Ancestral Machines - (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley (Paperback)

About the Book

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2016 by Orbit"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

A new standalone epic space opera, set in the same world as the Humanity's Fire trilogy.
No world is safe.

The Warcage: two hundred worlds harnessed to an articial sun in a feat of unprecedented stellar engineering. Built to travel through space as a monument to peace between alien species, now its voracious rulers have turned it into a nightmarish wasteland, capturing new planets for slaves and resources, then discarding the old.

Now, when a verdant agri-world is pulled out of its orbit, the captain of a smuggler ship must journey into the Warcage to rescue his crew.

Review Quotes

"A well-constructed space opera...a thick and satisfying 10-course meal of starchy pageantry, meaty characters, bitter losses, and sweet romance."--Publishers Weekly on Seeds of Earth

"Michael Cobley has added a fine piece of work to a grand tradition."--SF Crow's Nest on The Ascendant Stars

"Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera ... a worthy addition to the genre."--Iain M. Banks on Seeds of Earth

"Seeds of Earth has everything: well-realised extraterrestrials, scheming artificial intelligences, set-piece space battles and bizarre technology from the dawn of the galaxy."--The Guardian (UK) on Seeds of Earth

"Space opera has never been in more capable hands."--The Guardian (UK) on The Orphaned Worlds

"The invention is endless."--SFX on Seeds of Earth

About the Author

Michael Cobley was born in Leicester, England and has lived in Glasgow, Scotland for most of his life. He has studied engineering, been a DJ and has an abiding interest in democratic politics.

His previous books include the Shadowkings dark fantasy trilogy and Iron Mosaic, a short story collection. Seeds of Earth, The Orphaned Worlds, and The Ascendant Stars, books one, two and three of the Humanity's Fire sequence, were his first full-length forays into space opera.