Natalie Singh 
The Clay Worlds [EPUB ebook] 
A Song of Creation

Centuries after Earth withered, humanity clings to artificial life, haunted by the ghost of a living planet.  On the desolate world of Aethel, the Keepers of Clay, descendants of Indigenous ceramicists, hold the key to a lost art: planetary revitalization.  Their leader, Anka, deaf to the world’s noise yet attuned to its deepest vibrations, speaks the language of clay and sings forgotten chants of creation. She feels the tremors of approaching danger long before the sleek, predatory drones of the Hegemony, a hyper-militarized galactic power, breach Aethel’s thin atmosphere.
The Hegemony covets the Keepers’ terraforming technology, a fusion of science and spirituality they see as a weapon. Anka, guided by the planet’s faint whispers, leads her people aboard the *Earthseed*, a vessel powered by the nascent energy of a miniature, sculpted world at its core.  Among her followers are Holly Noble, a geologist whose pragmatism clashes with the Keepers’ spiritual approach, and Darren Powers, an intuitive herbalist whose empathy for plant life mirrors Anka’s bond with clay.
Their perilous odyssey takes them through a galaxy scarred by humanity’s greed. Gas giants choked by industrial refuse, planets stripped bare – each a chilling echo of Earth’s fate. Yet, amongst the ruins, whispers of hope remain: planets that still remember, their spirits reaching out to guide the *Earthseed*.  On Xylia, a jade-green world with sentient, bioluminescent forests, Anka discovers the Resonance, a network of living worlds resisting the Hegemony.  On Thalassa, a water world of colossal lily pads and sentient coral reefs, Holly’s scientific worldview is challenged. Darren, meanwhile, discovers potent medicinal plants within Thalassa’s unique flora, offering hope for healing ravaged worlds.
On Ignis, a volcanic planet pulsing with creative energy, whispers of a prophecy surface, foretelling the rise of a “Clay Weaver” who will unite the living worlds.  But the Hegemony’s pursuit intensifies, culminating in a devastating attack: sentient viruses designed to corrupt planetary life itself.  The Resonance is threatened, and the *Earthseed* is thrust into a desperate race against time.