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Minds in Transit
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An artist’s brain rules a team of a million microbial minds—from the Campbell Award winning author of A Door into Ocean.
In the hundred-level city of Iridis, human lords recycle diamonds and emeralds down to the Underworld while sentient machines pilot lightcraft and perform surgeries. Microbial minds expand the brains of scientists and artists. The artist Chrys directs her microbes to paint startling installations, design smart buildings and fix quantum networks. A world-size virtual intelligence called Transit commissions Chrys to create a whole new city on another planet.
But unexpected flaws fracture her designs. Microbial criminal gangs invade Chrys’s brain to kill off her own micros and take control. In Iridis, the roots of buildings grow cancers that escape the Underworld and cause earthquakes. Outlawed machines shake down shops and kidnap human lords for ransom. The city’s rulers ignore the signs of collapse, then face a new threat that no mind foresaw.
An artist’s brain rules a team of a million microbial minds—from the Campbell Award winning author of A Door into Ocean.
In the hundred-level city of Iridis, human lords recycle diamonds and emeralds down to the Underworld while sentient machines pilot lightcraft and perform surgeries. Microbial minds expand the brains of scientists and artists. The artist Chrys directs her microbes to paint startling installations, design smart buildings and fix quantum networks. A world-size virtual intelligence called Transit commissions Chrys to create a whole new city on another planet.
But unexpected flaws fracture her designs. Microbial criminal gangs invade Chrys’s brain to kill off her own micros and take control. In Iridis, the roots of buildings grow cancers that escape the Underworld and cause earthquakes. Outlawed machines shake down shops and kidnap human lords for ransom. The city’s rulers ignore the signs of collapse, then face a new threat that no mind foresaw.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
300 pages, Paperback
Published July 29, 2025
6 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Joan Slonczewski
35 books197 followersJoan Lyn Slonczewski is an American microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Her books have twice earned the John W. Campbell award for best science fiction novel: The Highest Frontier (2012) and A Door into Ocean (1987). With John W. Foster she coauthors the textbook, Microbiology: An Evolving Science (W. W. Norton).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 16, 2025
Joan Slonczewski is a unique voice in science fiction, and I am a fan. But her latest book has serious issues. Action, ideas and events flash so fast across the pages that the author doesn't have time to develop them, and the reader doesn't have time to contemplate them. There is no narrative arc, just a barrage of detail. Anyone who has not read her previous book, 'Brain Plague' will have difficulty understanding 'Minds in Transit.'
As always, this author's insights are intriguing and timely: At what point does awareness become sentience? What would happen if an entire network gained sentience? These concepts have implications for the upcoming age of AI, and deserve thoughtful exploration. Unfortunately, in this book, they get buried in the weeds.
3 stars for the originality of her vision
As always, this author's insights are intriguing and timely: At what point does awareness become sentience? What would happen if an entire network gained sentience? These concepts have implications for the upcoming age of AI, and deserve thoughtful exploration. Unfortunately, in this book, they get buried in the weeds.
3 stars for the originality of her vision
November 18, 2025
Minds in Transit by Joan Slonczewski is a brilliantly imaginative and meticulously crafted science fiction novel that challenges the boundaries of human and microbial intelligence. Slonczewski creates a vibrant, multi-layered world in Iridis, where sentient microbes, human lords, and intelligent machines interact in ways that are as thrilling as they are thought-provoking. The story is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging, blending high-concept speculative ideas with gripping stakes, unexpected twists, and fully realized characters. For readers seeking inventive, cerebral science fiction, this novel is a standout achievement
December 22, 2025
An interesting fifth book in the 'Door into Ocean' series that further explores two main themes. The first is personhood, and the rights of sentient beings. The second is more interesting, contrasting the right to breed and multiply against the right of the environment not to be exploited. This is a particularly interesting theme when the environment itself is a sentient person.
At times, the story moves slowly, and I admit that this book took me a while longer to finish than most, but it was a satisfying and enjoyable story.
At times, the story moves slowly, and I admit that this book took me a while longer to finish than most, but it was a satisfying and enjoyable story.
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September 11, 2025Full disclosure: my first DNF and at 25%. 😮💨 I REALLY wanted to like this book and I TRIED multiples times to get into it because the premise sounded so good: a sci-fi story about a super talented artist living in a futuristic city where people use tiny living microbes 🦠 in their brains to boost creativity and intelligence. These microbes help build amazing things, like living buildings and smart machines. The MC is chosen to help design a whole new city on another planet but the microbes start acting up. Some turn violent, buildings grow out of control, and machines go rogue. The city begins falling apart, and the MC has to figure out what’s causing the chaos before everything collapses. Interesting right?! 🤨
I found this book challenging because it mixes hard science, complex language, and deep ideas without always slowing down to explain. I kept looking for a glossary or appendix or even a map.. Basically I was not smart enough for this book 🫠
The author is a microbiologist and uses technical terms and invented words for futuristic tech and alien concepts. There is complex science and world-building like synthetic biology, and intelligent microbes (that aren’t explained in simple terms). The world is densely built, with new technologies, species, and systems introduced quickly. There are philosophical themes in the book that dives into big questions about identity, consciousness, AI, and responsibility.
It took too much brain power for me and if you decide to pick this up, I hope you finish it and think of me!
Thank you to @netgalley and Joan Slonczewski for the ARC copy.
I found this book challenging because it mixes hard science, complex language, and deep ideas without always slowing down to explain. I kept looking for a glossary or appendix or even a map.. Basically I was not smart enough for this book 🫠
The author is a microbiologist and uses technical terms and invented words for futuristic tech and alien concepts. There is complex science and world-building like synthetic biology, and intelligent microbes (that aren’t explained in simple terms). The world is densely built, with new technologies, species, and systems introduced quickly. There are philosophical themes in the book that dives into big questions about identity, consciousness, AI, and responsibility.
It took too much brain power for me and if you decide to pick this up, I hope you finish it and think of me!
Thank you to @netgalley and Joan Slonczewski for the ARC copy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews