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Virga #1
Słońce Słońc
Jest odległa przyszłość. Świat znany pod nazwą Virga to ogromny balon wypełniony powietrzem, wodą oraz dryfującymi kawałkami skał. Żyjący w nim ludzie budują fuzyjne słońca oraz „miasta”, które kształtem przypominają olbrzymie koła ze szprychami, wprawiane w ruch celem otrzymania wirówkowej namiastki grawitacji.
Młody i zgorzkniały Hayden Griffin przybywa do Rushu z jedną myślą: wywarcia krwawej zemsty na mordercach swoich rodziców. Jego celem jest admirał Chaison Fanning, który podbił dryfujące państwo Aerie, ojczyznę Haydena. Fakt, że chłopak spędził okres dorastania w różnych, mało bezpiecznych miejscach, nie wróży Fanningowi zbyt dobrze…
„Słońce Słońc” to przyprawiona szczyptą steampunka powieść przygodowo-fantastyczna traktująca o zemście, powinności oraz… powietrznych piratach, jakich jeszcze nie znaliście. A wszystko to osadzone w świecie tak niesamowitym, że aż nieprawdopodobnie realnym.
Wiedzieliśmy już, że Karl Schroeder potrafi bawić się w Kubricka. Teraz jednak okazuje się, że potrafi również wcielić się w Dumasa. Co więcej: od czasu Śródziemia nie natrafiłem na równie plastyczną wizję obcego uniwersum. Swoją konstrukcją „Słońce Słońc” zawstydza klasyczne, nivenowskie sposoby kreowania światów.
— Peter Watts, autor „Rozgwiazdy” i „Ślepowidzenia”
Młody i zgorzkniały Hayden Griffin przybywa do Rushu z jedną myślą: wywarcia krwawej zemsty na mordercach swoich rodziców. Jego celem jest admirał Chaison Fanning, który podbił dryfujące państwo Aerie, ojczyznę Haydena. Fakt, że chłopak spędził okres dorastania w różnych, mało bezpiecznych miejscach, nie wróży Fanningowi zbyt dobrze…
„Słońce Słońc” to przyprawiona szczyptą steampunka powieść przygodowo-fantastyczna traktująca o zemście, powinności oraz… powietrznych piratach, jakich jeszcze nie znaliście. A wszystko to osadzone w świecie tak niesamowitym, że aż nieprawdopodobnie realnym.
Wiedzieliśmy już, że Karl Schroeder potrafi bawić się w Kubricka. Teraz jednak okazuje się, że potrafi również wcielić się w Dumasa. Co więcej: od czasu Śródziemia nie natrafiłem na równie plastyczną wizję obcego uniwersum. Swoją konstrukcją „Słońce Słońc” zawstydza klasyczne, nivenowskie sposoby kreowania światów.
— Peter Watts, autor „Rozgwiazdy” i „Ślepowidzenia”
354 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
71 people are currently reading
3222 people want to read
About the author
Karl Schroeder
95 books383 followersKarl Schroeder is an award-winning Canadian science fiction author. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality and interstellar travel, and have a deeply philosophical streak. One of his concepts, known as thalience, has gained some currency in the artificial intelligence and computer networking communities.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 264 reviews
July 26, 2014
I stayed firmly on the fence with this book. I can't decide what I would rate it, somewhere between 2.5 -3.0 stars would be about right. I don't know what genre I would stick it in, scif/steampunk perhaps. Probably not. Imagine if you will, Honor Harrington meeting up with the Integral Trees, then this is somewhat like what you'd get, without the character development.
The world building is odd, in as much as there is none. You are fed tiny little snippets of info about what the world is, which is fine if it allows you to draw a picture in your head, but you just don't get enough. I think, that the world is a giant ballon type thing, with a great big candle in the middle. It has been created by super humans as an experiment, as humans have progressed from physical to what ever.
