The novel “The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajaniemi was published for the first time in 2010.

Jean le Flambeur is a thief locked in a really special prison. Freed by Mieli, a warrior from the Oort cloud and brought on hher spaceship Perhonen, equipped with an artificial intelligence. His release comes at a price because he is asked to steal something on behalf of the person who hired Mieli but at the same time has to find his lost memories.

In the Oubliette, one of Mars moving cities, Isidore Beautrelet, a student of architecture who has built a reputation as an investigator, is contacted by Christian Unruh after a letter appeared in his residence in a mysterious way. The letter announces the participation of Jean le Flambeur to a party Unruh intends to host.

Hannu Rajaniemi conceived from the beginning a trilogy dedicated to the Jean le Flambeur of which “The Quantum Thief” is the first novel. It has its own conclusion so the reader can decide whether to read the next one without the risk of being left with an incomplete story. The plot of this novel is inspired by one of the author’s favorite characters, the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, and not accidentally it starts with a quote from one of the stories about him.

Obviously, there are other influences of the science fiction kind in “The Quantum Thief” and Hannu Rajaniemi mentioned Roger Zelazny and Ian McDonald. The novel is in fact set in a future where post-humans have colonized the solar system and use technologies that are highly advanced and often really “exotic”. Nevertheless, the characters’ motivations are the same as normal human beings and therefore comprehensible to the reader.

The major difficulty while reading “The Quantum Thief” can come right from the references to the products of various technologies. Their presence suggests that this is a hard science fiction novel but Hannu Rajaniemi explains little or nothing of how they work.

Greg Egan and Stephen Baxter, who currently are perhaps the leading representatives of hard science fiction, use part of their stories to explain the scientific and technological basis of the equipment that appear in them. On the contrary, Hannu Rajaniemi mentions them without explanation, as if the reader already knew them.

This feature of “The Quantum Thief” allows the pace of the narrative to be very fast, as if it were a screenplay rather than a novel. On the other hand, especially at the beginning honestly it can be difficult to understand even the use of hyper-technological objects mentioned.

Hannu Rajaniemi’s choice is clearly to use action and dialogue to develop the plot of “The Quantum Thief”. Understanding not only what are the various devices mentioned but also the political and social situations of the various post-human communities can become almost a game but I understand that for some it’s annoying and it can also ruin the reading of this novel.

In this complex science fiction background, Hannu Rajaniemi includes many ideas so “The Quantum Thief” is also a detective story and a romantic story. The technological elements also serve to raise the issues of the freedom and independence of the various characters. For example, in the Obliette the relationships between the inhabitants and their privacy are governed by complex protocols that are both social and technological.

These problems mainly concern the thief Jean le Flambeur, who is forced to depend on Mieli, who in turn was hired by Joséphine Pellegrini and has an ambivalent attitude about her task. The part of the novel that concerns le Flambeur’s memories echoes the themes of reality and identity typical of Philip K. Dick. It’s no coincidence that his actions are narrated in the first person while those of the other characters are narrated in the third person.

Hannu Rajaniemi’s screenplay-like style allows to develop so much all the themes of the novel. Regarding the many characters, only the main ones are developed and this is already positive considering the above mentioned problems related to their memories, especially those of Jean le Flambeur.

Honestly, I prefer the style of Greg Egan and Stephen Baxter, with more explanations, than Hannu Rajaniemi’s. However, I think “The Quantum Thief” is overall a novel in which many elements are mixed in a clever and intriguing way, therefore, despite some misgivings I find that the result is really good. If you like the themes and the author’s style doesn’t bother you I recommend reading it.