The Dervish House

Ian McDonald

Prometheus Books, Publishers, 2010 - Fiction - 359 pages

It begins with an explosion. Another day, another bus bomb. Everyone it seems is after a piece of Turkey. But the shockwaves from this random act of 21st century pandemic terrorism will ripple further and resonate louder than just Enginsoy Square. Welcome to the world of The Dervish House—the great, ancient, paradoxical city of Istanbul, divided like a human brain, in the great, ancient, equally paradoxical nation of Turkey. The year is 2027 and Turkey is about to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its accession to the European Union; a Europe that now runs from the Arran Islands to Ararat. Population pushing one hundred million, Istanbul swollen to fifteen million; Turkey is the largest, most populous and most diverse nation in the EU, but also one of the poorest and most socially divided. It's a boom economy, the sweatshop of Europe, the bazaar of central Asia, the key to the immense gas wealth of Russia and Central Asia. Gas is power. But it's power at a price, and that price is emissions permits. This is the age of carbon consciousness: every individual in the EU has a card stipulating individual carbon allowance that must be produced at every CO2 generating transaction. For those who can master the game, who can make the trades between gas price and carbon trading permits, who can play the power factions against each other, there are fortunes to be made. The old Byzantine politics are back. They never went away. The ancient power struggled between Sunni and Shia threatens like a storm: Ankara has watched the Middle East emerge from twenty-five years of sectarian conflict. So far it has stayed aloof. A populist Prime Minister has called a referendum on EU membership. Tensions run high. The army watches, hand on holster. And a Galatasary Champions' League football game against Arsenal stokes passions even higher. The Dervish House is seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core –the eponymous dervish house, a character in itself—that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama and a ticking clock of a thriller.

What people are saying

Review: The Dervish House

User Review  - Ricki Treleaven - Goodreads

Ian McDonald, author of The Dervish House, is a genius. Let me preface this review by saying that I am not a science fiction reader; but I absolutely loved this book. I will defininitely read more of ...

Review: The Dervish House

User Review  - DebbieB - Goodreads

I'm not going to finish this. I've been trying to read it for 3 weeks. It's just not worth my time. I'm quitting it halfway. The dialogue is clunky, the prose is purple, the characters are ...

About the author

Ian McDonald is the author of many science fiction novels, including Brasyl, River of Gods, Cyberabad Days, Desolation Road, King of Morning, Queen of Day, Out on Blue Six, Chaga, and Kirinya. He has won the Philip K. Dick Award, the BSFA Award, and a Hugo Award, and has been nominated for a Quill Book Award, and has several nominations for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Visit him online at ianmcdonald.livejournal.com.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Dervish House
• Author: Ian McDonald
• Publisher: Prometheus Books, Publishers, 2010
• ISBN: 1616142049, 9781616142049
• Length: 359 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense