Listen to a sample
Waste Tide
- Author
- Chen Qiufan
- Narrator
- Ewan Chung
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 11 June 2026
- Run Time
- 12 hours 7 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
A Guardian Science Fiction Book of the Year.
Mimi is drowning in the world's trash.
She's a 'waste girl', a scavenger picking through towering heaps of hazardous electronic detritus. Along with thousands of other migrant workers, she was lured to Silicon Isle, off the southern coast of China, by the promise of steady work and a better life.
But Silicon Isle is where the rotten fruits of capitalism and consumer culture come to their toxic end. The land is hopelessly polluted, the workers utterly at the mercy of those in power. And now a storm is gathering, as ruthless local gangs skirmish for control, eco-terrorists conspire, investors hunger for profit, and a Chinese-American interpreter searches for his roots.
As these forces collide, conflict erupts – a war between rich and poor, a battle between past and future. Mimi must decide if she will remain a pawn... or change the rules of the game altogether.
'An accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul' DAVID MITCHELL.
'Waste Tide is a work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' SIMON INGS.
Critics Review
-
An accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul as well as brain. Chen Qiufan is an astute observer, both of the present world and of the future that the next generation is in danger of inheriting
David Mitchell
-
The pinnacle of near-future SF writing
Cixin Liu
-
Something startlingly new... an action-packed story that's full of moral complexity'
Charlie Jane Anders
-
A hard-hitting, uncompromising look at the near future
Adrian Tchaikovsky
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
A stunning tale of greed [that] deftly exposes all the hidden contours of the human heart
Maggie Shen King
-
A work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves'
Simon Ings
-
Chinese author Chen Quifan's debut novel Waste Tide is all too true to life
SFX
-
A cracking science fiction novel by Chen Qiufan suggests humanity's future may be even stranger than its past
New Scientist
-
Chen's portrait of industry and society alike is caustically bleak – life is short and cheap – and the cultural impact of his future tech well thought through
SFX.
-
A crop of younger writers are now emerging in the duo's wake [Cixin Liu and Han Song]. Waste Tide takes place on an island devoted to electronics refuse in a fictionalised South China Sea... The setting is not too far divorced from parts of real-life China, in which the by-products of the electronics industry create uninhabitably toxic environments'
Economist.
-
This chilling eco-techno tale, well translated by Ken Liu, illustrates that the eternal conflict of good and evil remains alive in our "brave new world"
The Tablet
-
There's an old school cyberpunk quality to the book, a compelling reflection on a world defined by its waste
Guardian
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Chen Qiufan
- Narrator
- Ewan Chung
- Duration
- 12 hours 7 minutes
- Release Date
- 11 June 2026
- ISBN
- 9781035927043
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Dystopian and utopian fiction, Science fiction, Fiction, Fiction in translation
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan, read by Ewan ChungA Guardian Science Fiction Book of the Year. Mimi is drowning in the world's trash. She's a 'waste girl', a scavenger picking through towering heaps of hazardous electronic detritus. Along with thousands of other migrant workers, she was lured to Silicon Isle, off the southern coast of China, by the promise of steady work and a better life. But Silicon Isle is where the rotten fruits of capitalism and consumer culture come to their toxic end. The land is hopelessly polluted, the workers utterly at the mercy of those in power. And now a storm is gathering, as ruthless local gangs skirmish for control, eco-terrorists conspire, investors hunger for profit, and a Chinese-American interpreter searches for his roots. As these forces collide, conflict erupts – a war between rich and poor, a battle between past and future. Mimi must decide if she will remain a pawn... or change the rules of the game altogether. 'An accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul' DAVID MITCHELL. 'Waste Tide is a work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' SIMON INGS.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.