The Eighth Face

When a man who shouldn’t exist washes ashore, a cloistered community of clones must confront the sunken secrets of their origin.


Seven lineages. Seven faces. One dark secret.

On a remote island on a distant world, the monks of the Retreat live in the shadow of the Firstcomers. They work, they pray and they replicate, believing their existence is the ultimate design of their ancestors. For the clones of the seven lineages, the monastery is more than a home – it is the entire universe.

But for Six-Maijo, currently relegated to the ‘Scav’ beachcombing detail as punishment for his unruly nature, the universe just got a lot bigger. A body has washed ashore, bringing with it a terrifying impossibility: a face that belongs to no known lineage. As the authorities scramble to maintain the illusion of order, Maijo begins to pull at the threads of their history.

What lies in the sunken half of the Firstcomers’ ship, deep beneath the waves? Why is the island’s flora behaving so strangely? And what truth is so dangerous that the monastery elders would rather watch their world fracture than reveal it?

A gripping sci-fi mystery from the master of the genre, Adrian Tchaikovsky, featuring rebellious clones, deep-sea secrets and the dark truth behind a manufactured world.

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Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky:

‘One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction’
– Christopher Paolini

‘Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of our finest writers’
– Gareth L. Powell

‘Tchaikovsky is writing modern classics and you should start reading them as soon as possible’
– Tade Thompson

‘Tchaikovsky has become one of science fiction’s premier authors for the quality, scope and sense of adventure in his work. It’s rare to find an author who is so good across such different genres’
– James Oswald