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The Sentence
What if you’ve been frozen in stasis for a hundred years for a crime you may or may not have committed?
An impoverished young man, Jagat, is found guilty of murder. For his crime, he is sentenced to the highest form of punishment—the sleep of death for a century, with the promise of revival should his innocence ever be proven.
But his act sparks a bloody conflict in the great city of Peruma, with the Commune, an anarchist collective of workers, revolting against the Council, which has ruled Peruma for four hundred years. Drained by a war without end, Council and Commune negotiate a hundred-year treaty that is to be enforced by an impartial body: the guardians of the Confederation.
And now, a century later, the Charter is a week away from lapsing. Tensions run high in Peruma. As an uncertain future looms, Nila, a young guardian, is approached by a mysterious woman who insists that Jagat’s case be reopened before it’s too late. Drawn by the prospect of undoing a possible historical injustice at a fraught time, Nila agrees. But as she begins to unearth the past, forces, known and unknown, thwart her at every turn.
What secrets does the city hold? Who is working in the shadows against her—and why? What is the price of resurrecting a martyr? The Sentence raises questions of justice, rights and ethics that will echo in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page.
An impoverished young man, Jagat, is found guilty of murder. For his crime, he is sentenced to the highest form of punishment—the sleep of death for a century, with the promise of revival should his innocence ever be proven.
But his act sparks a bloody conflict in the great city of Peruma, with the Commune, an anarchist collective of workers, revolting against the Council, which has ruled Peruma for four hundred years. Drained by a war without end, Council and Commune negotiate a hundred-year treaty that is to be enforced by an impartial body: the guardians of the Confederation.
And now, a century later, the Charter is a week away from lapsing. Tensions run high in Peruma. As an uncertain future looms, Nila, a young guardian, is approached by a mysterious woman who insists that Jagat’s case be reopened before it’s too late. Drawn by the prospect of undoing a possible historical injustice at a fraught time, Nila agrees. But as she begins to unearth the past, forces, known and unknown, thwart her at every turn.
What secrets does the city hold? Who is working in the shadows against her—and why? What is the price of resurrecting a martyr? The Sentence raises questions of justice, rights and ethics that will echo in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page.
396 pages, Paperback
Published October 28, 2024
6 people are currently reading
661 people want to read
About the author
Gautam Bhatia
16 books972 followersGautam Bhatia is an Indian science fiction writer.
He is the author of the SF Duology, The Wall and The Horizon, both of which featured on Locus Magazine's Recommended Reading Lists in 2021 (Best Debut Novel) and 2022 (Best Science Fiction Novel). The Wall was a finalist for the 2021 Valley of Words Best English Language Novel Prize. Bhatia was long-listed for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer at both the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), and the 2022 WorldCon.
Bhatia is also the co-ordinating editor of Strange Horizons, a weekly online magazine of fantasy and science fiction, which won the British Fantasy Award in 2021, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Awards every year since 2013. In 2022, he was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for his work with the magazine.
His reviews and essays on science fiction and fantasy have appeared in Strange Horizons, The Hindustan Times, Scroll, and The Wire.
In his spare time, he is a lawyer.
He is the author of the SF Duology, The Wall and The Horizon, both of which featured on Locus Magazine's Recommended Reading Lists in 2021 (Best Debut Novel) and 2022 (Best Science Fiction Novel). The Wall was a finalist for the 2021 Valley of Words Best English Language Novel Prize. Bhatia was long-listed for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer at both the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), and the 2022 WorldCon.
Bhatia is also the co-ordinating editor of Strange Horizons, a weekly online magazine of fantasy and science fiction, which won the British Fantasy Award in 2021, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Awards every year since 2013. In 2022, he was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for his work with the magazine.
His reviews and essays on science fiction and fantasy have appeared in Strange Horizons, The Hindustan Times, Scroll, and The Wire.
In his spare time, he is a lawyer.
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February 11, 2025A legal-ethical SF thriller/mystery, absolutely cracking.
The premise is terrific--young lawyer has a chance to right a possible hundred-year-old injustice at a time of massive social turmoil. It's tense and twisty and engaging, with a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, and we're compulsively drawn along the path of breadcrumbs with Nila.
