Our Lady of the Artilects (The Deserted Vineyard #1), by Andrew Gillsmith

  Our Lady of the Artilects is like a cyber Da Vinci Code: religion, artificial intelligence, demonic possession and villainous plans that threaten the entire world. It's well written, with very intriguing ideas, but ultimately a little pulpy. It also feels a little outdated in relation to what AI means today.

  The time is a few hundred years into the future. The world is divided between a new Roman Empire ruled by Christians and an Islamic Caliphate ruled by Islamists after an event which reconciled the two faiths, making their alliance overwhelmingly powerful. There are hints that other nations with other religions may have been left alone, but that part is not explained. A third party, just as powerful, is China, which after the Uighur "crackdown" went even further and massacred 100 million Chinese Christians that wanted more religious freedom. There are also robots - called artilects - which seem to be powerful and intelligent, yet too expensive to be affordable to the general public and each one kind of custom made. Like Rolls Royce cars, but humanoid.

  The story begins with a Vatican AI specialist who is also an exorcist being sent to investigate the possible demonic possession of an artilect. The Roman Emperor sends an enforcer to help and nefarious third parties are also present. And stuff just gets weirder and more complicated from there.

  I liked how Andrew Gillsmith wrote the book. Even if the plot went a bit weird and a bit holy (not holly :D) I was kept interested enough to read the entire book. If you liked stuff like the Robert Langdon series and cyberpunk, you will probably love this, too. It got a little too ecumenical for me, but still a good read. Apparently the genre is called incensepunk?