Reviews

• “Dead Empires isn’t a simple book to be taken in while sipping a drink by the pool. Readers will have to keep their focus in Steinar Bragi’s sci-fi world. Therein awaits an incredible adventure, where the narrative flows effortlessly, the tension increases gradually, and it all ends with an incredible, unexpected twist. /…/ One of his best books.”

• “It’s a joy that an author who can do anything, decides to write an intelligent scif-fi story like this, totally within the genre yet not. Because this is, if you’ll excuse me, literature! /…/ A case of purebred intellectual sci-fi. /…/ Incredibly well-written. /…/ The narrative takes on an air of dark American noir, which makes it truly thrilling. I ran home so I could keep on reading.”

• “The fusion, interaction and conflict of man and machine has always been a pet subject of sci-fi, but the world of Steinar Bragi’s novel isn’t really distant or unlikely today, making it even more horrifying. /…/ Steinar’s approach to sci-fi is direct as well as diagonal; the work has strong associations with classical 20th century sci-fi of authors like Philip K. Dick and Isaac Aasimov, but has its own, very charismatic rhythm, both ideologically and in its style. /…/ Dead Empires is an extremely effective and well-written novel. The narration keeps you turning the pages, pulling the reader this way and that with a wealth of imagination, yet [Bragi] never falls into the trap of letting his literature get lost in a flood ideas, instead creating a unified world telling a deeply touching story that, in the end, is about what it means to be human.”

• “Dead Empires is exciting sci-fi and then some. The author draws his inspiration from thrillers and sci-fi formulas, but puts a dark twist on them. This is a classical dystopian novel; it’s exciting and keeps you turning the pages.”