It also has a LOT to think about, largely the question of what is justice, what is solidarity, what happens when rights and freedoms clash, and the concept of being morally unlucky (aka whether your actions make you a hero or villain depend very much on how the dice fall). And there is also that rare and precious thing, a lovely depiction of a male/female friendship that isn't burdened by sex or attraction or gender bullshit.
It's far more exciting than a book about legal ethics has any right to be and I enjoyed this hugely. It's also terrifically edited and the Indian print edition is beautifully produced.
The premise is terrific--young lawyer has a chance to right a possible hundred-year-old injustice at a time of massive social turmoil. It's tense and twisty and engaging, with a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, and we're compulsively drawn along the path of breadcrumbs with Nila.
It also has a LOT to think about, largely the question of what is justice, what is solidarity, what happens when rights and freedoms clash, and the concept of being morally unlucky (aka whether your actions make you a hero or villain depend very much on how the dice fall). And there is also that rare and precious thing, a lovely depiction of a male/female friendship that isn't burdened by sex or attraction or gender bullshit.
It's far more exciting than a book about legal ethics has any right to be and I enjoyed this hugely. It's also terrifically edited and the Indian print edition is beautifully produced.
January 1, 2025
It was almost as if the protagonist was a friend.
The character development for the two main characters is excellent. Keeps you wanting to know more. The sci-fi bits were endearing more than amazing, which may not have been intentional but is still a plus. The philosophy arcs in arguments and discussions are entertaining, even for those that don’t do philosophy.
One of the most readable sci-fi books I’ve read. In the Indian fiction space, definitely top marks. Page turner. 4.5/5 (minor grouse: I don’t understand what skimmers are - for all that progress that’s imagined, why couldn’t people just use public transport?)
The character development for the two main characters is excellent. Keeps you wanting to know more. The sci-fi bits were endearing more than amazing, which may not have been intentional but is still a plus. The philosophy arcs in arguments and discussions are entertaining, even for those that don’t do philosophy.
One of the most readable sci-fi books I’ve read. In the Indian fiction space, definitely top marks. Page turner. 4.5/5 (minor grouse: I don’t understand what skimmers are - for all that progress that’s imagined, why couldn’t people just use public transport?)
October 25, 2025
This one, I am going to read again to savour the moral discourses.
September 13, 2025
a fantastic fantastic novel. It is a gripping story by itself made even more interesting by all the easter egg references to Indian legal and political events.
June 5, 2025
The author's bio says, at the end, "In his other life, he is a lawyer and a public commentator on civil and constitutional rights in India". And that's the Gautam Bhatia that I knew of because I used to read his blog posts and refer to his work for my public policy course. And out of the blue, I see 'The Sentence' by Gautam Bhatia at Blossoms. The premise was cracking. I knew I had to read it.
Reading this book was equivalent to biting into a ripe tart fruit. The world-building was great, the characters were well-sketched out, the plot presented you with just enough to keep you thinking and not get overwhelmed. I don't know if it's me - I'm not an avid sci-fi reader; but I found the premise of this book very unique. It was rich with history by the time we met our protagonist. There's no stand-in character for the reader a.k.a someone who's new to this world and discovering it with the reader - and yet, not one bit of the world-building felt like an info-dump.
The true juicy part has to be the multiple conundrums that the author presents to us (his inspirations are written about in the appendix). These parts of the book not only made me understand the main characters, i.e., Nila and Maru, more, but they also helped me envision the social fabric of Peruma.
Listen, this is why we read fiction, right? To discover a story and a world so exciting that you are actually able to see it in your head and root for their characters. If there's a follow-up to this, I will be sure to pick it up on the first day!
Reading this book was equivalent to biting into a ripe tart fruit. The world-building was great, the characters were well-sketched out, the plot presented you with just enough to keep you thinking and not get overwhelmed. I don't know if it's me - I'm not an avid sci-fi reader; but I found the premise of this book very unique. It was rich with history by the time we met our protagonist. There's no stand-in character for the reader a.k.a someone who's new to this world and discovering it with the reader - and yet, not one bit of the world-building felt like an info-dump.
