The Conscious Virus 1st Prize in Supernatural & Paranormal fiction, CIBA awards 2022, 2nd place in 2 categories of Fiction: 'Dystopian - Viruses, Plagues & Zombies' & 'Supernatural - Paranormal & Psychic Phenomenon ' BookFest Awards 2026.
The Conscious Virus 1st Prize in Supernatural & Paranormal fiction, CIBA awards 2022, 2nd place in 2 categories of Fiction: 'Dystopian - Viruses, Plagues & Zombies' & 'Supernatural - Paranormal & Psychic Phenomenon ' BookFest Awards 2026.
Reviews, Rewards & Reflections
The Conscious Virus by Miki Mitayn
29 August 2025
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Inventive, witty, and thought-provoking, The Conscious Virus masterfully blends science, spirit, and story into a daring, unforgettable reading experience.
Miki Mitayn’s The Conscious Virus is a bold, genre-defying novel that blends medical drama, spiritual exploration, and speculative fantasy into an arresting narrative. At its heart lies Dr Nerida, an Aboriginal doctor whose scientific training collides with the unconventional spiritual channelling of her wife, Mari. Through Mari’s trances, Nerida encounters voices from the other side – a Druid, a Medicine Man, and even a flamboyant Tudor dandy – whose wisdom challenges everything she thought she knew.
The premise itself is captivating: what if a man-made virus became self-aware, and the knowledge of it came not from laboratories but from spirits? This imaginative set-up allows Mitayn to explore weighty themes: the fragility of truth, the tension between science and faith, and the blurred lines between sanity and revelation.
The novel is as much about relationships as it is about ideas. Nerida and Mari’s marriage is depicted with warmth, humour, and friction, grounding the more mystical aspects in human reality. Nerida’s inner conflict – torn between her Aboriginal spirituality, her medical duty, and the startling claims of the spirits – is particularly compelling. The Australian setting, richly described from remote communities to mining towns, adds depth and authenticity.
Quirky, irreverent, and thought-provoking, this first instalment in the Aedgar Wisdom series refuses to fit neatly into one category. It may not be for readers who prefer straightforward plots, but those open to something offbeat and cerebral will find much to enjoy. The Conscious Virus is an imaginative and daring beginning to a series with great promise.
Rated: 5 Stars
The Conscious Virus by Miki Mitayn centers on Nerida Green, an Aboriginal doctor working in remote Indigenous communities in Australia, alongside her wife Mari, an artist and spiritual channeler. The novel covers their lives dealing with harsh social and health realities—such as mining pollution, historical trauma, and systemic inequality—while weaving in spiritual insights from channeled beings about a mysterious virus with a consciousness of its own. The story travels widely across Australia and beyond, blending medical realism, Indigenous knowledge, personal struggles, and metaphysical themes. At its heart are the impacts of environmental destruction, societal greed, and pandemics on vulnerable communities, but also the power of love, resilience, and cultural connection to endure and heal.
Miki Mitayn's writing skillfully balances a gripping plot and a thoughtful pace, mixing moments of clinical tension with spiritual encounters and intimate character reflections. The characters are vividly drawn, especially Nerida’s struggle to reconcile scientific medicine with the spiritual wisdom Mari channels, which adds compelling tension and depth to the narrative. Themes of respect for the earth, the cost of colonialism, and systemic injustice run deeply throughout the story, making it more than just an environmental thriller but a broad meditation on humanity’s relationship with nature and each other. I found the mix of science and spirituality refreshingly honest and poignant, offering both hope and caution.
The author’s deliberate yet accessible writing style invites readers to ponder big questions while staying grounded in Nerida's and Mari’s lives, making The Conscious Virus a desirable read for anyone interested in community health, Indigenous perspectives, and speculative fiction about our times.
The Conscious Virus, by Miki Mitayn, defies easy categorization. Part sci-fi, part medical drama, it blends elements from different genres into a compelling narrative that challenges, yet deeply engages, the reader. At its core lies the unique relationship between Nerida and Mari, two women traveling through the desolate Australian outback, tasked with confronting a conscious virus—a threat unlike anything humanity has ever seen.
Nerida, a doctor and scientist, is driven by her desire to help the scattered communities she encounters. Yet her approach to saving lives is far from conventional. Mari, her partner, claims to communicate with disembodied spirits, something Nerida can’t rationalize but is forced to accept after undeniable proof. Their love is undeniable, yet their dynamic is fraught with tension—Nerida’s logical mind often clashes with Mari’s shamanistic beliefs. Together, they form an uneasy partnership, one that might hold the key to stopping a virus that’s not only intelligent but also seemingly conscious.
Mitayn crafts a narrative that explores not just the physical threat posed by this virus but also deeper, more complex themes—queer relationships, spirituality, and humanity’s capacity for self-destruction. The novel demands focus, especially when it delves into its pseudo-metaphysical moments, but the emotional anchor of Nerida and Mari’s relationship keeps readers grounded. Nerida, who sees herself as a savior of the communities she visits, struggles with Mari’s unconventional methods, yet their bond grows as the reality of their situation becomes undeniable.
The virus they face is terrifying, not just because it threatens humanity, but because it forces the women to confront the deeper question of whether humanity is even worth saving. Mitayn excels at creating a world that feels both familiar and unsettling. The stakes are high—not just for the survival of the human race but for Nerida and Mari’s relationship. The conscious virus looms as an insidious presence, but in many ways, it serves as a metaphor for any existential threat that could tear apart an unconventional love. Amid a hostile world, sometimes the only thing that sustains us is our connection to the people we care about most.
