Layered, emotionally devastating, and bold in scope.
A young Martian warrior struggles with grief, faith, and the ghosts of a dying world in Kristof’s raw, emotionally charged trilogy finale. Seventeen-year-old Miri, a reluctant leader bearing the title of Star Bearer, finds herself caught in a spiraling crisis on post-Creator Mars. As cities burn, children vanish, and something ancient and watching begins to rise from the dust, Saint Chanter, a former War Chaplain from Earth, now a cyborg-saint wandering the Martian wasteland, steps in. Together, they face the Defilers and a rising threat in the form of the Reclaimer, a sentient AI that sees synthetic life as a mistake and salvation as its prerogative. Kristof blends Martian desolation with spiritual reckoning, machine consciousness and human vulnerability. The narrative pulses with brutal firefights and quiet, aching moments of introspection. Through Miri’s reckoning with identity, guilt, and the burden of legacy, the novel asks deeper questions: What do we owe the dead? What defines a soul?
Complex, mournful, and haunting, this series finale asks what makes a person worthy of remembrance, and delivers an unforgettable answer. A stunner.
Pub date March 16, 2025
ISBN 979-8314371770
Price $6.99 (USD) Paperback, $2.99 Kindle edition