The true juicy part has to be the multiple conundrums that the author presents to us (his inspirations are written about in the appendix). These parts of the book not only made me understand the main characters, i.e., Nila and Maru, more, but they also helped me envision the social fabric of Peruma.
Listen, this is why we read fiction, right? To discover a story and a world so exciting that you are actually able to see it in your head and root for their characters. If there's a follow-up to this, I will be sure to pick it up on the first day!
December 30, 2024
Peruma is a city divided by wealth and politics. One hundred years after the death of a Director and the imprisonment of the gun man on the bridge, Jagat, under 'the Sentence', pupil Guardian Nila is briefed to defend Jagat in a retrial before his long sleep becomes a permanent death sentence.
This glorious tome is for those who love their political intrigue and court drama, complex legal systems and ethical dilemmas. It's a slow burn start with more emphasis on the world set up, but nothing felt unnecessary and once it got going I couldn't put it down.
Gautam Bhatia kindly sent me an e-Arc of this book as it is not yet available in the UK.
This glorious tome is for those who love their political intrigue and court drama, complex legal systems and ethical dilemmas. It's a slow burn start with more emphasis on the world set up, but nothing felt unnecessary and once it got going I couldn't put it down.
Gautam Bhatia kindly sent me an e-Arc of this book as it is not yet available in the UK.
March 6, 2025
Much like his earlier novels, The Wall and The Horizon, Gautam Bhatia has created a secondary world with action taking place within a single city in his deeply interesting new book, The Sentence. On one level, this is a story about two sections of a divided city, Peruma, one ruled by a Council of corporations and the wealthy, the other organized by its worker population under anarchist principles and called the Commune. Like Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed, the novel examines that clash of ideologies but sets it within a powerful story of a search not only for justice but also for the emotional truth that may guide the future of this divided city to peace or catapult it back into civil war.
The story opens with a chapter that recounts the defining event, or inflection point in the novel’s terms, in the history of Peruma. The city was once the capital of an empire embracing the entire “subcontinent” (this is not a place in our world but sounds like India) but is now a city-state racked by class divisions between wealthy resource owners in an area called High Town and the workers who live across the Urai River in Low Town. One day, a hundred years before the present of the story, the Director of the city, accompanied only by his assistant, is crossing the river on a bridge when an explosion occurs and as the dust settles a young man appears, uttering a brief sentence, and a shot kills the Director. The man, known as Jagat, is arrested and tried that same day. He says not one word in his defense and is quickly condemned, in the absence of a death penalty, to the “sleep of death” or cryosleep. Jagat becomes the hero of the anarchist revolution of the workers’ section of town that immediately follows.
After a bloody war, a difficult peace becomes possible that allows the Commune to govern itself and the High Town, now known as the Council, to follow its own form of governance. Disputes are to be handled by laws and courts in the charge of a strictly neutral cadre of attorneys who devote their lives from an early age to impartiality. They live in their own section of the city known as the Chapterhouse. The economy, which depends on the mining of a mineral called Mandalium, is secured through a separate agreement, and both sides agree to an organized forgetting of the war and to revisit the governing structure after one hundred years.
That brings us to the beginning of the present day when the greatest law case of all, Council vs. Commune, will decide the future governance of Peruma. Primarily at stake is the Mandalium Agreement that divides mineral profits between the two sides of Peruma. It is an agreement the Commune regards as unjust, and they long for a victory that would put everything up for renegotiation.
Nila is the star pupil of the Chapterhouse and is widely assumed to be one of the senior pupils to be assigned to the case under the guidance of the Guardians who are the fully licensed practitioners. Yet, for some reason, she is passed over. While she is trying to absorb this shock with her friend Maru, she receives a message from the great-granddaughter of Jagat. She wants Nila to take a private case seeking to overturn the sleeping death sentence. There is a strict time limit of one week to resolve the case since at the end of that time Jagat’s cryosleep chamber will be shut down, and he will die. And so a countdown begins, quite literally, as Nila accepts what all assume is a hopeless case.
