Sagramanda: A Novel of Near-future India [Paperback]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008

Set in Sagramanda, city of 100 million, this is the story of Taneer, a scientist who has absconded with his multinational corporation's secret project code and who is now on the run from both the company and his father. Depahli, the fabulously beautiful woman from the 'untouchable class' would die for him, just as surely as his father would like to kill him for shaming the very traditional family for such a relationship. Chalcedony 'Chal' Schneemann doesn't want to kill Taneer, if he doesn't have to, but it wouldn't upset him terribly much if it came to it, and he'll stop at nothing to recover the stolen property for the company that pays him very, very well to solve big problems discreetly and quickly.Sanjay Ghosh, a poor farmer-turned-merchant in the big city of Sagramanda would like to help Taneer unload his stolen items, for the $30 million dollars his 3 per cent fee is worth. Jena Chalmette, a crazy French woman pledged to Kali, simply wants to kill for the glory of her god, and she's very good at it. Chief Inspector Keshu Singh would like to put this sword-wielding serial killer away as quickly as possible before the media gets a hold of the story. Then there's a man-eating tiger, come in from the nearby jungle reserve and just looking for his next meal. A fast-paced and gripping techno-thriller set in an India just around the corner from today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Foster's lighthearted techno-thriller (after 2006's The Candle of Distant Earth), runaway scientist Taneer Buthlahee and his gorgeous Untouchable lover, Depahli, are planning a marvelous life far from the city of Sagramunda, India—with the cash Taneer hopes to make on the stolen fruits of his mysterious research. To help broker the deal, Taneer hires fixer Sanjay Ghosh, a determined former farmer with big dreams of his own. Hot on Taneer's trail are a company operative with orders from Taneer's former employer to do whatever's necessary to get the stolen goods back, as well as Taneer's father, who's sworn to kill his son for dishonoring the family with his theft. Also along for the ride are a Hindu fundamentalist drug addict bent on offering plenty of sacrifices to her blood-loving goddess, the cop who's trying to catch her and a man-eating tiger. SF elements make colorful window dressing for this unpredictable thriller, whose multiple threads Foster juggles like the professional he is. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a techo thriller with near future sci-fi thrown in. It is a well-written and enjoyable tale that is full of the flavor of India, its culture and people, from a forward looking perspective." -- The Dragon Page podcast site, December 25, 2006. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591026458
• ISBN-13: 978-1591026457
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,845,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Worth Reading, September 27, 2006

By 

Baruch Spinoza "Michael" (Centennial, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sagramanda (A Novel of Near-Future India) (Hardcover)

Sagramanda brings back some of ADF's genius. He does not dumb-down India's many religions as other author's would. Many seemingly separate plot threads connect at the end and the mystery of what is being sought is not easily guessed. The characters seemed more real and deeper than those of some of his more recent books. The only negative is that one could not 'bond' with any of the characters sufficiently to care about them too much. As a long-time ADF fan, I enjoyed this book due to 1) the different setting, 2) intelligent relationship between the religions of India and the characters, and 3) ADF's treatment regarding the clash between traditionalism and modernity.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society, October 26, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sagramanda (A Novel of Near-Future India) (Hardcover)

Sagramanda, India is a Megatropolis of 100 million residents; the city like all major urban areas run the gamut of the economic spectrum from affluent international CEOs to those so hopelessly poor one would classify them as being beneath the food chain's lowest rung of wretchedly poor existing in the ooze. Those of wealth would do nothing to hurt their status as all one has to do is look at the legions of poor as a reminder of how good life is for those with money and power.

His family, especially his humiliated father, cannot believe that the heir scientist Taneer Buthlahee ran off for a forbidden love with his Untouchable beloved Depahli. Worse than that shame, he also stole research secrets he was working on; an insult his father plans to correct by having his son killed by company fixer Chal Schneemann before the information is sold on the black market. Taneer contacts street fixer Sanjay Ghosh to help his with the sale that will finance his escape with his beloved Depahli. Complicated as that family squabble may seem, a born again Hindu worshipper whose drug induced brain thinks she must sacrifice people to Kali believes that the two lovers would be a perfect send off while Sagramanda Police Chief Inspector Keshu Singh closes in on the sword slashing serial killer.

This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society in which the gap between haves and the have-nots are wider than the Grand Canyon and the number of the lower class is so great, substrata have been defined within the social group. The superb story line contains several other subplots besides those above, but all are developed and ultimately tie together in a final exhilarating confrontation. Readers will enjoy this strong tale of near future India.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable thriller set in near future India, January 15, 2007

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sagramanda (A Novel of Near-Future India) (Hardcover)

Sagramanda is a novel set in near future India, following several different viewpoint characters in an eventually interlocking narrative. As such it superficially resembles Ian McDonald's brilliant River of Gods. Foster's novel is not so brilliant as McDonald's, and really it makes no attempt to be brilliant at that level. Rather, it is an enjoyable and fast-moving thriller - and quite successful as such.

Taneer Buthlahee is a scientist who has taken a spectacularly valuable piece of new technology from his company. He wishes to offer it to a rival company - for enough money to make he and his fiancée, the beautiful Depahli De, secure for life - away from India. For Depahli is an Untouchable, and a former prostitute, and thus their relationship is unacceptable to many in their home country. Taneer, thus, is a target - his company has sent a specialist to retrieve him, dead or alive. And his father is after him, to prevent the stain on their family's honor of a link with an Untouchable. Taneer also involves a middleman to help him make a deal, a poor merchant, Sanjay Ghosh, who likewise is trying to make a secure life for he and his beautiful wife. At the same time their city of Sagramanda (transparently a fictionalized Calcutta) is threatened by two very different beasts: a man-eating tiger, and a Frenchwoman who has become a serial killer in worship of Kali. The novel follows, in short segments, all these characters - Taneer, Depahli, Taneer's father, Sanjay, the tiger, the serial killer, the policeman investigating the murders, and more. And, as the reader knows from the start, all these threads will converge, some naturally, some by coincidence.

It's quite an exciting read. The plot moves sharply, and quite believably. The characters are engaging enough, though rather two-dimensional. The portrait of fairly near-future India is fairly well-done, though here the book truly does suffer by comparison with McDonald's altogether more complex and deeper portrait. Sagramanda is no masterpiece, but it is fun and not without deeper shadings.