Blackfish City: A Novel

A team of outsiders unite to save a city of refugees and elites on a drowned Earth in this “action-packed science fiction thriller” (Washington Post).

A Best Book of the Month: Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Tor.com, B&N Sci-Fi Fantasy Blog, Amazon

“An ambitious, imaginative, and big-hearted dystopian ensemble. . . . Miller has crafted a thriller that unflinchingly examines the ills of urban capitalism. . . . Rendered in poetic interludes.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

After the climate wars, a floating city is constructed in the Arctic Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. The city’s denizens have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living, however, the city is starting to fray along the edges—crime and corruption have set in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are spawning unrest, and a new disease called “the breaks” is ravaging the population.

When a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced. The “orcamancer,” as she’s known, very subtly brings together four people—each living on the periphery—to stage unprecedented acts of resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about themselves.

Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent—and ultimately very hopeful—novel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection.

“Miller’s poetic prose gives this dystopian story a taut, lyrical edge.” —Entertainment Weekly

“An incisive and beautifully written story of love, revenge, and the power (and failure) of a family in a scarily plausible future.” —Ann Leckie

“I haven’t been this swept away by imagination and worldbuilding since Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.” —Carmen Maria Machado

© 2024 Ecco (Ebook): 9780062684844

Release date

Ebook: April 16, 2024