The Mercy of Gods is a 2024 science fiction novel by American authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, writing under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey.

Dafyd Alkhor is a research assistant in Tonner Freis's celebrated workgroup; the team, including Else Yannin, Jessyn Kaul, Campar, Rickar Daumatin, and Irinna, has just succeeded in reconciling the two different biochemical "trees of life" native to Anjiin.

Now in Jellit's body, the Swarm contemplates its mission to transmit intelligence back to the Carryx's enemies, but finds itself conflicted due to its growing emotions and attachment to Dafyd.

Intrigued by the story of Daniel being taken from "a little agrarian country" by a "gigantic military force," in the 2010s,[1] Franck pitched the concept to Abraham as a science fiction retelling of this narrative.

Abraham was drawn to the idea, viewing it as "The Book of Daniel as the biblical version of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four," exploring the theme of maintaining individual identity within an authoritarian empire.

This approach allowed them to create an alien species where members are both highly intelligent individuals and part of a super organism, offering a unique perspective on collective consciousness in science fiction.

[4] Unlike their previous work in The Expanse, which was human-centered and set in the near future, this new series introduces a host of different alien species, each undergoing a "plausibility check" based on Abraham's background in biology.

[4] While the authors attempted to avoid direct parallels to real-world events, they acknowledged the challenge of writing about enslaved humans without considering historical contexts, particularly the American experience of slavery.

The novel serves as a platform for examining human resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, and how individuality can persist and hold power even in totalitarian or authoritarian settings.

[6][7][2] Each of the book's six parts begins with an epigraph containing an excerpt from the "final statement" of a librarian Ekur-Tkalal as a narrator, revealing the fall of the Carryx empire and hinting at Dafyd's key role in it.

[15] Preceded by the publication of the first chapter on the Polygon website in May 2024,[16] The Mercy of Gods was released on 6 August by Orbit Books in hardcover and electronic format.

Its protagonist, Kirin, serves in an elite infantry unit that uses cutting-edge "livesuit" technology and is considered to be humanity's only hope for victory in a long war against a powerful intergalactic adversary.