History Literature / TheQuantumThief

Also due to make life difficult for Isidore is the GentlemanThief Jean le Flambeur, a figure of legend who's modeled himself on ArseneLupin. A debt of honor requires Jean to commit a daring heist, but first he must steal back his own memories from the Oubliette of Mars. He's accompanied by Mieli, the bitter post-human masterminding the mission, her flirtatious spaceship, and the goddess she reluctantly serves.

* YouWillBeAssimilated: If the Sobornost has their way, all minds will be uploaded as Gogols into their planet-sized ''gubernya'' diamond brains. It seems that they will ask a permission from [[{{Transhuman}} Transhumans first, at least if they're not hostile. Baseline humans don't get a say in the matter.

* BilingualBonus[=/=]MeaningfulName: The Oortians speak the author's native tongue, Finnish. Mieli means "mind" and Sydän means "heart". Perhonen stands for "Butterfly".

* BilingualBonus[=/=]MeaningfulName: The Oortians speak the author's native tongue, Finnish. Mieli means "mind" and Sydän means "heart".

* BarbarianTribe: The Oortians are seen like this by the rest of the galaxy. They live in hollowed out comets in small family groups and construct handcrafted spaceships, AIs and other fantastic creations out of smartcoral through religious rites.

** Also used, though not described in very great detail, in the wildcode desert surrounding the city of Sirr on Earth, as complicated electronics and nanotech get destroyed in a flash by the native nanotechnology

* ViewersAreGeniuses: The book introduces numerous exotic concepts by simply referring to them by name, and expects the reader to deduce from the context what they mean. Even when a concept ''is'' described, it's rarely done in great detail, or more than once. A great deal of the author's astronomical expertise is also poured into the story, using for the moment hypothetical laws of physics as basis for several [[MagicFromTechnology Sufficiently Advanced]] technological innovations, such as strangelet bombs.

* {{Transhuman}}: Practically every character in the story, to greater or lesser extent.

** Not a Bilingual Bonus, but [[spoiler:knowing that 'oubliette' is a word for a type of dungeon does make a reveal at the end less surprising.]]

The book has direct continuation in ''Fractal Prince'' that came out in late 2012.

* BrokenBird: Mieli. She devoutly serves the Sobornost Founder Pellegrini to [[spoiler:to get the uploaded mind of her beloved Sydän back to her.

* SapientShip[=/=]SpaceshipGirl: Perhonen.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The city of Oubliette on terraformed Mars is built on the backs of titanic Atlas Quiets, uploaded human minds controlling gigantic robots. In result it's always on the move, and its layout is constantly changing as the Quiets move around each other. As far as bizzareness of architecture goes, it's actually one of the more ''normal'' locations in the novel's transhuman future.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: What would you expect from an upload collective descended from an online roleplaying guild?

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Oortians are descendents of Finns, while the Zoku date their history to [[spoiler:the Internet subcultures of the 21st century.]

Also due to make life difficult for Isidore is the GentlemanThief Jean le Flambeur, a figure of legend who's modeled himself on ArseneLupin. A debt of honor requires Jean to commit a daring heist, but first he must steal back his own memories from the Oubliette of Mars. He's accompanied by Mieli, the bitter post-human masterminding the mission, her flirtatious spaceship, and the goddess she reluctantly serves.

* ClockPunk: The Oubliette, most notably with the Watches that measure each citizen's time as a Noble before they are turned into robotic Quiet.

* GentlemanThief: The title character.
* HideYourLesbians: The very first chapter establishes that Mieli is lesbian, and that her entire motivation for serving the Sobornost is to reunite with her lover and soulmate Sydän. However, it never comes up for the rest of the novel, since she isn't the book's main focus character and isn't prone to revealing her motives easily. Considering how important Sydän is made to be in the first chapter it can be assumed that she will play a greater part in a later part of the trilogy.

