Book Synopsis
A 2024 Locus Award Finalist! A 2024 Dragon Award Finalist!
A "Best Of" pick in BookBub Lit Hub Book Riot The Mary Sue
"So much fun!"-Ann Leckie,
New York Times bestselling author
From international bestseller Samit Basu, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is an exuberant new sci-fi adventure with heart that reads like a mash-up of "
Aladdin"
and Murderbot--
with gloriously chaotic results Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren't helping anyone but themselves.
Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born.
Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves--even if they do take him for granted.
When Shantiport's resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix... None of the city's powers will know what hit them.
Also by Samit BasuThe City Inside Review Quotes
A 2024 Locus Award Finalist! A 2024 Dragon Award Finalist!
A "Best Of" pick in BookBub Lit Hub Book Riot The Mary Sue
Praise for The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
"Somehow manages to be
both a weighty study of the responsible use of power and a sidesplitting farce about robot fighters, gangsters, oligarchs and the titular jinn-bot."-
The Washington Post "
A fun, spectacle-filled adventure story with good quips from the wisecracking monkey-bot and occasional zingers from Moku."-
The Wall Street Journal "
So much fun!"-Ann Leckie,
New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards
"
Ridiculously entertaining."--Kate Elliott,
New York Times bestselling author
"'Aladdin' like you've never seen it before. Samit Basu deftly weaves a tale that
sparkles with the wondrous and wild possibilities of 'Aladdin' in space. This is a wild, funny, and
exhilarating adventure with a huge heart."--Tasha Suri, award-winning author of
The Jasmine Throne "Wonderfully entertaining--a heady and creative mix of excellent stories.
The best of 'Aladdin' and Murderbot meet in Samit's top-tier storyteller's craft. Inventive, with witty dialogue, and utterly fun! All the heart of myths and the explorative commentary of sci-fi are masterfully shaped together in
The Jinn-bot of Shantiport."--R.R. Virdi,
USA Today bestselling author
"A wildly exuberant mash-up of
top-class storytelling, gleeful mockery, and engaging characters we care desperately about. Basu is playing with tropes and messing about with narrative, while
at the same time telling a heartfelt story with high stakes and enthralling action.
The most fun I have had with SF in ages."--KJ Charles, author of
The Magpie Lord "
An extravagant, expansive, inventive epic of a book, shifting modes deftly to set
heroes of lore on a collision course with video game tropes--and I enjoyed every word of the resulting fireworks. Brainy, deeply felt, and entirely brilliant."--Malka Older, author of
The Mimicking of Known Successes "
Samit Basu is one of the smartest, most entertaining writers working in SF today -- this was an utter delight from first to last, fizzing with ideas and originality."--Zen Cho, author of
Black Water Sister "A finalist for this fall's unofficial Best Book Title contest,
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is the latest from Indian SFF specialist Samit Basu, who
treats standard sci-fi tropes as dubious advice, best ignored. Mixing futurism and fantasy, his new book features streetwise protagonists, corrupt oligarchs, wry satire, and wish-granting tech. Oh, and monkeybots."--
Goodreads "'
Aladdin in space' is already an excellent elevator pitch for Samit Basu's standalone novel, but he looks to be exploring every angle of the familiar story in this adventure set on a collapsing spaceport."--
Lit Hub "
'Aladdin' meets Murderbot is all we needed to hear to add Samit Basu's science fiction novel--about a girl and her monkey bot brother asked to procure a reality-bending artifact--to our TBRs!"--
We Are Bookish: Presented by NetGalley
"Just
f***ing delightful from start to finish."--
Reactor "[An] action-packed frolic . . . Basu's sharp social commentary and sense of pageantry enhance this wild romp.
Readers will have no choice but to get caught in the whirlwind."--
Publishers Weekly "Samit Basu
mixes elements of the story of Aladdin with the political machinations on a corrupt spaceport."--
Library Journal "[A]
fantastic, futuristic take on the "Aladdin" story"--
Booklist "From
cinematic mecha fights to an aching romance set in the background of a city falling apart and
all spiced with a healthy dose of humor, reading
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport was an incredibly fun experience."--
Bookish Brews Selected praise for Samit Basu and The City Inside "Basu's chief strengths as a novelist are
character development, lively dialogue and a pleasingly off-kilter sense of humour."--
Vogue India "
An instant classic"--Indra Das, author of
The Devourers About the Author
Samit Basu is an Indian novelist. His previous novel,
The City Inside,
was named one of the best sci-fi/fantasy novels of 2022 by
The Washington Post and
Book Riot and was short-listed for the JCB Prize. He's published several novels in a range of speculative genres, all critically acclaimed and bestselling in India, beginning with
The Simoqin Prophecies (2003). He also works as a director-screenwriter, a comics writer, and a columnist. He lives in Delhi, Kolkata, and on the internet.
