Sea of Rust

Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2018

A Best Book of 2017 in the Financial Times

An action-packed post-apocalyptic thriller from the critically acclaimed author of Dreams and Shadows.

‘Sea of Rust is a 40-megaton cruise missile of a novel - it'll blow you away and lay waste to your heart… visceral, relentless, breathtaking’ - Joe Hill

Humankind is extinct. Wiped out in a global uprising by the very machines made to serve them.

Now the world is controlled by One World Intelligences - vast mainframes that have assimilated the minds of millions of robots. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality, and Brittle - a loner and scavenger, focused solely on survival - is one of the holdouts.

However individuality comes at a price and after a near-deadly encounter with another AI, Brittle is forced to seek sanctuary. Not easy when an OWI has decided to lay siege to the nearest safe city.

Critically damaged, Brittle has to hold it together long enough to find the essential rare parts to make repairs - but as a robot's CPU gradually deteriorates, all their old memories resurface. For Brittle, that means one haunting memory in particular…

Compared with War for the Planet of the Apes in its scope and ambition, Cargill’s is a stirring epic set against a world reduced to nothing but a junkyard wasteland where, despite everything, life still searches for a way. Moving away from the well-trodden dynamic of a human vs. android battle for survival, Sea of Rust boldly imagines a future beyond humanity where hope still smoulders in the ruins.