The Violent Century

Product Description “If John le Carre wrote a superhero novel about the Cold War, it might be this good.” ―Charles Stross“A torrid tour de force.” ―James Ellroy“Like Watchmen on crack.”―io9A bold experiment has mutated a small fraction of humanity. Nations race to harness the gifted, putting them to increasingly dark ends. At the dawn of global war, flashy American superheroes square off against sinister Germans and dissolute Russians. Increasingly depraved scientists conduct despicable research in the name of victoryBritish agents Fogg and Oblivion, recalled to the Retirement Bureau, have kept a treacherous secret for over forty years. But all heroes must choose when to join the fray, and to whom their allegiance is owed―even for just one perfect summer’s day. Review An NPR Best Book of 2019“The Violent Century is a very sophisticated blend of fantasy and real life. Of flawed superheroes engaging with key events in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Lavie Tidhar is a veteran of seamlessly weaving an intriguing blend of fiction into world changing historical events.”―Strange Alliances“The Violent Centuryis a wonderfully constructed, crafted work that bears a great emotional weight even as it raises more intellectual questions. It’s the kind of work that lingers in the mind long after the reading.”―Fantasy Literature“A brilliantly etched phantasmagoric reconfiguring of that most sizzling of eras―the twilight 20th . . . a torrid tour de force.”―James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and Blood’s a Rover“A brilliant novel of ideas.”― B&N Book Blog“The Violent Century is admirably plotted and well paced, with an atmosphere of menace throughout, I’m puzzled as to why this wasn’t on any award shortlist for its year.”―Jack Deighton, author of A Son of the Rock“Like Watchmen on crack.”―io9“If Nietzche had written an X-Men storyline whilst high on mescaline, it might have read something like The Violent Century.”―Adam Roberts, author of Jack Glass“Pack your bags and go home; the superhero genre is now completed . . . if John le Carre wrote a superhero novel about the Cold War, it might be this good.”―Charles Stross, author of Neptune’s Brood: A Space Opera“The Violent Century is a brilliant story of superheroes and spies and secret histories. It stands with Alan Moore’s Watchmen as an examination of the myths that we made in the 20th Century and the ways they still haunt us now. it’s as dramatic and vital as the best comic books and as beautifully written and evocative as any literary novel today. Read it. You’ll see.”― Christopher Farnsworth, author of Blood Oath and Flashmob“An alternative history tour-de-force. Epic, intense and authentic. Lavie Tidhar reboots the 20th century with spies and superheroes battling for mastery―and the results are electric.”―Tom Harper, author of The Lost Temple“A stunning masterpiece.”―The Independent“Tidhar synthesises the geeky and the political in a vision of world events that breaks new superhero ground.”―The Guardian“It’s hard, but not impossible as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey and others have shown, to create a morally complex, artistically ambitious story based on characters whose origins are not that far removed from the simplicity of Superman, Spiderman, and their ilk. Tidhar has succeeded brilliantly in this task.”―LA Review of Books“A sophisticated, moving and gripping take on 20th century conflicts and our capacity for love and hate, honour and betrayal.”―The Daily Mail“A love story and meditation on heroism, this is an elegiac espionage adventure that demands a second reading.”―Metro“Could keep anyone, regardless of the types of stories they regularly enjoy, interested and engaged. Tidhar has created a book that oozes excellence in both characterisation and storytelling.”―The Huffington Post[STARRED REVIEW] “This study in heroism, love, revenge, and violence will be in demand by lovers of complex, intelligent sf and alternative history. Anyone who enjoys stor