The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport

May 1, 2023

Lina was programmed before birth to save her city, Shantiport, a failed gateway to the stars, even as her monkey-bot brother longs to roam the universe. All hell breaks loose when Shantiport's reigning tech billionaire compels Lina to seek out a powerful artifact. From international best-selling Indian novelist Basu (The City Inside); with a 75,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 14, 2023
Bollywood meets a cyberpunk take on The Nutcracker in this action-packed frolic from Basu (The City Inside). Now “a planetwide symbol of decay, disrepair and decline,” the once sumptuous capital city Shantiport is ruled by the ineffectual Tiger Clan, which employs a menagerie of drones to conduct surveillance on its inhabitants, including Lina, a tour bus driver, and her brother, Bador, a martial artist monkey-bot yearning to become a space adventurer. Lina uses her talent for espionage to conduct mysterious and mostly dead-end missions connected to her long-missing father’s shady past as a dissident and smuggler of “alien tech.” Meanwhile, Bador gets into a fight with some crocodile-cyborgs over an empty box that once contained an ancient ring, leaving Lina determined to find the ring and learn its powers. To do so, she turns to Shantiport’s most unsavory personalities, including oligarch Shakun Antim, who claims to be her father’s old comrade. As the phantasmagorical plot comes to a head, Lina and Bador face a tragicomic climax involving a royal engagement, an Aladdin-era lamp, and a jinn-bot who grants wishes. Though both Lina and Bador could be better developed, Basu’s sharp social commentary and sense of pageantry enhance this wild romp. Readers will have no choice but to get caught in the whirlwind.

September 1, 2023

In the far-future, on a planet that might be dying, is the sinking city of Shantiport, currently ruled by Tiger Clan and full of surveillance drones, bots, and plenty of corruption. There, human Lina and her robot-monkey brother Bador scavenge for treasure, hoping to find a ring that could change their future. Bador's recent scavenging efforts have produced a story-bot named Moku, who documents his users' lives but also has impressive abilities to deactivate surveillance bots, which the siblings quickly put to use. Their family is under more surveillance than usual because their father, before his disappearance, was suspected of joining the resistance and smuggling alien tech. Soon, their lives become even more challenging when oligarch Shakun Antim believes that Lina is the key to unlocking her father's hiding place for a great alien treasure--the jinn-bot, which will grant its user three wishes. VERDICT Between Moku's endearing charm and Bador's expressive eyemojis and heroic ambitions, including winning a bot martial arts tournament, the bots steal the show in Basu's (The City Inside) fantastic, futuristic take on the "Aladdin" story.--Melissa DeWild

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2023
Human Lina and her bot brother Bador think Moku is a useful Story-Bot, recording their stories and helping them when he can. He won't let them know his actual capabilities to avoid tempting them as they make their way in Shantiport. A past Tiger Clan invasion has left their city a symbol of decay, disrepair, and decline. And if surveillance is any indication, the Tiger Clan is interested in their mother, Zohra Ejadi. Lina works as a tour bus driver as Bador searches the ruins and combs the detritus for tech or information about a ring Lina thinks is a key to free Shantiport from the influence of the clans. They work from the temples of the Ekhanei to arrange an acquaintance with Juiful when he goes on walkabout from the Tiger Palace. This is a fun and thoughtful re-imagining of the Aladdin story in a high-tech future as Moku narrates his observations of the world Lina and Bador are trying to improve.

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