Our race in this balloon (Virga) are running around in "space" ships made of wood and have jet bikes as their fighters. It is a typical space story with pirates and other nations fighting for power, but all done in a almost not quite sort of steampunk way.
The characters are very very flat, I feel absolutely nothing for any of them and couldn't have cared less if they lived or died or completed their missions. In fact two days after finishing I cannot recall a single characters name. The story just doesn't grip you, yet you do feel that there is something there. A hint of possible interest and perhaps the writing improves as they story series continues. I have been told that, but to be honest, I'll not be buying book two as there is so many other books I want to read before investing in this series.
Sorry Bob, tried, but it just didn't grab me.
The world building is odd, in as much as there is none. You are fed tiny little snippets of info about what the world is, which is fine if it allows you to draw a picture in your head, but you just don't get enough. I think, that the world is a giant ballon type thing, with a great big candle in the middle. It has been created by super humans as an experiment, as humans have progressed from physical to what ever.
Our race in this balloon (Virga) are running around in "space" ships made of wood and have jet bikes as their fighters. It is a typical space story with pirates and other nations fighting for power, but all done in a almost not quite sort of steampunk way.
The characters are very very flat, I feel absolutely nothing for any of them and couldn't have cared less if they lived or died or completed their missions. In fact two days after finishing I cannot recall a single characters name. The story just doesn't grip you, yet you do feel that there is something there. A hint of possible interest and perhaps the writing improves as they story series continues. I have been told that, but to be honest, I'll not be buying book two as there is so many other books I want to read before investing in this series.
Sorry Bob, tried, but it just didn't grab me.
January 4, 2024
Romanzo che si legge d'un fiato. È un misto tra Sci-Fi e Steampunk, ricorda il cartone animato della Disney "Il pianeta del tesoro" con tanta avventura e azione. Il worldbuilding è veramente pazzesco, super originale ed evocativo, tuttavia non è supportato da uno stile di scrittura di pari livello. Molto acerbo, ricco di infodump, piatto e incapace di caratterizzare i personaggi. Un vero peccato.
May 25, 2008
Schroeder's Sun of Suns bears the trappings of hard science fiction, but in reality it belongs to a much older genre: "Adventure." Like great popular works of yestercentury (such as Treasure Island or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea), Sun of Suns takes a compelling premise and applies continuous leverage to the plot. On the short side, I finished Sun of Suns in one sitting precisely because I couldn't put it down.
The story is set in an extremely unusual setting: a planet-sized bubble of breathable atmosphere, in which hundreds of floating cities are warmed by dozens of artificial suns. With its focus on airships, air pirates, and, territorial politics, the book feels remarkably like it was inspired by the critically acclaimed video game Skies of Arcadia, albeit intended for a more mature audience.
Like Skies of Arcadia, the book's characters are passionate, textured, and one-dimensional. We all know the archetypes well enough (the orphan-seeking-revenge, the ruthless-conniving-vixen, the bureaucrat-assassin-sociopath), and Schroeder demonstrates adeptly that working with archetypal characters lets the story drive forward unrelentingly. The story's roller-coaster pacing is facilitated by the simplicity of the characters, as relatively little time is spent on exploring the characters and far more is spent on accelerating the story.
Sun of Suns is a very entertaining read, and its unique setting guarantees that it will be remembered. While it is unlikely to inspire much soul-searching, it will keep any but the most demanding reader turning pages from start to finish.
The story is set in an extremely unusual setting: a planet-sized bubble of breathable atmosphere, in which hundreds of floating cities are warmed by dozens of artificial suns. With its focus on airships, air pirates, and, territorial politics, the book feels remarkably like it was inspired by the critically acclaimed video game Skies of Arcadia, albeit intended for a more mature audience.
Like Skies of Arcadia, the book's characters are passionate, textured, and one-dimensional. We all know the archetypes well enough (the orphan-seeking-revenge, the ruthless-conniving-vixen, the bureaucrat-assassin-sociopath), and Schroeder demonstrates adeptly that working with archetypal characters lets the story drive forward unrelentingly. The story's roller-coaster pacing is facilitated by the simplicity of the characters, as relatively little time is spent on exploring the characters and far more is spent on accelerating the story.
