Unto Leviathan - Richard Paul Russo
The Argonos is a huge starship travelling from star system to star system. It hasn’t made land in 14 years and the crew are getting restless. We are not sure why they are travelling – background details sketchy or non-existent – but we soon find that the crew themselves have no idea either where they are going or why. There are two main powers on the ship – the Captain Nikos Costa and the Bishop. The ship is built around a huge cathedral, so there is some sort of religious element to their mission – attempting to convert settlements they come across, preaching to the inhabitants. When they receive a signal from a planet they name Antioch, a team is sent down to investigate. This may be a chance to change the fortunes of the wandering ship. Mutiny is brewing, not just potentially from the bishop’s forces, but also from the service crew, lead by a dwarf Pär who recruits Bartolomeo, the captain’s aide and narrator of the story. On the planet there is a gruesome discovery which leads ...