I always read the author biography when I finish a book, no matter how many times I’ve read the author’s bio. It’s just something I do. That’s how I learned the author of The Iron Garden Sutra was born in the Ukraine. Though A.D. Sui was raised abroad, in the world as it stands, I feel it important to acknowledge their country of birth. After all, war threatens the world even where the bombs don’t fall.
This is a book that will stick with me for a while. It’s a book that I will probably go out and purchase – and probably reread. The premise is that there is an order of monks in the universe whose charge it is to lay the dead to rest. Our POV character, Vessel Iris, prefers the dead over the living, and he has an AI companion who lives rent free in his head.
Vessel Iris in this book is called to an old generation ship that left Earth hundreds of years ago, but just now caught up with the human civilization that stayed behind and developed faster travel methods. No one remains alive aboard this ship, so Vessel Iris is called in to lay their bones to rest.
There’s a whole lot of subtle worldbuilding around Vessel Iris, his AI companion, and what the post-Earth humanity looks like. I really like the worldbuilding in this, how we as the audience learn more about the history of this world as it becomes relevant to what’s happening to the people in the book.
I picked up this book while reading for comps for my science fiction novel manuscript. There’s bits of horror in this story, same as in mine, and there are very important questions regarding AI and its use. The Iron Garden Sutra is a single POV story, however, where mine is multi-POV. I’ve considered many times whether or not I should make my story a single POV, but I genuinely don’t think the story supports it. If I were to whittle the story down to one POV, there’s only one choice for which POV that is. But that POV is unconscious for a good chunk of the story, and what happens in that intervening time is important to show the audience (not just relate through exposition after the fact).
Then again, maybe not. I dunno.
One thing I will say: I am excited to see that The Iron Garden Sutra is listed as The Cosmic Wheel Book 1. To me this means that more books are intended. Of course, with the way that publishing works, Sui will only get more books if people buy the first. To that I say, y’all, go buy this book. It’s dark, atmospheric, with an interesting take on the future of civilization and conversations about the dangers of AI without beating the audience over the head with it.
Summary
Rating (scale of 5 stars): 5 Stars
Lessons: Worldbuilding. The history of the world is there. Vessel Iris’s history is there. The conflict regarding the view of the death monks is there. But it is interwoven so well. I can only hope to do the same in my manuscript. I need to do the same.