Description
"Steeped in elements from real-life South Asian cultures, the worldbuilding is original and intriguing, incorporating dystopian and utopian elements along with current hot issues such as societal inequities, digital surveillance, and technology's impact on humanity. . . . [A] strong and intricate story." -Kirkus Reviews
This 2022 Colorado Book Award Winner is a rare, searing portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia.
The South Asian Province is split in two. Uplanders live in a luxurious, climate-controlled biodome, healthy and artificially youthful forever. Outside, the poor and forgotten scrape by with black-market robotics, in slums threatened by rising sea levels, unbreathable air, and deadly superbugs.
Ashiva works for the Red Hand, an underground network of revolutionaries fighting the government, which is run by a merciless computer algorithm. As a smuggler with the best robotic arm and cybernetic enhancements the slums can offer, her cargo includes the city's most vulnerable abandoned children.
When the brilliant Uplander hacker Riz-Ali stumbles into the Red Hand's dangerous activities, he and Ashiva uncover a horrifying conspiracy that the government will do anything to bury. As armed guardians kidnap children, massive robots flatten the slums, and a pandemic threatens to decimate the city, Ashiva and Riz must put aside their differences to fight the system and save the communities they love.
About the Author
Olivia Chadha writes novels and comic books for MG, YA and adult audiences. She has a PhD in literature and creative writing, and her research centers on the history of exile, precarious borders and boundaries, global folklore, and the relationship between humans, machines and the environment. Balance of Fragile Things is her debut adult literary novel. Rise of the Red Hand, her YA debut, was awarded the Colorado Book Award for Young Adult Literature. She is a contributor to the YA folk horror anthology The Gathering Dark, the desi anthology Magic Has No Borders, and STAR WARS anthology Return of the Jedi: From A Certain Point of View. When not writing she's searching for butterflies on a hike in Colorado. She can be found at www.oliviachadha.com.
Reviews
"Steeped in elements from real-life South Asian cultures, the worldbuilding is original and intriguing, incorporating dystopian and utopian elements along with current hot issues such as societal inequities, digital surveillance, and technology's impact on humanity. . . . [A] strong and intricate story." -Kirkus Reviews
"Olivia Chadha's heartfelt, adroit, brisk and thoughtful debut novel proves that everything old is new again. . . . Rise of the Red Hand proves itself willing to shatter daringly all its initial assumptions and verities, putting its cast through life-altering fires, in order to create new forms of beauty and hope and possible salvation." -Locus Magazine
"Rise of the Red Hand mixes the best of cyberpunk and anime with a tale of family and revolution to create something completely unique--intimate yet action-packed, touching yet thrilling. Olivia Chadha delivers as much action as she does heart, all with a healthy dose of mecha. It kicks ass." -Mike Chen, author of Here and Now and Then
"A captivating sci-fi debut that masterfully weaves in commentary on climate change, technology, and class inequality. Rise of the Red Hand delivers on its promise of an action-packed story of rebellion and resistance, and you'll be rooting for the badass revolutionary hero, Ashiva-a girl with teeth, and a metal fist." -Farah Naz Rishi, author of I Hope You Get This Message
"An exhilarating and relevant story that gives voice to those often unheard and sticks with you long after that last page." -Alechia Dow, author of The Sound of Stars
"Innovative, smartly written, and harrowingly relevant." -Julia Ember, author of The Seafarer's Kiss
"It's everything I want in a cyberpunk story: devastating political and existential stakes, a surging pace, and profoundly rad cybernetics." -H. A. Clarke, author of The Scapegracers
"This is speculative fiction as we rarely see it-with the global south speaking up in a powerful and compellingly imagined near future. Rise of the Red Hand explores the most urgent issues of our time, the soullessness of technology and the gap between rich and poor, with non-stop action propelled by a sharp young cast. More brilliant speculative fiction like this, please!" -Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of The Bloodprint
"Fun, exciting, thoughtful, and very hard to put down. If you're looking for a story about resistance and family set against a world that blends the best of cyberpunk and anime, this book is for you." -Mary Kenney, author of Gamer Girls
Book Information
ISBN 9781645660330
Author Olivia Chadha
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Erewhon Books
Publisher Erewhon Books
Series The Mechanists
Weight(grams) 369g
Dimensions(mm) 215mm * 139mm * 26mm
This 2022 Colorado Book Award Winner is a rare, searing portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia.