Sun of Suns is a very entertaining read, and its unique setting guarantees that it will be remembered. While it is unlikely to inspire much soul-searching, it will keep any but the most demanding reader turning pages from start to finish.
June 30, 2016
Sun of Suns is the first book in a series set in the distant world of Virga, an Earth-sized sphere filled with air, and inhabited on the vast interior, where gravity is a luxury you can't always count on and light and heat comes from artificial suns... and some have to do without. It follows Hayden Griffin, who starts off on a quest for revenge against the man he believes responsible for his parents deaths, only to wind up on a mission with him, for the nation that conquered his own.
The book's always been something of an odd mix... much of it reading like a naval adventure tale, complete with pirates, gun battles, and swordfights, albeit in a unique setting. There's a dash of a steampunk vibe, with the majority of the characters coming from (and adventuring in) an environment that doesn't have complicated electronics, but that scientific progress has still continued in other ways. There's room to explore far-future high-tech that seems like it verges on magic, and some ideas with surprising novelty. And there's even a bit of hard science fiction with the way he plays with the setting itself.
That setting really is something spectacular, and Schroeder seems to have rigorously thought out the consequences of living inside a vast sphere of air, how that changes the technology and the people and creatures who live there, and how to describe it in a way that makes it accessible without making your head spin (much). It really comes alive and starts to feel like a real place that could exist, and I've reread it several times just to be transported back there.
It's not a novel that relies on a cool setting alone, though. There are a handful of engaging characters, and the plot is compelling all the way through. Even the characters who are totally ruthless manage to stay sympathetic, and even though it's the first part of a series, you absolutely can read it as a stand-alone tale because it tells a complete story for many of the characters... but, just like reality, sometimes new stories start where the old ones leave off.
The book's always been something of an odd mix... much of it reading like a naval adventure tale, complete with pirates, gun battles, and swordfights, albeit in a unique setting. There's a dash of a steampunk vibe, with the majority of the characters coming from (and adventuring in) an environment that doesn't have complicated electronics, but that scientific progress has still continued in other ways. There's room to explore far-future high-tech that seems like it verges on magic, and some ideas with surprising novelty. And there's even a bit of hard science fiction with the way he plays with the setting itself.
That setting really is something spectacular, and Schroeder seems to have rigorously thought out the consequences of living inside a vast sphere of air, how that changes the technology and the people and creatures who live there, and how to describe it in a way that makes it accessible without making your head spin (much). It really comes alive and starts to feel like a real place that could exist, and I've reread it several times just to be transported back there.
It's not a novel that relies on a cool setting alone, though. There are a handful of engaging characters, and the plot is compelling all the way through. Even the characters who are totally ruthless manage to stay sympathetic, and even though it's the first part of a series, you absolutely can read it as a stand-alone tale because it tells a complete story for many of the characters... but, just like reality, sometimes new stories start where the old ones leave off.
June 26, 2012
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
Hayden Griffin is out for revenge. When he was a boy, the nation of Slipstream attacked his little home world of Aerie. Hayden’s parents had just managed to build a sun for Aerie so their world could be independent of Slipstream, but the more powerful nation attacked before Aerie could escape. Both of Hayden’s parents were killed. Years later, Hayden knows it was Admiral Chaison Fanning, the Admiral of Slipstream’s space fleet, who ordered the massacre, so Hayden plans to insinuate himself into the admiral’s household so he can get close enough to kill him. What he doesn’t know is how ruthless Venera Fanning, the Admiral’s wife, can be. When Venera discovers another nation’s plot against Slipstream, Hayden gets caught in the middle.