* StickyFingers: Jean will risk going to a literal hell just to steal a piece of jewelry.

** Not a Bilingual Bonus, but [[spoiler:knowing that an oubliette is a word for a dungeon does make a reveal at the end less surprising.]]

* BilingualBonus[=/=]MeaningfulName: The Oortians speak the author's native tongue, Finnish. Mieli means "mind" and Sydän means "heart".

* StickyFingers: Jean will risk going to a literal hell just to steal a piece of jewelry.

* ExcuseMyFrench: Mieli swears like a sailor at times -- in Finnish.
* ExpendableClone: The Sobornost Founders have uploaded their minds to millions of artificial bodies. These collectives are called copyclans, and their members synchronize their memories and brainpower whenever they are together, allowing them to be everywhere in their massive empire at once. It doesn't matter if a few die, since there's always backups. Although their interests don't always coincide, and some of the Founders are said to be in war against themselves. Also, the main protagonist, Jean le Flambeur has millions of copies of himself trapped forever in the Dilemma Prison, but he's just happy that he was the one that got away.

!!''The Quantum Thief'' provides examples of:

* EmperorScientist: The seven Sobornost Founders are implied to have been the first group of scientists who figured out human mind uploading and quantum entanglement, and realized that this puts them above any corporation or government on Earth in terms of power if they keep it for themselves.[[spoiler: The King of Mars also qualifies.]]

* Bizarrchitecture: The city of Oubliette on terraformed Mars is built on the backs of titanic Atlas Quiets, uploaded human minds controlling gigantic robots. In result it's always on the move, and its layout is constantly changing as the Quiets move around each other. As far as bizzareness of architecture goes, it's actually one of the more ''normal'' locations in the novel's transhuman future.

* SapientShip/SpaceshipGirl: Perhonen.

Bizarrchitecture: The city of Oubliette on terraformed Mars is built on the backs of titanic Atlas Quiets, uploaded human minds controlling gigantic robots. In result it's always on the move, and its layout is constantly changing as the Quiets move around each other. As far as bizzareness of architecture goes, it's actually one of the more ''normal'' locations in the novel's transhuman future.
ClockPunk: The Oubliette, most notably with the Watches that measure each citizen's time as a Noble before they are turned into robotic Quiet.
EmperorScientist: The seven Sobornost Founders are implied to have been the first group of scientists who figured out human mind uploading and quantum entanglement, and realized that this puts them above any corporation or government on Earth in terms of power if they keep it for themselves.[[spoiler: The King of Mars also qualifies.]]
ExpendableClone: The Sobornost Founders have uploaded their minds to millions of artificial bodies. These collectives are called copyclans, and their members synchronize their memories and brainpower whenever they are together, allowing them to be everywhere in their massive empire at once. It doesn't matter if a few die, since there's always backups. Although their interests don't always coincide, and some of the Founders are said to be in war against themselves. Also, the main protagonist, Jean le Flambeur has millions of copies of himself trapped forever in the Dilemma Prison, but he's just happy that he was the one that got away.
GentlemanThief: The title character.
HideYourLesbians: The very first chapter establishes that Mieli is lesbian, and that her entire motivation for serving the Sobornost is to reunite with her lover and soulmate Sydän. However, it never comes up for the rest of the novel, since she isn't the book's main focus character and isn't prone to revealing her motives easily. Considering how important Sydän is made to be in the first chapter it can be assumed that she will play a greater part in a later part of the trilogy.
ProudWarriorRaceGuy: What would you expect from an upload collective descended from an online roleplaying guild?
SapientShip/SpaceshipGirl: Perhonen.
StickyFingers: Jean will risk going to a literal hell just to steal a piece of jewelry.

Also due to make life difficult for Isidore is the GentlemanThief Jean le Flambeur, a figure of legend who's modeled himself on ArseneLupin. A debt of honor requires Jean to commit a daring heist, but first he must steal back his own memories from the Oubliette of Mars.