.........
Nila is the beating heart and soul of this narrative. While she follows the logic of law in her thinking, she is mostly intuitive and constantly dealing with her emotional sense to guide her actions. In a story with little action, she keeps it on a compelling level because every twist and turn means so much to her. Where I might have expected Bhatia, who is a constitutional lawyer, to discourse on the difficult questions of morality and governance that are involved in Peruma’s history, he is always focused on the human meaning and struggle and cost that are the real drivers of social and legal change.
...........
Unfortunately, this great story has only been published thus far in India, though you can get a paperback copy through American outlets in about a week. I’m hoping this novel finds publishers in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere because it richly deserves wider publicity and distribution.
Read the full review at SciFi Mind.
The story opens with a chapter that recounts the defining event, or inflection point in the novel’s terms, in the history of Peruma. The city was once the capital of an empire embracing the entire “subcontinent” (this is not a place in our world but sounds like India) but is now a city-state racked by class divisions between wealthy resource owners in an area called High Town and the workers who live across the Urai River in Low Town. One day, a hundred years before the present of the story, the Director of the city, accompanied only by his assistant, is crossing the river on a bridge when an explosion occurs and as the dust settles a young man appears, uttering a brief sentence, and a shot kills the Director. The man, known as Jagat, is arrested and tried that same day. He says not one word in his defense and is quickly condemned, in the absence of a death penalty, to the “sleep of death” or cryosleep. Jagat becomes the hero of the anarchist revolution of the workers’ section of town that immediately follows.
After a bloody war, a difficult peace becomes possible that allows the Commune to govern itself and the High Town, now known as the Council, to follow its own form of governance. Disputes are to be handled by laws and courts in the charge of a strictly neutral cadre of attorneys who devote their lives from an early age to impartiality. They live in their own section of the city known as the Chapterhouse. The economy, which depends on the mining of a mineral called Mandalium, is secured through a separate agreement, and both sides agree to an organized forgetting of the war and to revisit the governing structure after one hundred years.
That brings us to the beginning of the present day when the greatest law case of all, Council vs. Commune, will decide the future governance of Peruma. Primarily at stake is the Mandalium Agreement that divides mineral profits between the two sides of Peruma. It is an agreement the Commune regards as unjust, and they long for a victory that would put everything up for renegotiation.
Nila is the star pupil of the Chapterhouse and is widely assumed to be one of the senior pupils to be assigned to the case under the guidance of the Guardians who are the fully licensed practitioners. Yet, for some reason, she is passed over. While she is trying to absorb this shock with her friend Maru, she receives a message from the great-granddaughter of Jagat. She wants Nila to take a private case seeking to overturn the sleeping death sentence. There is a strict time limit of one week to resolve the case since at the end of that time Jagat’s cryosleep chamber will be shut down, and he will die. And so a countdown begins, quite literally, as Nila accepts what all assume is a hopeless case.
.........
Nila is the beating heart and soul of this narrative. While she follows the logic of law in her thinking, she is mostly intuitive and constantly dealing with her emotional sense to guide her actions. In a story with little action, she keeps it on a compelling level because every twist and turn means so much to her. Where I might have expected Bhatia, who is a constitutional lawyer, to discourse on the difficult questions of morality and governance that are involved in Peruma’s history, he is always focused on the human meaning and struggle and cost that are the real drivers of social and legal change.
...........
Unfortunately, this great story has only been published thus far in India, though you can get a paperback copy through American outlets in about a week. I’m hoping this novel finds publishers in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere because it richly deserves wider publicity and distribution.
Read the full review at SciFi Mind.