Sun of Suns, a “hard” SF novel, is the first book in Karl Schroeder’s VIRGA series. By far the best thing about Sun of Suns is the world-building. Virga is a marvelous creation — a huge balloon in space where humans have created their own suns and planets that float around inside. Anyone who has the knowledge and ability to create a sun can start his own civilization, but he’ll need to have a lot of resources and know some physics because there is no natural gravitational force in Virga — it has to be created by spinning the cities with centrifuges. Gravity is inconsistent, then, and on some worlds it may be denied to the lower classes. Civilizations can also be carved into lakes of water or attached to the inside wall of the balloon.
People and spaceships fly through the air of Virga, trying to avoid the rafts of junk that accumulate, and the cold dark areas called “Winter” where icebergs float and no sun shines for hundreds of miles. The people of Virga are unaware of anything outside of their balloon, though we get hints from another character about what is beyond — a universe of artificial engines that rule over humans who don’t remember their own science and technology. Candesce, Virga’s Sun (the sun of suns) disrupts artificial nature, so if the engines ever plan to rule Virga, they’ll have to take out its sun.
The characterization in Sun of Suns suffers a bit compared to the world-building. The female characters are especially shallow, but I’m sure that wasn’t Schroeder’s intention. I think he meant for them to be strong, but instead they come across as unlikely and unlikeable. He does better with Hayden and Chaison, though both men make some really stupid decisions. The plot is mostly exciting, but sometimes obscured by confusing action sequences or implausible occurrences, though I found myself willing to suspend disbelief because I liked Virga so much.
I listened to MacMillan Audio’s version of Sun of Suns, which I got free at Audible during one of their promotions. Joyce Irvine reads it competently, but I was puzzled at MacMillan Audio’s choice of an older-sounding female to narrate a book whose main protagonist is a young man. This bothered me some, but not enough to keep me from reading the next book, if I do, in audio format. Other readers may feel differently and should probably listen to the sample of Sun of Suns at Amazon or Audible before choosing the audio version.
I liked Sun of Suns well enough that I will try the second book, Queen of Candesce, if I find it on sale at Audible. I would have been more eager to read book two if featured Hayden as the main character, but judging from the description, it features Venera Fanning (which may be why a female narrator was chosen) and, though I look forward to spending more time in Virga, I don’t really want to hang out with her.
Hayden Griffin is out for revenge. When he was a boy, the nation of Slipstream attacked his little home world of Aerie. Hayden’s parents had just managed to build a sun for Aerie so their world could be independent of Slipstream, but the more powerful nation attacked before Aerie could escape. Both of Hayden’s parents were killed. Years later, Hayden knows it was Admiral Chaison Fanning, the Admiral of Slipstream’s space fleet, who ordered the massacre, so Hayden plans to insinuate himself into the admiral’s household so he can get close enough to kill him. What he doesn’t know is how ruthless Venera Fanning, the Admiral’s wife, can be. When Venera discovers another nation’s plot against Slipstream, Hayden gets caught in the middle.
Sun of Suns, a “hard” SF novel, is the first book in Karl Schroeder’s VIRGA series. By far the best thing about Sun of Suns is the world-building. Virga is a marvelous creation — a huge balloon in space where humans have created their own suns and planets that float around inside. Anyone who has the knowledge and ability to create a sun can start his own civilization, but he’ll need to have a lot of resources and know some physics because there is no natural gravitational force in Virga — it has to be created by spinning the cities with centrifuges. Gravity is inconsistent, then, and on some worlds it may be denied to the lower classes. Civilizations can also be carved into lakes of water or attached to the inside wall of the balloon.
People and spaceships fly through the air of Virga, trying to avoid the rafts of junk that accumulate, and the cold dark areas called “Winter” where icebergs float and no sun shines for hundreds of miles. The people of Virga are unaware of anything outside of their balloon, though we get hints from another character about what is beyond — a universe of artificial engines that rule over humans who don’t remember their own science and technology. Candesce, Virga’s Sun (the sun of suns) disrupts artificial nature, so if the engines ever plan to rule Virga, they’ll have to take out its sun.
