Michael Crichton meets Marvel's Venom in award-winning author Seth Dickinson's science fiction debut "Viciously funny, vivid to the point of horror, and entirely profound."--Arkady Martine "Magnificent. . . . A science fiction action juggernaut."--Tamsyn Muir A most anticipated book of 2024 according to Goodreads, LitHub, and The New Scientist "Anna, I came to Earth tracking a very old story, a story that goes back to the dawn of time. It's very unlikely that you'll die right now. It wouldn't be narratively complete." Anna Sinjari--refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker--has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. Enter Ssrin, a many-headed serpent alien who is on the run from her own past. Ssrin and Anna are inexorably, dangerously drawn to each other, and their contact reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, Anna must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world.