November 13, 2024
Nila M. is a Guardian-in-training, preparing to litigate cases between the capitalist Council and the anarchist Commune of Peruma City. The two are in a period of negotiated peace after bloody conflict; the Commune, on one side of the river, rebelled against wealth inequity, labour issues, and the rule (the hegemony, really) of the Council, after four hundred years. The triggering event for the revolution was the murder of the ruling Director by a young man, Jagat R., which was witnessed by the only other survivor of the incident, Director Purul’s secretary, Milana Maran. Jagat R. was sentenced to death, which in this society means cryostasis, a death sentence that’s legally and medically reversible for up to one hundred years after it’s carried out; after that, there is too much physiological damage to revive the person. The anniversary of the murder (and sentence) is coming up, and Nila is engaged by Jagat R.’s family to prove his innocence, and therefore free him. But that will shake the foundations of the revolution, and threaten the very idea of the Commune: if Jagat is innocent, then he is not the martyr that sparked the revolution.
*The Sentence* explores the idea of ‘peace’ after a class war, and the conflict between justice and ideals. It sets forth arguments for readers about what really matters. Nila’s belief in justice is absolute: her personal motto is “Let justice be done, though the world burns.” Guardians, who keep the peace between the two sides, are trained to be completely impartial, and to forget where they came from. But Nila was born in the Commune, and the possibility that she may destroy its foundation if she wins is a source of narrative tension. In addition, there are the shadowy interested parties that are tracking her: are they working for good, or evil?
And then there’s the exploration by the author of the death sentence itself: is a reversible sentence better in some way that capital punishment? What happens when someone is revived into a time and place they don’t recognise? And if they were innocent all along, does their eventual revival then deliver justice?
Other questions: how important is forgetting and memory in nation-building, in negotiating peace? I found the exploration of this in this novel moving, as this is a question that is still being argued in my own country, forty years after a democide. In *The Sentence*, the two sides have signed a pact ‘of forgetting’ so as to move forward—but is a peace based on this sustainable? What is the cost of silence? What price must be paid, and by whom?
There’s an interesting bit in the novel where Bhatia shows us what the Commune looks like in practice: radical transparency, with meetings held in public always; the concept of a leaderless revolution permeating the society everywhere, including requiring consensus for every decision, and a city without a real centre; and the only public statue in the Commune is that of the Everyman, Jagat the martyr.
*The Sentence* is well-written, and Bhatia has used his knowledge of the law (and his passion for legal questions) to make readers think about the ethics of what we call justice, and to show how justice and ideals are not always on the same side. So much hinges on Nila’s argument about Jagat’s innocence or guilt—the fate of the nation or city state and its peace, in fact. One hundred years after the assasination of Director Purul is a historical point of inflection, a pivotal time for reassessing and revisioning; and young Nila must either rise to the occasion and live up to her ideals, or make a decision to preserve the fragile and possibly false peace. That’s the conflict at the heart of this engrossing read.
Many thanks to Gautam Bhatia for an advance copy of the novel.
*The Sentence* explores the idea of ‘peace’ after a class war, and the conflict between justice and ideals. It sets forth arguments for readers about what really matters. Nila’s belief in justice is absolute: her personal motto is “Let justice be done, though the world burns.” Guardians, who keep the peace between the two sides, are trained to be completely impartial, and to forget where they came from. But Nila was born in the Commune, and the possibility that she may destroy its foundation if she wins is a source of narrative tension. In addition, there are the shadowy interested parties that are tracking her: are they working for good, or evil?
And then there’s the exploration by the author of the death sentence itself: is a reversible sentence better in some way that capital punishment? What happens when someone is revived into a time and place they don’t recognise? And if they were innocent all along, does their eventual revival then deliver justice?
Other questions: how important is forgetting and memory in nation-building, in negotiating peace? I found the exploration of this in this novel moving, as this is a question that is still being argued in my own country, forty years after a democide. In *The Sentence*, the two sides have signed a pact ‘of forgetting’ so as to move forward—but is a peace based on this sustainable? What is the cost of silence? What price must be paid, and by whom?
There’s an interesting bit in the novel where Bhatia shows us what the Commune looks like in practice: radical transparency, with meetings held in public always; the concept of a leaderless revolution permeating the society everywhere, including requiring consensus for every decision, and a city without a real centre; and the only public statue in the Commune is that of the Everyman, Jagat the martyr.
*The Sentence* is well-written, and Bhatia has used his knowledge of the law (and his passion for legal questions) to make readers think about the ethics of what we call justice, and to show how justice and ideals are not always on the same side. So much hinges on Nila’s argument about Jagat’s innocence or guilt—the fate of the nation or city state and its peace, in fact. One hundred years after the assasination of Director Purul is a historical point of inflection, a pivotal time for reassessing and revisioning; and young Nila must either rise to the occasion and live up to her ideals, or make a decision to preserve the fragile and possibly false peace. That’s the conflict at the heart of this engrossing read.
Many thanks to Gautam Bhatia for an advance copy of the novel.
December 1, 2024
Can the law ever truly be impartial when the parties it mediates between are not equally powerful? Or when those who defend the laws invariably bring their own biases and histories to the table? Should the law be impartial and seek the truth in all cases? What is the value of a human life when weighed against the soul of a society?
These are some of the core questions that The Sentence asks of its reader, but it is never so didactic as to claim it has an answer for them. Bhatia is a constitutional lawyer, and fittingly, he unravels the facts of the case slowly throughout the plot of the book and places the reader in the shoes of the juror and the judge when Nila, the protagonist, is faced with a truly impossible ethical choice. As a reader, I don't have an answer either - I'm not sure there is an answer.
There are both scathing indictments and shining defences of the role of law in society scattered throughout the book, and the philosophies of its three main factions are explored in depth. We have the Commune, an anarchist collective of workers, and the Directorate, a pseudo neoliberal capitalist institution divided from them after a revolution a hundred years in the past. Then we have the guardians, the impartial lawyers who mediate the disputes between them.
The Sentence shares a lot of DNA with Ursula K Le Guin's "The Dispossessed", and also with her landmark short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". It's thought-provoking, intelligent and an easy recommendation for people who like the SF to explore the nature of law and political science above technology and space battles.
These are some of the core questions that The Sentence asks of its reader, but it is never so didactic as to claim it has an answer for them. Bhatia is a constitutional lawyer, and fittingly, he unravels the facts of the case slowly throughout the plot of the book and places the reader in the shoes of the juror and the judge when Nila, the protagonist, is faced with a truly impossible ethical choice. As a reader, I don't have an answer either - I'm not sure there is an answer.
There are both scathing indictments and shining defences of the role of law in society scattered throughout the book, and the philosophies of its three main factions are explored in depth. We have the Commune, an anarchist collective of workers, and the Directorate, a pseudo neoliberal capitalist institution divided from them after a revolution a hundred years in the past. Then we have the guardians, the impartial lawyers who mediate the disputes between them.
The Sentence shares a lot of DNA with Ursula K Le Guin's "The Dispossessed", and also with her landmark short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". It's thought-provoking, intelligent and an easy recommendation for people who like the SF to explore the nature of law and political science above technology and space battles.
January 1, 2025
Back with a bang! This book was amazing! Better than The Wall. Gautam Bhatia has a flair for world building as a sci fi geek. And given his expertise in constitution and law, this book works as a fabulous mix of the three.
Nila is faced with the challenge to prove a martyr in cryogenic preservation not guilty of killing the most prominent politician a hundred years ago. The story unravels her journey to prove this case within seven days, a time period at the end of which he would be put to final death. In parallel simmers tensions between the labour class and the elites , the commune and the council towns.
Several brilliant concepts feed in the story - Moral Luck! Crown of Infallibility ! The peacemakers dilemma and The Burden of Judgement! The human need for meaning and creation and destruction of myths! Foundation structures and the right to or not alter it!
Thank God that he didn't go for Duex ex Machina which I was suspecting off as he had in The Horizon.
Good writer, Great Book.
Nila is faced with the challenge to prove a martyr in cryogenic preservation not guilty of killing the most prominent politician a hundred years ago. The story unravels her journey to prove this case within seven days, a time period at the end of which he would be put to final death. In parallel simmers tensions between the labour class and the elites , the commune and the council towns.
Several brilliant concepts feed in the story - Moral Luck! Crown of Infallibility ! The peacemakers dilemma and The Burden of Judgement! The human need for meaning and creation and destruction of myths! Foundation structures and the right to or not alter it!
Thank God that he didn't go for Duex ex Machina which I was suspecting off as he had in The Horizon.
