The Jesus Incident is a collaboration between Bill Ransom and Frank Herbert, continuing on from Herbert's novel Destination: Void. Ship was an experiment into creating Artificial Intelligence, but it went too far. It is the result of when intelligence crosses over into divinity.

Ship demands that humans learn how to WorShip, yet they have so far failed. Ship has brought humans to a world that it has named Pandora, extremely dangerous, with a world-spanning life-form, the kelp. The kelp is conscious, but the humans do not understand this yet.

This is a story about the interactions between people. The characters drive the story with their motivations, abilities, and failings. Some, such as Morgan Oakes, desire power, and use information available to get it. Yet they may be vulnerable to the same thing they use. Raja Thomas is desperate to save the human race, yet he cannot see his own failings and preconceptions are the same impediment that hinders them all.

Morgan orders experiments combining kelp DNA and human clone material, believing he can create a haven for himself on Pandora. But his experiments have their own ideas, and they are closer to the planet than he is.

As with much of Herbert's work, there is a great deal of analysis of human behaviour and interaction, and a great deal of philosophy. The frontier environment creates a complex scenario with rich and independent characters. They are not driven by the plot, they are driven by events.

Overall I'd say this is a book of equal interest and complexity as Herbert's more famous Dune Series, and well worth reading for those fans of his work.