Leon, a neurogeologist, watches as Maya, a cleaner, dies from moss parasitism after coming into contact with memory alloy. City statues begin secreting hallucinogenic “Night Tears.” He discovers that the corporate giant New Vision is exploiting the memories of living beings through its “neural siphoning” technology. Leon joins forces with Sera, a “quantum gardener” who can communicate with plants, and infiltrates an underground factory, where he discovers that his father was also a victim of the experiments.
In the end, Leon fuses with the moss to become a symbiote and activates the “Night Tears vaccine.” A colossal Steel Madonna descends, proclaiming the “Moss Codex” and founding a new civilization based on neural connections. But mechanical tentacles reach up from the Earth's core, a signal from a lunar prison locks onto Earth, and rust disease begins to consume the Madonna. Before the new civilization can take root, threats from both the stars and the depths arrive at once.
This book has several central protagonists, so readers can take their time getting to know them.