Good writer, Great Book.
December 25, 2024
Nila M. is training to be a Guardian, a peacekeeper between the capitalist Council and the anarchist Commune of Peruma City, who are in a fragile peace after a violent conflict. She is tasked with proving the innocence of a man sentenced to cryostasis for a murder that sparked the revolution. The story explores the importance of justice and ideals, as well as the ethics of a reversible death sentence. It also delves into the consequences of forgetting and memory in nation-building and the sustainability of a peace based on silence. The novel portrays the unique society of the Commune, with its emphasis on radical transparency and leaderless revolution. Ultimately, Nila must decide between upholding justice or preserving peace. Recommended!
January 13, 2025
3.5/5
Gripping legal thriller.
Mr. Bhatia is an extremely well read person and he never fails to tell you that. The book, keeping with expectations, includes everything from on-the-nose references to the Indian legal system to callbacks and inspirations from academic or borderline obscure works on polity from around the world. An appendix informs you of any reference you might have missed.
Maybe it is in the tradition of the genre to have the story serve merely as a vestibule for the arguments and philosophy that the author wishes to display, because that is all that the story does. I have no major qualms with it except that maybe I'd like the characters to not talk to each other in the (didactic?) way that they do.
Gripping legal thriller.
Mr. Bhatia is an extremely well read person and he never fails to tell you that. The book, keeping with expectations, includes everything from on-the-nose references to the Indian legal system to callbacks and inspirations from academic or borderline obscure works on polity from around the world. An appendix informs you of any reference you might have missed.
Maybe it is in the tradition of the genre to have the story serve merely as a vestibule for the arguments and philosophy that the author wishes to display, because that is all that the story does. I have no major qualms with it except that maybe I'd like the characters to not talk to each other in the (didactic?) way that they do.
January 8, 2025
Legal thriller in speculative fiction mode, with ethics and politics serving as a strong undertone. Nila could be a character that can go beyond this novel and i would love to see her (there is a hint, or not? looking for other jurisdictions?). It is a meditation not only on the death sentence, but our own 'death' as a person who has to make a choice. The Sentence is for us.
November 8, 2024
A brilliant SF legal thriller that raises complex discussion on law and justice while making the reader consider what the right answer is. Tense, intelligent and gripping I loved it - highly recommended!
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
November 28, 2024
Scratched a legal itch in my brain that I didn't even know existed
August 11, 2025
I understand why this made waves and I’m glad I could ask a colleague to buy me a copy! A very intriguing book set in an intriguing world. I’d love to read more about what happened next.
August 26, 2025
4.75/5
A really excellent novel of ideas. I was fully invested in all the complexities of both Council vs. Commune and also the assassination case, and they wove together so beautifully. The stakes for society and law and justice were laid out really well. Even more bold, perhaps, Bhatia doesn't actually resolve any of it. We get the set-up, but not the resolution, because, from a narrative perspective, once you understand why it all matters, it doesn't actually make a difference what happens. Everyone's thought through all the consequences in excruciating detail, and if one of those consequences happens, it's redundant. And if something unthought of happens (a possibility also considered), then it would feel like a betrayal of all the characters' thoughtfulness. I think it was the right decision, given the type of novel it was -- except in that case, the epilogue was unnecessary, because it had to tie itself in knots to avoid saying what actually did end up happening.
A really excellent novel of ideas. I was fully invested in all the complexities of both Council vs. Commune and also the assassination case, and they wove together so beautifully. The stakes for society and law and justice were laid out really well. Even more bold, perhaps, Bhatia doesn't actually resolve any of it. We get the set-up, but not the resolution, because, from a narrative perspective, once you understand why it all matters, it doesn't actually make a difference what happens. Everyone's thought through all the consequences in excruciating detail, and if one of those consequences happens, it's redundant. And if something unthought of happens (a possibility also considered), then it would feel like a betrayal of all the characters' thoughtfulness. I think it was the right decision, given the type of novel it was -- except in that case, the epilogue was unnecessary, because it had to tie itself in knots to avoid saying what actually did end up happening.
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