Made Things

A fantasy tale set in a crime-ridden city from the award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky. Coppelia, a resourceful street thief and puppeteer, makes a pact with two magic-infused puppets – and sets out for a major heist . . .

Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Made Things is a dark yet whimsical fantasy tale full of magic, half-mages and puppet companions. Making friends could mean the difference between ruin and great reward . . . Welcome to Fountains Parish – a cesspit of trade and crime, where ambition curls up to die and desperation grows on its cobbled streets like mould on week-old bread. Coppelia is a street thief and a trickster with a small talent for magic. She also has something other thieves don’t . . . tiny puppet-like companions: some made of wood, some of metal. They don’t entirely trust her, and she doesn’t entirely understand them, but their partnership mostly works. But can it survive a far bigger challenge than picking a pocket or two?A local crime lord has noted Coppelia’s success and compels her to assist in a high-stakes heist: breaking into a mage’s palace to plunder its treasures. She knows this illicit adventure could either break her or make all their fortunes. But a surprising discovery shakes their world to the core – and Coppelia and her friends are forced to face a threat to the great city itself. Includes the bonus short story, ‘Precious Little Things’!* * *Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky‘One of the best storytellers in the business’ – John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War on Service Model‘Addictively brilliant!’ – John Gwynne, author of Malice on The Tiger and the Wolf‘Few contemporary writers have Adrian Tchaikovsky’s range, excelling at chunky far-future hard SF as well as high-fantasy epics’ – The Guardian