The Old Axolotl

Jacek Dukaj

An amazing and fascinating post-apocalyptic cyberpunk novel by Jacek Dukaj, one of the most successful modern Polish science fiction writers. One day, radiation of unknown origin — the Death Ray, encircling the globe, destroys all living protein on it, and only a few people manage to copy their minds scanned through neurosoft to servers and storage. Therefore, the world belongs to mechs and bots, «settling» in which digitized individuals first gather, then develop new civilizations, and in them new forms of ideologies and religions, create political alliances, and wage wars. But was that Death Ray accidental? What does a person become, if only the mind, not embodied organically, remains from him or her? And will life on the planet be able to return to its pre-catastrophic biological form?