BE MY ENEMY, the second novel in the Everness trilogy, is out now in Italy! Written by Ian McDonald, and published by Mondadori, here’s the synopsis…

Everett Singh è riuscito a fuggire dalle grinfie di Charlotte Villiers, ma a un prezzo altissimo: la perdita di suo padre, il fisico Tejendra Singh, in uno degli universi paralleli del multiverso. Ora, a bordo della Everness, Everett sta studiando l’Infundibulum, la mappa dei mondi della Panoplia redatta dal padre, per effettuare il prossimo salto Heisenberg che condurrà lui e l’equipaggio della nave in un altro dei mondi paralleli. Ma la malvagia Charlotte Villiers è un passo avanti a lui…

Mondadori has also published the first in the series, PLANESRUNNER, as TERRA INCOGNITA. The trilogy is published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books, and in the US by Pry Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis for BE MY ENEMY…

Everett Singh has escaped from his enemies with the Infundibulum: the key to all the parallel worlds. But his freedom has come at a price: the loss of his father to one of the billions of parallel universes in the Panopoly.

E1 was the first Earth to create the Heisenberg Gate, the means to jump between worlds, but it was quarantined long ago. No one goes in… and nothing comes out. But E1 has something that Everett needs: the means to find his father.

It’s lucky that he has the support of Airship Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her daughter Sen and the unique crew of the Everness, because Everett is about to discover the horrifying secret of E1 — and with it, his deadliest enemy!

Here are just a few of the reviews BE MY ENEMY has received so far, as well as some for the other books in the series…

‘[A] pacy book filled with tropes McDonald takes from across the genre and makes his own, whether it is AI or nanotech, unpeopled Earths or post-apocalyptic worlds… In softer hands these books could become a “monster of the week” series but here there are consequences… I can’t wait to see what happens next.’ — Strange Horizons on BE MY ENEMY

‘McDonald proves the concept of his world of the Infundibulum has legs, and provides some intriguing new ideas amid an entertaining adventure… Lots of ideas thrown out and explored; good development of main characters… Malevolent Nanotech. More world hopping. A solidly entertaining second volume to the series… With all of these ideas, concepts and worldbuilding, McDonald, in terms of his core characters, provides us with meaty development and growth… I was more than satisfied with the book and anyone, young adult or otherwise, who has read the first book will find much to love here, and will likely be as eager as I for the next volume in the series.’ — SF Signal on BE MY ENEMY

‘[A]bsolutely triumphant sequel to Ian McDonald’s pulse-pounding young-adult science fiction novel PLANESRUNNER… a rollicking, multidimensional tale… In BE MY ENEMY, there’s a lot more of what made PLANESRUNNER great — tremendous action scenes, cunning escapes, genius attacks on the ways that multidimensional travel might be weaponized, horrific glimpses of shadowy powers and sinister technologies. But BE MY ENEMY also has more of what makes McDonald’s adult fiction some of the best work I’ve ever read: a gifted ear for poesie that makes the English language sing, the unapologetic presumption of the reader’s ability to understand what’s going on without a lot of hand-holding, and a technological mysticism that never explicitly says when the literal stops and the fantasy starts…’ — BoingBoing

‘This is vintage McDonald, with beautifully drawn settings, complex characters and deft plotting. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped, Everett’s investigations lead him to discover that his father was working to open portals between multiple worlds. Everett finds a map linking the worlds, which various sinister organisations desire – and the thrilling chase is on.’ — Guardian on PLANESRUNNER

‘The book begins with its young and likeably geeky protagonist, Everett Singh (named for physicist Hugh Everett, who came up with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics back in the ‘50s) witnessing the kidnapping of his scientist father. But why would anyone want to drag an apparently unimportant academic off the street in London? Because, it turns out, Singh Sr has created the Infundibulum, a map of all known parallel Earths. Soon, Everett heads through a gateway and into a steampunk-tinged adventure. And yes, an airship is involved. But don’t hold that against McDonald, because this is a novel that’s knowing in the way it uses SF tropes without ever coming close to being condescending towards its intended audience. Science nerds of all ages may balk at the amount of exposition in the early chapters (arguably necessary, considering we’re talking quantum here), but most will be too busy getting lost in a cracking adventure story.’ — SFX on PLANESRUNNER

‘The marvelous Everness series takes readers to a world with highly evolved dinosaurs in this third voyage through parallel universes… McDonald lets his imagination run rampant without abandoning credibility, tackling real scientific concepts such as confirmation bias, a feature lacking in far too much science fiction. Fans might wish for more focus on the original Everett, but eventually, the three storylines weave themselves together nicely, setting up another sequel with hints of forthcoming romance. Endlessly fascinating and fun.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review) on EMPRESS OF THE SUN

‘EMPRESS OF THE SUN revels in its pulp adventure milieu… McDonald has created an incredibly “storyable” universe for his characters to have their adventures in, and he keeps those adventures coming fast and furious… Between the adventures, the pacing, the characters, and the narrative arcs, there’s a lot to enjoy about this book and the overall series.’ — Strange Horizons