Ninefox Gambit

After the Genji debacle, I felt it was only fair to use my next book club selection on the book most requested by the listener of this show, Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. That does not mean this pick is without merit. Despite being the author's debut novel it was nominated for several awards, and won some as well. It is the first book in the Machineries of Empire series.

The book itself is a fundamentally a sci-fi novel full of space battles. It truly deserves to have a space ship on the cover. It tells the story of Kel Cheris, a captain in the hexarchate, a space empire. A large and important space station, the Fortress of Scattered Needles, is overthrown by heretics. Cheris is chosen for a mission to take it back.

Of course it's not just some pulp action adventure space opera. The book is actually about calendars, orthodoxy, democracy, immortality, consciousness, memory, folklore, traditions, math, games, and more. I think the parts relating to game design where perhaps why the listener wanted us to select it.

So humble listener, I hope you are happy we have chosen the book you have requested. Look forward to us discussing it probably sometime this summer.