Monthly Archives: May 2026

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“The Iron Garden Sutra” by A.D. Sui- A meditative, thought-provoking space mystery

Vessel Iris is of the Starlit Order, a monastic-like order of people who help usher the dead back into the infinite Light. The Iron Garden Sutra tells his story.

Iris is sent to investigate a generation ship, the Counsel of Nicaea, which has recently appeared. When he arrives, planning to spend weeks or months simply performing funereal rites, he instead quickly encounters another group whose investigation of the ship is looking for things of technological and archaeological import. The ship is also covered with a quickly creeping mass greenery, and as the violence towards the humans increases, it seems clear there is more to everything than meets the eye.

The novel is one of the few I’ve read recently where my main complaint is that I want it to have less going on. I think I would have enjoyed the novel even more if it had just been following Vessel Iris as he ushered the dead on board the Counsel of Nicaea to the infinite Light. I don’t think the story or characterization really needed the mystery element added, and I also think the mystery element was the weakest part. It was fairly obvious from the moment Iris steps on board the ship where the central mystery would be taking readers. I think there could have easily been enough conflict simply between Iris and the engineering/other team he encounters without the mysterious murders happening.

On the other hand, I wanted there to be more done with the obvious religious references–and there are many. The most obvious one is the name of the generation ship, the Counsel of Nicaea. It’s a cleary reference to the Council of Nicaea, where Christians from around the Roman Empire met and essentially decided various doctrinal issues, paving the way for the later church. There’s almost nothing done with this reference other than it seeming to be a wink and a nod to readers who are aware of the religious reference. The same goes for many other religious references. Here, I think, Sui didn’t explore the religious background of the entire story as much as could have been done.

All of that said, the novel was still quite enjoyable. I love the intersection of faith and science fiction, and Sui does an admirable job showing how faith might evolve in the future, even if it is largely through hints and asides rather than lengthy explanations. I was quite interested in the Starlit Order, and I think Sui makes it an intriguing amalgamation of various beliefs while also giving it a different direction than I might have expected. Ultimately, the novel surprised me by also being part of a series–it seems like it would work quite well as a standalone. Regardless, I anticipate the next novel highly.

The Iron Garden Sutra has transcendent moments. The prose is strong, and Vessel Iris is a strong character. I recommend it to fans of sci-fi who enjoy the kind that is intentionally though-provoking.

SDG.

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Indie Highlight: “Time-Marked Warlock” by Shami Stovall

I’d had my eye on Time-Marked Warlock for a while. I finally had the chance to read it on vacation recently, and I admit I was planning to just burn through and move on, eager to get to other books. But this one grabbed me and sucked me in and I found myself setting everything else aside to devour it.

Adair Finch, our protagonist, is a warlock with time powers. He can basically rewind a day, ad infinitum as needed. He used to work as a Private Investigator, until an incident led to his brother’s death. When he’s approached by Bree Blackstone, he finds himself roped back into the world of witches and warlocks, of a dangerous game that he had mostly retired from.

Stovall put a lot of work into the use of time looping to make the narrative compelling. I thought she did a phenomenal job using the same-day narrative both to create a notion of expectation and to let the characters explore a world that’s basically “how do we make this day go right while solving the mystery?” The interplay between Bree and Adair is great, such as when Bree convinces Adair they have to save a dog every single time, even if they’re for sure going to repeat the day anyway.

Now, I will say I think no small part of the premise of the novel starts to break down under scrutiny. First, there’s the question of ethics. Finch keeps talking about how he has infinite time each day. Well, if he does, why isn’t he using each day to do a “Groundhog Day”-esque perfect day? One where he saves everyone possible, learns to do whatever he wants, and get the dreams fulfilled? And, ethically, do you hold someone accountable if they don’t save everyone they possibly can each day? Just spitballing here, but if Finch learns there’s a massive shooting somewhere, wouldn’t it seem the ethical thing to do to rewind the day, go to that place, and save the innocent by stopping the shooting before it happens? And why doesn’t he do that? Exhaustion because too many bad things happen? I mean, that’s a fair point, but surely stopping some of them would be a good idea. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell too much longer on this, but I admit it bothered me the whole time I was reading the novel. If you have consequence-free time travel, why aren’t you using it to the utmost?

Time-Marked Warlock is a great read especially for fans of other urban fantasies with magic. Fans of the Dresden files or Seanan McGuire will eat this up, as I did. I recommend it highly.

SDG.

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The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “Fire Season” by David Weber and Jane Lindskold

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

Fire Season by David Weber and Jane Lindskold

Stephanie Harrington, now a provisional Forest Ranger on Sphinx, continues to learn from and bond with Climbs Quickly, her treecat friend. Outsider political and economic interests continue to grow on the planet, as well. Sphinx is a place of frontiers, and some see those frontiers as ripe for exploitation.

Sphinx has its own seasons, one of which brings with it heightened risk of forest fires. These fires, as they are in many forests, help replenish life just as they burn it away. But those outside interests see the upcoming fire season as a way to quietly destroy the native treecat population and clear the way for much greater economic exploitation of the planet.

Climbs Quickly begins hearing the desperate calls of some of his people as the fires spread and are fanned by humans. Eventually, Stephanie and another forest ranger, Karl Zivonik, go to find out what’s wrong. They end up rescuing several treecats, and, by extension, possibly the treecat population and planetary future itself.

The novel is another look at Stephanie Harrington, who provides a coming-of-age narrative that will please fans of “competence porn.” This 14-year-old is about as competent as someone her age could possibly get. I’m not saying this as a critique; this is generally what readers in the Honor Harrington series love about Honor as well. Just be aware going in that that is what you’re signing up for.

Fire Season is a fine read for filling out more background about Stephanie Harrington and the early history of human-treecat relations. However, it definitely feels like a bit of a filler novel where little happens to advance the overarching major plot point. As a character piece, though, it gives plenty of insight.

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The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

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SDG.