The characterization in Sun of Suns suffers a bit compared to the world-building. The female characters are especially shallow, but I’m sure that wasn’t Schroeder’s intention. I think he meant for them to be strong, but instead they come across as unlikely and unlikeable. He does better with Hayden and Chaison, though both men make some really stupid decisions. The plot is mostly exciting, but sometimes obscured by confusing action sequences or implausible occurrences, though I found myself willing to suspend disbelief because I liked Virga so much.
I listened to MacMillan Audio’s version of Sun of Suns, which I got free at Audible during one of their promotions. Joyce Irvine reads it competently, but I was puzzled at MacMillan Audio’s choice of an older-sounding female to narrate a book whose main protagonist is a young man. This bothered me some, but not enough to keep me from reading the next book, if I do, in audio format. Other readers may feel differently and should probably listen to the sample of Sun of Suns at Amazon or Audible before choosing the audio version.
I liked Sun of Suns well enough that I will try the second book, Queen of Candesce, if I find it on sale at Audible. I would have been more eager to read book two if featured Hayden as the main character, but judging from the description, it features Venera Fanning (which may be why a female narrator was chosen) and, though I look forward to spending more time in Virga, I don’t really want to hang out with her.
June 15, 2020
“If the world needed saving it wouldn’t be worth doing it. Everything worthwhile ends up getting stolen by someone evil.
Great new setting for steam-punk science fiction: inside a planet-sized balloon of gases (Virga). All “gravity” is inertial, “suns” heat and light local areas of the temperate zone, and the politics and technology is mostly nineteenth century. The characters begin in mystery and opposition but must work together for a greater good. An outsider knows about the evolved technology (and biology) outside the bubble but her motives and theirs may not coincide. Good plot flow and development. Nice cover art.
“She’s bitter. People enjoy being bitter. It gives them license to act childishly.” “Aren’t you the philosopher.”
Having said that the narrative seemed appropriate for young readers except for the gratuitous sex. And it was gratuitous, not necessary to plot or character development. (It gave clues to the fate of certain characters.) While mostly only suggestive, its inclusion makes the book unsuitable for younger readers. The three F-bombs.
Quibbles: “No gravity, no pressure.” A multi thousand-foot-wide ball of water inside a multi those miles ball of breathable gas will have pressure. “Hanging balls of smoke.” No, smoke will disperse just as it does in our atmosphere. “Denouncing the pilot.” Even the same character didn’t consistently call their leader the Pilot. “A thrust by [redacted1] took [him] through the left bicep. … slicing [redacted 2]’s fingers open to the bone.” Redacted #2 could not do all the things he subsequentially does. A stray bullet would not fly indefinitely; air and gravity would drag it slower and down. And the big one: “Are they glass?” “Diamond. Re-radiators.” Having established that this world shares the physics of Earth, with certain mentioned exceptions, Schroeder should recognize that diamonds, like coal, burn readily. Poof. No more Sun of Suns.
“That’s a mighty fine dress uniform if I do say so myself.” “One of the things they give you when you get to be admiral.” “Yeah? What else they give you?” “Headaches!”
The rating teetered between three and four stars until the end. The story didn’t end, it just stopped. Schroeder came close to a satisfying conclusion but didn’t deliver. Unless you’re in for five books, you may be dissatisfied with the series opener.
“It wasn’t what you fought that mattered; the only thing that mattered was what you built.”
Perhaps the most serious indictment: I read this five years ago and didn’t recognize it when I read it again.
Great new setting for steam-punk science fiction: inside a planet-sized balloon of gases (Virga). All “gravity” is inertial, “suns” heat and light local areas of the temperate zone, and the politics and technology is mostly nineteenth century. The characters begin in mystery and opposition but must work together for a greater good. An outsider knows about the evolved technology (and biology) outside the bubble but her motives and theirs may not coincide. Good plot flow and development. Nice cover art.
