The Iron Garden Sutra

Sui (The Dragonfly Gambit) blends horror and religion in this thrilling sci-fi outing, the first in a series. As a monk of the Starlit Order, Vessel Iris tends to the dead—in this case an entire generation ship, the Counsel of Nicae, which is full of deceased passengers and has just reappeared in known space at the nearby Doshua Station. An academic team is already on board when Iris arrives, along with a few members of station security. They find no human life on board, but the city-size ship is completely overgrown with mysterious alien plant life. When a door malfunctions, trapping Iris and Yan, the lead engineer, in a compartment rapidly losing breathable air, they begin to suspect another malign presence aboard the ship. This is confirmed when one of the security personnel is found murdered. As the rest of the team struggles to stay alive and identify their foe, Iris questions his faith and reconsiders how he relates to those around him, including his companion AI, VIFAI. Throughout, Sui skillfully balances the cerebral, the spiritual, and the terrifying. Readers will eagerly await Iris’s next adventure. (Feb.)