The South Asian Province is split in two. Uplanders live in a luxurious, climate-controlled biodome, healthy and artificially youthful forever. Outside, the poor and forgotten scrape by with black-market robotics, in slums threatened by rising sea levels, unbreathable air, and deadly superbugs.
Ashiva works for the Red Hand, an underground network of revolutionaries fighting the government, which is run by a merciless computer algorithm. As a smuggler with the best robotic arm and cybernetic enhancements the slums can offer, her cargo includes the city's most vulnerable abandoned children.
When the brilliant Uplander hacker Riz-Ali stumbles into the Red Hand's dangerous activities, he and Ashiva uncover a horrifying conspiracy that the government will do anything to bury. As armed guardians kidnap children, massive robots flatten the slums, and a pandemic threatens to decimate the city, Ashiva and Riz must put aside their differences to fight the system and save the communities they love.
About the Author
Olivia Chadha writes novels and comic books for MG, YA and adult audiences. She has a PhD in literature and creative writing, and her research centers on the history of exile, precarious borders and boundaries, global folklore, and the relationship between humans, machines and the environment. Balance of Fragile Things is her debut adult literary novel. Rise of the Red Hand, her YA debut, was awarded the Colorado Book Award for Young Adult Literature. She is a contributor to the YA folk horror anthology The Gathering Dark, the desi anthology Magic Has No Borders, and STAR WARS anthology Return of the Jedi: From A Certain Point of View. When not writing she's searching for butterflies on a hike in Colorado. She can be found at www.oliviachadha.com.
Reviews
"Steeped in elements from real-life South Asian cultures, the worldbuilding is original and intriguing, incorporating dystopian and utopian elements along with current hot issues such as societal inequities, digital surveillance, and technology's impact on humanity. . . . [A] strong and intricate story." -Kirkus Reviews
"Olivia Chadha's heartfelt, adroit, brisk and thoughtful debut novel proves that everything old is new again. . . . Rise of the Red Hand proves itself willing to shatter daringly all its initial assumptions and verities, putting its cast through life-altering fires, in order to create new forms of beauty and hope and possible salvation." -Locus Magazine
"Rise of the Red Hand mixes the best of cyberpunk and anime with a tale of family and revolution to create something completely unique--intimate yet action-packed, touching yet thrilling. Olivia Chadha delivers as much action as she does heart, all with a healthy dose of mecha. It kicks ass." -Mike Chen, author of Here and Now and Then
"A captivating sci-fi debut that masterfully weaves in commentary on climate change, technology, and class inequality. Rise of the Red Hand delivers on its promise of an action-packed story of rebellion and resistance, and you'll be rooting for the badass revolutionary hero, Ashiva-a girl with teeth, and a metal fist." -Farah Naz Rishi, author of I Hope You Get This Message
"An exhilarating and relevant story that gives voice to those often unheard and sticks with you long after that last page." -Alechia Dow, author of The Sound of Stars
"Innovative, smartly written, and harrowingly relevant." -Julia Ember, author of The Seafarer's Kiss
"It's everything I want in a cyberpunk story: devastating political and existential stakes, a surging pace, and profoundly rad cybernetics." -H. A. Clarke, author of The Scapegracers
"This is speculative fiction as we rarely see it-with the global south speaking up in a powerful and compellingly imagined near future. Rise of the Red Hand explores the most urgent issues of our time, the soullessness of technology and the gap between rich and poor, with non-stop action propelled by a sharp young cast. More brilliant speculative fiction like this, please!" -Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of The Bloodprint
"Fun, exciting, thoughtful, and very hard to put down. If you're looking for a story about resistance and family set against a world that blends the best of cyberpunk and anime, this book is for you." -Mary Kenney, author of Gamer Girls
Book Information
ISBN 9781645660330
Author Olivia Chadha
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Erewhon Books
Publisher Erewhon Books
Series The Mechanists
Weight(grams) 369g
Dimensions(mm) 215mm * 139mm * 26mm
