A Sinistra | А Синистра | Левый Путь

Detective Marcus Sorgenfrey looks into a case of missing clients. They used a secret service run by Transhumanism Inc. Its Left Path boutique sells black-magic trips to rich clients. These trips let them visit demons in a simulated world. The firm hides the trips to guard its clients’ good names. These clients include bankers and people in politics. They have much to lose if word gets out.

The firm sends Marcus into a risky world made through simulation. It bases this world on alchemy. He plays an Italian sorcerer in the 16th century. A book of spells gives him magic powers. In Venice, he faces others whose magic is strong. The case puts his life and soul at risk. Marcus finds a lead. His boss, Admiral-Bishop Lomas, keeps the probe going.

Виктор Пелевин wrote this science fiction and fantasy novel. It blends a detective plot with questions about faith. Can a simulated world destroy a soul that lives outside it? What is real for that soul? Could AI create a faith of the future? The book weighs salvation in a simulated world against true salvation. It asks where people should seek God. Must they seek at all?

This is book five in the Transhumanism Inc. sequence. Readers need not know the past books to start here.