never Liked You Anyway
"For his debut novel¸ Plague Birds¸ Sanford has written a lush speculative fiction epic set in a post-apocalyptic world. Filled with genetically enhanced humans and AIs¸ the story centers on a reluctant heroine-turned-plague bird who must investigate the past to create a new future. Readers desperate for characters who transform tragedy into hope will love how Sanford weaves seemingly disparate threads to a thrilling climax and satisfying conclusion."
-Monica Valentinelli¸ author of the Firefly Encyclopedia
"In this fun and thrilling far-future story where towns are sentient¸ monks are cannibalistic¸ and AIs are both gods and jerks¸ Jason Sanford explores how trust is still a characteristic of the human condition¸ even if that being is not what we recognize as human at all."
-LaShawn M. Wanak¸ editor of GigaNotoSaurus