Samit Basu
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport shortlisted for the Locus Award (science fiction) 2024 and Dragon Awards 2024 (SF)
Goodreads Choice Awards best SF books 2023 finalist
Out now in the US and Canada. Order here
Cover art by sparth
Most-anticipated SFF of/2nd-half-of/best-of 2023 lists: Tor.com, LitHub, Book Riot, Library Journal, Goodreads, Book Riot, Bookbub, Netgalley’s We are Bookish, Coode Street Podcast, The Fantasy Review, The Portalist, Publisher’s Lunch, Transfer Orbit, The Mary Sue Book Club, Winter is Coming.net, Gizmodo, The Portalist
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren’t helping anyone but themselves.
Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born.
Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves—even if they do take him for granted.
When Shantiport’s resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix… None of the city’s powers will know what hit them.
Read an excerpt from Chapter One
Blurbs
“Ridiculously entertaining.”―Kate Elliott, New York Times bestselling author
“‘Aladdin’ like you’ve never seen it before. Samit Basu deftly weaves a tale that sparkles with the wondrous and wild possibilities of ‘Aladdin’ in space. This is a wild, funny, and exhilarating adventure with a huge heart.”―Tasha Suri, award-winning author of The Jasmine Throne
“So much fun!”–Ann Leckie, New York Times bestselling author
“A wildly exuberant mash-up of top-class storytelling, gleeful mockery, and engaging characters we care desperately about. Basu is playing with tropes and messing about with narrative, while at the same time telling a heartfelt story with high stakes and enthralling action. The most fun I have had with SF in ages.”―KJ Charles, author of The Magpie Lord
“An extravagant, expansive, inventive epic of a book, shifting modes deftly to set heroes of lore on a collision course with video game tropes―and I enjoyed every word of the resulting fireworks. Brainy, deeply felt, and entirely brilliant.”―Malka Older, author of The Mimicking of Known Successes
“Samit Basu is one of the smartest, most entertaining writers working in SF today ― this was an utter delight from first to last, fizzing with ideas and originality.”―Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister
“Wonderfully entertaining―a heady and creative mix of excellent stories. The best of ‘Aladdin’ and Murderbot meet in Samit’s top-tier storyteller’s craft. Inventive, with witty dialogue, and utterly fun! All the heart of myths and the explorative commentary of sci-fi are masterfully shaped together in The Jinn-bot of Shantiport.”―USA Today Bestselling Author, R.R. Virdi
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
From international bestseller Samit Basu, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is an exuberant new sci-fi adventure with heart that reads like a mash-up of Aladdin and Murderbot—with gloriously chaotic results
Order at
Amazon.com / Kindle store / B+N / Apple Books / Walmart / Kobo / Target / Indiebound
“A finalist for this fall’s unofficial Best Book Title contest, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is the latest from Indian SFF specialist Samit Basu, who treats standard sci-fi tropes as dubious advice, best ignored. Mixing futurism and fantasy, his new book features streetwise protagonists, corrupt oligarchs, wry satire, and wish-granting tech. Oh, and monkeybots.”―Goodreads
“Just f***ing delightful from start to finish.”―Tor.com
“From cinematic mecha fights to an aching romance set in the background of a city falling apart and all spiced with a healthy dose of humor, reading The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport was an incredibly fun experience.”―Bookish Brews
Reviews
‘ …somehow manages to be both a weighty study of the responsible use of power and a sidesplitting farce about robot fighters, gangsters, oligarchs and the titular jinn-bot, which explains that it only grants three wishes because of the “free trial period” for unregistered users. ‘ – Charlie Jane Anders, The Washington Post
“Basu’s writing is immersive, evocative, sensory and it put me as a reader right into Shanti-port… peoples this world with a fascinating gallery of characters large and small.” – Nerds of a Feather
“…you’ll end up loving Lina, Bador and Moku; you’ll be thinking about the practicalities of revolutions and about bot rights; and you’ll be wondering if parents try to program their biological children as ruthlessly as they might program a bot.” – Salon Futura
“rubs shoulders with the progressive cutting-edge of contemporary SF” – India Today
“…a fun, spectacle-filled adventure story with good quips from the wisecracking monkey-bot and occasional zingers from Moku” – The Wall Street Journal
“Basu’s sharp social commentary and sense of pageantry enhance this wild romp. Readers will have no choice but to get caught in the whirlwind.” – Publisher’s Weekly
“Between Moku’s endearing charm and Bador’s expressive eyemojis and heroic ambitions, including winning a bot martial arts tournament, the bots steal the show in Basu’s fantastic, futuristic take on the “Aladdin” story.” – Library Journal
“This is a fun and thoughtful re-imagining of the Aladdin story in a high-tech future[.]”―Booklist
“The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is a fabulous blend of Arabia and cyberpunk flair with a cast of characters I would die for.” – The Quill to Live
Interviews/Events
On the Unstacked podcast
At the Clarion West website
Samit Basu 
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