The Knife and the Serpent

Hugo Award winner Pratt (Prison of Sleep) puts two extraterrestrial women in a planet-shaking, winner-take-all race for love and conquest in this sci-fi romp. Vivian Sattari pretends to be a UC Berkeley grad student, but she’s really an augmented human agent for the Interventionists, a multiverse-spanning group whose mission is to nudge cultures in “good directions.” Meanwhile Tamsin Zmija, the granddaughter of a tech innovator, is shocked to discover her grandmother was a deposed ruler of a parallel Earth. When her downfall is traced to a universe-hopping fascist army, Tamsin gets unwanted help from Vivian, along with the welcome presence of Glenn, her ex and now Vivian’s boyfriend. Trust, betrayal, jealousy, and kinky sex all mix into scenes of wounded intimacy and cinematic battles between killbots and clone armies. Though the verbal and emotional sparring between the leads can turn a bit catty, frothy humor brightens the tone. Pratt’s fans will be well pleased. Agent: Ginger Clark, Ginger Clark Literary. (June)