Eurocon, Wandering Star, and Galaxy awards. Nominations for the Locus Award, John Campbell Memorial Award. Best SF Book of the Year by Kirkus Review and Library Journal. Jean le Flambert is a post-human and a criminal, a mind hacker, a self-confident trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the solar system. Rescued from a futuristic prison by the mysterious Mieli and her sentient spaceship, Jean travels to Mars, the Moving City, where time is currency, memories are treasure, and a moon-turned singularity lights up the night. Mieli offered him a chance to regain his freedom and the power of his former self - in exchange for completing the heist he had once failed. They are about to go on a wild ride through the solar system of the future, a world of ubiquitous cryptography, memory sharing, and a race of superhumans emerging from MMORPG guilds. Despite all its wonders, this world is still ruled by human motives - betrayal, revenge and jealousy. "Inventive, exotic, with complex, intelligent intrigue." — The Times "It's hard to admit, but I think Raniemi understands 'hard' science fiction better than I do." — Charles Stross “Many authors would kill to write prose half as good as this…” — The Financial Times “Hungry narratives and characters… SF concepts are terribly good.” — Sci-Fi Now “Fountain of Ideas.” — Interzone "The Quantum Thief, like the best space operas of this century, is a house of wonders, where the propositions instantly become tradition and the arguments catch the eye." — John Clute “A brilliant novel!” — Strange Horizins

Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy – from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars. Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons – the Dilemma Prison – against countless copies of himself. Jean's routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self – in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed… The Quantum Thief is a dazzling hard SF novel set in the solar system of the far future – a heist novel peopled by bizarre post-humans but powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.