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Sagramanda: A Novel of Near-future India | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Dean Foster
Publisher: Pyr
Category: Book
List Price: $15.98
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $7.99 (50%)
New (32) Used (14) from $3.92
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 622992
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 287
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1591026458
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781591026457
ASIN: 1591026458
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New - Direct From Distributor - Light Shelf Wear - No Remainder Mark
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Product Description
Set in Sagramanda, city of 100 million, this is the story of Taneer, a scientist who has absconded with his multinational corporation's secret project code and who is now on the run from both the company and his father. Depahli, the fabulously beautiful woman from the 'untouchable class' would die for him, just as surely as his father would like to kill him for shaming the very traditional family for such a relationship. Chalcedony 'Chal' Schneemann doesn't want to kill Taneer, if he doesn't have to, but it wouldn't upset him terribly much if it came to it, and he'll stop at nothing to recover the stolen property for the company that pays him very, very well to solve big problems discreetly and quickly.Sanjay Ghosh, a poor farmer-turned-merchant in the big city of Sagramanda would like to help Taneer unload his stolen items, for the $30 million dollars his 3 per cent fee is worth. Jena Chalmette, a crazy French woman pledged to Kali, simply wants to kill for the glory of her god, and she's very good at it. Chief Inspector Keshu Singh would like to put this sword-wielding serial killer away as quickly as possible before the media gets a hold of the story. Then there's a man-eating tiger, come in from the nearby jungle reserve and just looking for his next meal. A fast-paced and gripping techno-thriller set in an India just around the corner from today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Mystery, yes. Sci Fi, no. January 1, 2009
I expected a science fiction story, therefore I was disappointed that it read more like a mystery novel, or maybe just fiction. Alan Dean Foster is an excellent writer, however, and so I enjoyed the book from that standpoint. I would have enjoyed it more if the characters and the extraordinary events they faced didn't sound like the usual melodrama that I read in the newspapers every day. Sometimes I just like to get a break from the turmoil this world is in and I am afraid this book kept me right here on planet Earth.
 Hated it! February 17, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I could not get through the first few chapters of this book because the grammar felt so attrocious to me. I grew way too tired of the way the author chose to write the book that I found myself thinking that someone else could've told it way better. It could've been so much better in my opinion.
 A unique blend of thriller and science fiction evolves February 3, 2007
Set in Sagramanda, the city of a hundred million, SAGRAMANDA tells of one Taneer, a scientist who has stolen his company's secret project code and is now on the run. There's a host of individuals for and against him; from a beautiful woman from an 'untouchable' class to a traditional father who would kill him out of shame, and a corporation who will do anything to get the code. A unique blend of thriller and science fiction evolves, set in an India of the far future and providing science fiction fans with satisfying adventure.
 Enjoyable thriller set in near future India January 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sagramanda is a novel set in near future India, following several different viewpoint characters in an eventually interlocking narrative. As such it superficially resembles Ian McDonald's brilliant River of Gods. Foster's novel is not so brilliant as McDonald's, and really it makes no attempt to be brilliant at that level. Rather, it is an enjoyable and fast-moving thriller - and quite successful as such.
Taneer Buthlahee is a scientist who has taken a spectacularly valuable piece of new technology from his company. He wishes to offer it to a rival company - for enough money to make he and his fiancee, the beautiful Depahli De, secure for life - away from India. For Depahli is an Untouchable, and a former prostitute, and thus their relationship is unacceptable to many in their home country. Taneer, thus, is a target - his company has sent a specialist to retrieve him, dead or alive. And his father is after him, to prevent the stain on their family's honor of a link with an Untouchable. Taneer also involves a middleman to help him make a deal, a poor merchant, Sanjay Ghosh, who likewise is trying to make a secure life for he and his beautiful wife. At the same time their city of Sagramanda (transparently a fictionalized Calcutta) is threatened by two very different beasts: a man-eating tiger, and a Frenchwoman who has become a serial killer in worship of Kali. The novel follows, in short segments, all these characters - Taneer, Depahli, Taneer's father, Sanjay, the tiger, the serial killer, the policeman investigating the murders, and more. And, as the reader knows from the start, all these threads will converge, some naturally, some by coincidence.
It's quite an exciting read. The plot moves sharply, and quite believably. The characters are engaging enough, though rather two-dimensional. The portrait of fairly near-future India is fairly well-done, though here the book truly does suffer by comparison with McDonald's altogether more complex and deeper portrait. Sagramanda is no masterpiece, but it is fun and not without deeper shadings.
This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society October 26, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Sagramanda, India is a Megatropolis of 100 million residents; the city like all major urban areas run the gamut of the economic spectrum from affluent international CEOs to those so hopelessly poor one would classify them as being beneath the food chain's lowest rung of wretchedly poor existing in the ooze. Those of wealth would do nothing to hurt their status as all one has to do is look at the legions of poor as a reminder of how good life is for those with money and power.
His family, especially his humiliated father, cannot believe that the heir scientist Taneer Buthlahee ran off for a forbidden love with his Untouchable beloved Depahli. Worse than that shame, he also stole research secrets he was working on; an insult his father plans to correct by having his son killed by company fixer Chal Schneemann before the information is sold on the black market. Taneer contacts street fixer Sanjay Ghosh to help his with the sale that will finance his escape with his beloved Depahli. Complicated as that family squabble may seem, a born again Hindu worshipper whose drug induced brain thinks she must sacrifice people to Kali believes that the two lovers would be a perfect send off while Sagramanda Police Chief Inspector Keshu Singh closes in on the sword slashing serial killer.
This is a wild police procedural crime caper that occurs in a futuristic society in which the gap between haves and the have-nots are wider than the Grand Canyon and the number of the lower class is so great, substrata have been defined within the social group. The superb story line contains several other subplots besides those above, but all are developed and ultimately tie together in a final exhilarating confrontation. Readers will enjoy this strong tale of near future India.
Harriet Klausner
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