Under the Blue by Oana Aristide
A lead debut novel: a literary thriller about a pandemic, the rise of AI, and how - or why - we might save the human race.
Under the Blue is a novel with a terrible beautyOana Aristide gives us so much to think about: environmental destruction, the melting of the polar ice, eco-terrorism, but all within a heart-stopping story of three survivors travelling through Europe alone. I couldn't look away -- Claire Fuller, author * Bitter Orange *
A super-smart and relentlessly gripping addition to the ecofiction genre, Under the Blue is by turns chilling, incisive, and casually hilarious. It also features one of the most convincing sentient-AI characters in recent fiction -- Sandra Newman, author * The Heavens *
A book of insight and foresight, lit with wit and gorgeous with intelligence -- Jay Griffiths, author * Wild: An Elemental Journey *
The discussions between human and AI are fascinating, revealing different ways of perceiving reality ... a beautifully written, emotionally gripping book. -- Guardian
Beautifully written, filmic. -- Rosa Rankin Gee, author of Dreamland
Oana Aristide has woven deep questions about ethics, artificial intelligence, our treatment of the natural world and the prospect of human extinction into a page-turning thriller with a surprising ending -- Peter Singer, author * The Most Good You Can Do *
Chillingly evocative and relentlessly unsettling. A compelling battle for humanity's survival fought simultaneously on both the physical and intellectual fronts. -- Chris Brookmyre
Highly readable and chilling. Threads together a pandemic storyline with the implications of AI in a way that is very intriguing and especially relevant today -- Mark Lynas, author * Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency *
Under the Blue fuses the 'keep moving' urgency that drives apocalyptic road novels with a restrained love story and a science fiction that is at once unnerving, tender and credible -- Cynan Jones, author * The Dig *
Terrifying but hopeful, smart, vital and urgent: the ultimate must-read. -- Charles Foster, author * Being a Beast *
What an extraordinary book this is; ostensibly a compelling, addictive post-apocalyptic thriller, but also a ferociously intelligent examination of artificial intelligence, a highly accomplished treatise on the function of art, and a lyrical, moving, vitally urgent plea for expanded ecological awareness. It is a book with the force of prophecy -- Niall Griffiths, author * Broken Ghost *
A clear-eyed, unstinting challenge to all our complacencies that is unsettling, brave, philosophical, and as fast-paced as a thriller. A Frankenstein for modern times that, maybe, if we are lucky and if we listen to what it has to say, just might be the book to change our lives * Laura Beatty *
Highly readable and hugely important - an apocalyptic road trip into our near future informed and shaped by the most pressing issues of our present * Owen Sheers *
A startling, intellectual, post-Covid adventure * New Scientist *
Under the Blue's depth of thought shows through in its parallels with real events, and its angle on the subject emerges gradually but resonantly... a sad, angry novel with a surprising note of hope * SFX *
A super-smart and relentlessly gripping addition to the ecofiction genre, Under the Blue is by turns chilling, incisive, and casually hilarious. It also features one of the most convincing sentient-AI characters in recent fiction -- Sandra Newman, author * The Heavens *
A book of insight and foresight, lit with wit and gorgeous with intelligence -- Jay Griffiths, author * Wild: An Elemental Journey *
The discussions between human and AI are fascinating, revealing different ways of perceiving reality ... a beautifully written, emotionally gripping book. -- Guardian
Beautifully written, filmic. -- Rosa Rankin Gee, author of Dreamland
Oana Aristide has woven deep questions about ethics, artificial intelligence, our treatment of the natural world and the prospect of human extinction into a page-turning thriller with a surprising ending -- Peter Singer, author * The Most Good You Can Do *
Chillingly evocative and relentlessly unsettling. A compelling battle for humanity's survival fought simultaneously on both the physical and intellectual fronts. -- Chris Brookmyre
Highly readable and chilling. Threads together a pandemic storyline with the implications of AI in a way that is very intriguing and especially relevant today -- Mark Lynas, author * Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency *
Under the Blue fuses the 'keep moving' urgency that drives apocalyptic road novels with a restrained love story and a science fiction that is at once unnerving, tender and credible -- Cynan Jones, author * The Dig *
Terrifying but hopeful, smart, vital and urgent: the ultimate must-read. -- Charles Foster, author * Being a Beast *
What an extraordinary book this is; ostensibly a compelling, addictive post-apocalyptic thriller, but also a ferociously intelligent examination of artificial intelligence, a highly accomplished treatise on the function of art, and a lyrical, moving, vitally urgent plea for expanded ecological awareness. It is a book with the force of prophecy -- Niall Griffiths, author * Broken Ghost *
A clear-eyed, unstinting challenge to all our complacencies that is unsettling, brave, philosophical, and as fast-paced as a thriller. A Frankenstein for modern times that, maybe, if we are lucky and if we listen to what it has to say, just might be the book to change our lives * Laura Beatty *
Highly readable and hugely important - an apocalyptic road trip into our near future informed and shaped by the most pressing issues of our present * Owen Sheers *
A startling, intellectual, post-Covid adventure * New Scientist *
Under the Blue's depth of thought shows through in its parallels with real events, and its angle on the subject emerges gradually but resonantly... a sad, angry novel with a surprising note of hope * SFX *
Oana was born in Transylvania, to parents of Romanian, Greek and Yemeni background. After the fall of communism the family emigrated to Sweden. Oana has worked in the City of London as a macroeconomist, and as an advisor to the Romanian prime minister, but since 2018 she has lived on a Greek island, converting a heritage villa into a hotel.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781788165839 |
| ISBN 10 | 1788165837 |
| Title | Under the Blue |
| Author | Oana Aristide |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2021-03-11 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for McKitterick Prize 2022 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |