Venus Preserved

The final novel in the alchemical thriller series set in an alternate Venice by the World Fantasy Award–winning author of A Bed of Earth.   Centuries into the future, the sunken city of Venus has been salvaged from beneath the sea and rebuilt there under a dome, where it is supported by a vast network of computers that regulate weather, noise, and the most precious undersea commodity of all—air. It is here that a macabre experiment takes place. Conducted by geneticists at the university, the test consists of the resurrection of two lost souls, both murdered in their times: Jula, a first-century gladiatrix, and Cloudio del Nero, the eighteenth-century composer who met his fate in Lee's acclaimed first volume of the Secret Books of Venus series. An unexplained catastrophe occurs, claiming several lives. Was it merely an accident, computer failure, or has the trial unleashed an airborne virus? Or is there an even more sinister danger afoot, a force from beyond that threatens the survival of Venus itself? To answer these questions, a traveler from the surface is forced to confront mysteries in his own past that have remained buried, and to reveal the connection that ties him to the unavenged spirits wreaking havoc on the doomed city.   "The last of the four Secret Books of Venus is a tale of suspense and mystery." — Booklist