Characters
- Tara Vivas (age 24) - a former pop singer who turned to racing after ruining her music career in a drunken hovercar accident; three-time winner of American champions and current runner-up
- Alicia Waverley (19) - daughter of a couple killed in the hovercar accident caused by Tara, who has vowed revenge; reigning American champion
- Prince Yuri Galitz (40) - a Ukrainian businessman who claims to be descended from the Tsars of Russia
- Vladimir Ubikov (52) - a neo-communist who dreams of reunifying the Soviet Union, and loathes Prince Yuri, whom he considers a fraud and criminal
- Kumiko Nakaido (18) - the younger daughter of a Japanese racing legend, groomed to be his successor
- Ami Nakaido (19) - Kumiko's older sister, who joined the yakuza after Kumiko was named her father's heir
- Zaki Shaheen (33) - an Egyptian billionaire who owes his strength as a racer to a period where he was lost in the Egyptian desert
- Pharaoh (42) - a mysterious man dressed a Pharaoh whose sole goal appears to defeat Zaki; later revealed to be Zaki's long-lost older brother
- Jordan Reynolds (19) - a global racing sensation who used her celebrity to campaign against illegal "low" courses, leading to the indictment of Cassandra Foxton - mother of Kiri Foxton
- Kiri Foxton (22) - holds a vendetta against Jordan after her mother was banned from racing for hosting illegal "low" races in the Australian Outback, which in turn prevented Kiri from competing in the Australian championship
- Marcus Appleton (23) - former mechanic and ex-boyfriend of former British champion Jaya, who turned his hand to racing and won the British championship
- Jaya Kushala (28) - former British champion, who has sworn revenge on Marcus for humiliating her
- Leah Mathias (23) - introverted Austrian who races in memory of her lover, killed in a racing accident
- Max Steinhauer (45) - veteran German racer, who accidentally killed Leah's lover in a racing accident, who has entered the World Championships in response to those who claim he is too old to race at such a high level
- Ka Hekili - Hawaii billionaire, rumoured to be head of a massive cult/criminal empire
- Kutoo (age unknown) - mysterious cyborg enhanced by nanotechnology who is somehow linked to Ka Hekili
Read more about this topic: Quantum Redshift
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
—Clifford Irving (b. 1930)
“Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)