“She’s bitter. People enjoy being bitter. It gives them license to act childishly.” “Aren’t you the philosopher.”
Having said that the narrative seemed appropriate for young readers except for the gratuitous sex. And it was gratuitous, not necessary to plot or character development. (It gave clues to the fate of certain characters.) While mostly only suggestive, its inclusion makes the book unsuitable for younger readers. The three F-bombs.
Quibbles: “No gravity, no pressure.” A multi thousand-foot-wide ball of water inside a multi those miles ball of breathable gas will have pressure. “Hanging balls of smoke.” No, smoke will disperse just as it does in our atmosphere. “Denouncing the pilot.” Even the same character didn’t consistently call their leader the Pilot. “A thrust by [redacted1] took [him] through the left bicep. … slicing [redacted 2]’s fingers open to the bone.” Redacted #2 could not do all the things he subsequentially does. A stray bullet would not fly indefinitely; air and gravity would drag it slower and down. And the big one: “Are they glass?” “Diamond. Re-radiators.” Having established that this world shares the physics of Earth, with certain mentioned exceptions, Schroeder should recognize that diamonds, like coal, burn readily. Poof. No more Sun of Suns.
“That’s a mighty fine dress uniform if I do say so myself.” “One of the things they give you when you get to be admiral.” “Yeah? What else they give you?” “Headaches!”
The rating teetered between three and four stars until the end. The story didn’t end, it just stopped. Schroeder came close to a satisfying conclusion but didn’t deliver. Unless you’re in for five books, you may be dissatisfied with the series opener.
“It wasn’t what you fought that mattered; the only thing that mattered was what you built.”
Perhaps the most serious indictment: I read this five years ago and didn’t recognize it when I read it again.
October 30, 2020
The Larry Niven quote on the back cover is perfectly appropriate, given that this is a spirit child of The Integral Trees. Humanity has adapted to life in a (to us) profoundly unnatural environment, and Schroeder is relentless in layering on the worldbuilding when constructing the likely technologies and societies implied by the core concept.
That the result is an old-fashioned swashbuckler in slightly new clothing is an unexpected pleasure, even more so because he manages to find a rational excuse for the ridiculous Steampunk "sky pirate" conceit.
I was actually a little let down that the story eventually turns to the situation outside of Virga, and that Virga itself, while ancient and superscientific, does not exactly represent the product of a precataclysmic culture. To discuss this situation at all, while being the plot's most remarkable turning point, is to draw attention away from the amazement that is Virga and the humans sailing, flying, or flapping through its incredible expanse.
That the result is an old-fashioned swashbuckler in slightly new clothing is an unexpected pleasure, even more so because he manages to find a rational excuse for the ridiculous Steampunk "sky pirate" conceit.
I was actually a little let down that the story eventually turns to the situation outside of Virga, and that Virga itself, while ancient and superscientific, does not exactly represent the product of a precataclysmic culture. To discuss this situation at all, while being the plot's most remarkable turning point, is to draw attention away from the amazement that is Virga and the humans sailing, flying, or flapping through its incredible expanse.
September 29, 2013
This was the first book I've read by Karl Schroeder, and it was a pleasant discovery - I liked it well enough that I've already picked up a couple of other books by him. It's exciting sci-fi adventure with an unusual setting that reminded me a little of Flash Gordon (the movie). Virga is a bubble-like world, filled with floating cities and towns heated and lit by artificial suns. Settlements' wandering paths often take them into each other's way, causing political conflict. Hayden Griffin's life has been formed by such a conflict - his people, from the tiny nation of Aerie, perished in a rebellion against a larger nation, and he has been bent on revenge for years... but when he finally infiltrates the inner coterie of the powerful Fanning family, whom he believes to be his enemies, what he learns besets him with doubt. And when he meets a woman who says she is from outside Virga, and tells him strange things about the Universe outside Haydn's world, he realizes much more may be at stake than the future of Aerie
August 31, 2017
I finally finished a book this month! What an accomplishment but sad to say that it wasn't a book that I really enjoyed. I read this in the hopes of getting into more science fiction and I found myself confused by the technology and spacecraft elements. I can't say if that's me being not well versed in the genre or a lack of strong description on the books part, but I finished it in the end.
