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Speak another people's language. Know them. Become them.
And discover you've destroyed them.
In his training as a spy, Ro was warned: you will always be living a lie.
Jumping into a Star Eater's mind in the first place requires a moment of perfect psychic connection, and he has studied all his life to comprehend their species. Admires them, respects them, is reverent at the idea of being one of them―the only species physiologically capable of mining the element needed for lightyear-spanning space travel. The species all others crave to know more of, but who have notoriously shared so very little. The species Ro's own small civilization, with its dwindling resources and withering reach, needs to know more about.
It will feel real, his elders impressed upon him. It will never be real.
But Ro's certainty runs deep: he will be different. Ro will not be an imposter hiding the truth of his past, because his heart will be one of them. He will be one of them.
To understand is to become. It never occurs to him that the mere act of understanding can destroy.
"Hugo award winner Huang stuns in this philosophical sci-fi exploration of linguistics and lost civilizations...A fascinating linguistic puzzle that will entice hard sci-fi fans and literary scholars alike. This packs an impressive punch." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This fast-paced and sharp novella about alien societies and linguistic assumptions hits all the right notes for readers who enjoy smart science fiction." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Truly ambitious science fiction, melding convincingly alien species with all-too-familiar impulses. Packs an enormous punch in a very small space." ―Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons
"Pitch-perfect science fiction about linguistics and consequences. This book destroyed me." ―Yoon Ha Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Ninefox Gambit
This information about The Language of Liars was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
S. L. Huang is a Hollywood stunt performer, firearms expert, Nebula Award finalist, and Hugo Award winner with a math degree from MIT and credits in productions like Battlestar Galactica and Top Shot. The author of the fantasy novella Burning Roses as well as the Cas Russell novels including Zero Sum Game, Null Set, and Critical Point, Huang's short fiction has also appeared in Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Nature, Tor.com, and more, including numerous best-of anthologies.
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