by Garth Nix
First published 2026
Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla commands the corvette Sassafras through another routine mission. His crew hitches a ride on a Massif, one of the sentient mountain ranges that carry humans between star systems. They will establish another colony and fight another battle in the endless war between Earth and Mars. This pattern has continued for over two centuries. Humans climb aboard these living mountains, spread across the galaxy, and export their conflicts to new worlds. But Parnell begins asking forbidden questions. Why do the Massifs transport humans at all? What do these ancient beings gain from helping humanity wage war across the stars? Ship crews are trained never to probe these mysteries or communicate directly with Massif avatars. When circumstances force Parnell and his crew to break these rules and seek answers from the Massifs themselves, they discover truths that threaten everything they know. Now they must act to preserve not just their own lives but the entire future of human civilization.
Genres: science-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, space-opera, speculative-fiction, epic
Vibes: epic-scale, morally-complex, philosophical, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: civilization-at-stake, found-family, questioning-authority, truth-seeking
Setting: Earth, Mars, Sassafras, Massif
352 pages · Paperback · Allen & Unwin
Content warnings: colonialism, war