July 19, 2008
I finished it because it was reasonably short and I wanted to see if it would redeem itself with its ending, but rarely have I been so let down by such a well-reviewed and hyped new science fiction book ("Outrageously brilliant and not to be missed" says one magazine, with additional blurbs from Vernor Vinge, Larry Niven, and Cory Doctorow). Weak writing, hackneyed plot, uninteresting cardboard characters all the way through. The world-building is pretty cool(~steampunk-level tech in a 3000km-diameter balloon-world filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock). And the cliches he chose for his plot and characters are, you know, cliches I've come to associate with cool things. But he does not elevate them beyond stereotypes at any point. I was in a short, fun science fiction mood after reading some of John Scalzi's books, but Scalzi blows this out of the water.
October 8, 2014
Sun of Suns is a perfect alignment of plot and setting. Schroeder wanted to write something in the vein of steampunk or space opera: sword fights on exploding battlecruisers, glittering 'civilized' cities and dank pirate hideaways, heroics and sacrifice and revenge written across the sky. A lesser author would just say 'screw realism' and do it: Schroeder actually does the world building to make it work.
Enter Virga, a 5000 mile bubble of air orbiting Vega, hemmed in by a shell of ice and light from within by artificial suns. Zero-G forests hide shoals of fish and birds Towns rotate to generate gravity, lest their inhabitants become enfeebled weightless spiders. Immense floating seas and fogbanks conceal pirate armadas, while jet-propelled men-of-war launch rocket barrages before closing to board. There are rumors that the whole thing is sustained by/protecting itself against post-human high technology. I'm not a meterologist, but the incredible weather of Virga and the ships that ply its sky are both awesome and pass my smell test.
After all that praise for the setting, it pains me to do anything less for the plot and characters, but they're merely good as opposed to great. Revenge is a major motivation, and contrasted against friendship, human decency, and the possibility to make something new. There are a lot more Virga books, which I'll read when I get the chance, but Sun of Suns stands on its own and then some.
Enter Virga, a 5000 mile bubble of air orbiting Vega, hemmed in by a shell of ice and light from within by artificial suns. Zero-G forests hide shoals of fish and birds Towns rotate to generate gravity, lest their inhabitants become enfeebled weightless spiders. Immense floating seas and fogbanks conceal pirate armadas, while jet-propelled men-of-war launch rocket barrages before closing to board. There are rumors that the whole thing is sustained by/protecting itself against post-human high technology. I'm not a meterologist, but the incredible weather of Virga and the ships that ply its sky are both awesome and pass my smell test.
After all that praise for the setting, it pains me to do anything less for the plot and characters, but they're merely good as opposed to great. Revenge is a major motivation, and contrasted against friendship, human decency, and the possibility to make something new. There are a lot more Virga books, which I'll read when I get the chance, but Sun of Suns stands on its own and then some.
June 22, 2016
No spoilers here.
Schroeder creates an interesting world here Virga, a 5,000 mile air filled bubble filled with floating oceans, spinning wheeled countries, fish, man made suns which feed these nations. This world building reminded me much of Niven's Ringworld.
The story centers around a young man, Hayden who is seeking revenge over the invasion of his home nation, the death of his parents, and the destruction of his sun. All of this is at the hands of the nation of Slipstream, a powerful trading nation.
Once Haydon reaches adulthood, he arranges to serve on the crew of Slipstream's Admiral Chaison Fanning, who he believes is responsible for his nation's destruction, and plots his assassination, here he comes to the attention of the Admiral's wife Venera, an opportunity grabbing femme!
Schroeder weaves a part pirate type adventure and hard sci-fi story, as the characters complete with the great universe that Schroeder has built.
