Three global citizens with uncanny abilities find themselves in a struggle against a Southeast Asian surveillance state. For Zed, a world-famous performer, Tinhau is home but hardly recognisable. He decides to put on a lavish production with his puppeteering partner, Vahid, but opening night is marred by a bombing, throwing the two friends into despair. One day he meets Tara—alluring, philosophical, gifted—who pulls Zed and Vahid into a plot bigger than all of them. "Epic, imaginative, full of twists." –Cyril Wong, author of This Side of Heaven "Daring invention." –Sjón, author of The Blue Fox and CoDex 1962 "Thrilling, textured, fantastical." –Ken Liu, author of The Paper Menagerie and The Grace of Kings "Propulsive, crystalline prose." –Kirstin Chen, author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners

The year is 2040 and an envoy of the North American Union finds himself a fugitive in the Southeast Asian island-nation of Tinhau. Lucas Lehrer is tasked with extending the offer of political partnership to Tinhau's Ministry of Stability. When negotiations break down, he decides to request asylum, and soon encounters an odd series of coincidences in which his deep-seated desires start coming true. Among the backdrop of societal instability and growing nativism, he befriends a young woman who is not what she seems, and who may not be from our universe at all.