The Conscious Virus is an intricate, thought-provoking read. Its blend of genres creates a tapestry of ideas that can be challenging, but the depth of emotion and humanity at its heart make it an eminently rewarding experience. For readers who enjoy stories that push boundaries while exploring the raw, often painful nature of love and survival, this novel is not to be missed.
Pages: 478 | ASIN : B098X1SXZ4
Cristina Prescott at The Book Commentary:
‘The Conscious Virus by Miki Mitayn is a quirky and incredibly unique story that pits spirituality against science in a riveting adventure, featuring a multidimensional, extraordinary protagonist. With Mari and Nerida’s utterly unusual lives, readers will find themselves drawn into mysticism and spiritual wisdom explored in relation to the afterlife. This is a novel with a plot that is stunningly imagined and intelligently executed.’
BooksCoffee's review Jul 28, 2021
‘Mitayn expertly blends magical realism and science fiction, drawing readers deep into an extraordinary setting and character in her engrossing debut installment in An Aedgar Wisdom Novel series.’
Awarded 1st Prize (Best in Division) in the Chanticleer International Book Awards 2022 Book Awards in Supernatural & Paranormal Fiction.
“A debut novel asking the big questions - and ultimately, who can answer them? Brilliant and mind-twisting - a book we highly recommend.”
- Chanticleer Reviews
2nd Place in two Divisions
BookFest Awards 2026
Fiction - Dystopian - Viruses, Plagues & Zombies and
Fiction - Supernatural - Paranormal & Psychic Phenomenon
‘It's such a good book; prescient …
the epitome of speculative fiction as philosophy.
Thrilled to finally have a hard copy of this book - a very funny/serious/sci-fi/pro-Aboriginal/pro-queer/anti-mining novel - part of a series, where we drop into it in the middle. Ancient wisdom, modern problem solving, reality, fantasy plus I learned a little German.... Kindle wasn't enough for me.
Go for more Miki Mitayn!’
From BookLife:
This ambitious spiritual adventure, the first novel in Mitayn’s Aedgar Wisdom Series, finds a doctor, Nerida, and her shaman life partner Mari, guided across Australia by spirits like Aedgar, who often appears as a blue wren, and M’Hoq Toq, a Native American Medicine Man. Mari’s entranced encounters with these channeled beings help the couple discover new ways of seeing, being, and healing.
Photo by Miki Mitayn
From Scott Taylor at Chanticleer Book Reviews
Dr. Nerida Green travels across Australia, tending to struggling communities and connecting with her wife Mari—as well as the three spirits who Mari channels through her body, in Miki Mitayn’s climate-fiction novel The Conscious Virus: An Aedgar Wisdom novel.
Nerida works sporadic jobs as a doctor, from the mining community of Newman to the small town of Fitzroy Crossing, and back east to a disappointing stint at a naturopathy clinic in Byron Bay. Between her working hours, Nerida speaks with M’Hoq Toq, the Native American medicine man, Bartgrinn the Celtic druid, and Aedgar, an ancient being of the Earth. Nerida asks the spirits for their opinions on topics as broad as climate change and as narrow as her personal matters, engaging them in deep conversation.
While Nerida and Mari travel, the Coronavirus makes its appearance on the world stage, and shortly after that, Australia. Nerida manages to find them a safe place to live through quarantine, but her role as a doctor weighs heavily on her as the pandemic picks up steam. She turns to the advice of her ephemeral friends, who at once soothe her heart and spark her worries.
The Conscious Virus tackles current global issues, both through Nerida’s personal experience and the wisdom of the spirits.
Climate Change hurts the vulnerable people whom Nerida cares for, and as the spirits tell her, disrupts the natural systems and energies of the planet. Covid-19 spreads amongst people who are profoundly unprepared for a pandemic, while the entities try to communicate the metaphysical nature of the pandemic.
All three spirits have distinct voices, filling their conversations with personality and the unique word-choice of people who haven’t walked the Earth in centuries. Their beliefs mesh with Nerida’s as often as they clash. She connects with them through their philosophy and deep thoughts on the world, but she struggles to understand their often very unscientific perspectives. How much of what they say is metaphorical, and how much is literal? Will Nerida side with the wisdom of the spirits or with the research and knowledge of her peers?
Between Nerida’s lengthy conversations with the spirits, she and Mari experience the beauty and difficulties of the material world. Mitayn paints Australia with beautiful descriptions, full of color and heat and smells. The world becomes tangible as Nerida walks and drives through it. Her life with Mari is a grounded and realistic one, concerned with whether the air conditioning will keep working, how they’re going to find a place to stay along their travels, and how they should treat each other to maintain a relationship of love and respect. They meet and reconnect with many interesting people, creating a collection of vignettes across their journey.
This story explores many facets of the modern world and its struggles.
The lives and work of Aboriginal people often take center stage, as Nerida—an Aboriginal woman herself—understands the unique challenges they face. Nerida, Mari, and the spirits tell an engaging and deeply thoughtful story about LGBT+ identity, racist systems, and how entire groups of people are pushed down by the interests of the rich and powerful. Mitayn takes none of these issues lightly but instead gives them the time and consideration that they deserve.
Jumping between past, present, and future, The Conscious Virus creates not just a compelling image of the modern world - but also of how the future might play out depending on whether people face their trials with wisdom and compassion - or something so pointless as greed.
Superb Fairy Wren.
Brilliant photo by Patrick Cavanagh.