Schroeder creates an interesting world here Virga, a 5,000 mile air filled bubble filled with floating oceans, spinning wheeled countries, fish, man made suns which feed these nations. This world building reminded me much of Niven's Ringworld.
The story centers around a young man, Hayden who is seeking revenge over the invasion of his home nation, the death of his parents, and the destruction of his sun. All of this is at the hands of the nation of Slipstream, a powerful trading nation.
Once Haydon reaches adulthood, he arranges to serve on the crew of Slipstream's Admiral Chaison Fanning, who he believes is responsible for his nation's destruction, and plots his assassination, here he comes to the attention of the Admiral's wife Venera, an opportunity grabbing femme!
Schroeder weaves a part pirate type adventure and hard sci-fi story, as the characters complete with the great universe that Schroeder has built.
August 24, 2011
I finally got around to reading Sun of Suns, which had been setting in my to-read ebook stack for two years. I should have done so sooner as it was a very enjoyable read. The good news for me is that this is the first book in the Virga series, which is up to five books now.
Imagine Horatio Hornblower in a weightless environment and you will have some idea of what this story is like.
Highly recommended for SF and action fans.
Imagine Horatio Hornblower in a weightless environment and you will have some idea of what this story is like.
Highly recommended for SF and action fans.
August 11, 2007
This book is beyond awesome--it's the best SF I've read since Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Amazing world building and super creative imagery. Quick and to the point action packed space opera that only gets faster and more detailed as the story winds it's way into a supernova finale. I can't wait for the sequal.
June 26, 2008
Quick, action-packed read filled with delicious steampunk imagery. It never stopped, never flagged, only continued to grow.
The one downside was Hayden's wavering of resolution in his revenge, early on, too early for my taste. But as far as nits to pick, it's a small one, considering I didn't believe he'd go through with it in the first place.
Great book. Recommended.
The one downside was Hayden's wavering of resolution in his revenge, early on, too early for my taste. But as far as nits to pick, it's a small one, considering I didn't believe he'd go through with it in the first place.
Great book. Recommended.
November 30, 2007
Cool world...huge enclosed bubble of air without fixed landmasses, people can float or fly, cities are elaborate spinning constructions heated by fusion 'suns', lots of extrapolated biology. But, the characters just weren't appealing to me; the story didn't grab me.
dnf
July 9, 2016I am a quarter into this and I just don't care about the story. It's not bad, the worldbuilding is really intriguing but I am not interested in the plot or the characters that feel flat. I have a ton of other things to read so I am not going to force myself to read this.
March 22, 2018
I'm not sure what I expected from "Sun of Suns." Truthfully, I forgot I even owned it until I went looking through my TBR shelf for some sci-fi to read. When I read the dust jacket the book led me to believe it was a revenge story set in space where the "dangerous" Hayden Griffen sets out to kill the killer of his murdered parents.
Oh cool, I thought. If "Best Served Cold" and "A Crown for Cold Silver," taught me anything is that I have a soft spot for revenge stories. And anti-heroes. And if I can have an anti-hero revenge focused space opera, hell sign me up.
The problem is, "Sun of Suns," isn't that.
Before I dive into my issues with the book let me just say the hands-down coolest part of this novel was the setting. Virga (the world) is a giant balloon filled with air. Space exists outside this balloon and apparently there are other worlds floating around out there. But within Virga's enormous diameter there are thousands of artificially generated suns around which cluster towns which form countries which form nations. There isn't any "space" inside Virga- the air is breathable but away from the suns it becomes cold enough to warrant the name "winter" and is largely desolate except for giant pieces of ice. Air everywhere means that you get things like floating forests and plant life growing from massive chunks of earth lazily and very slowly traveling through Virga. You have waterballs filled with fish, mushroom farms growing on the edges of winter's darkness on tiny spits of rock, and wooden ships that can travel through Virga without the need for spacesuits and breathing tanks for the crew.
I love this idea and I love the descriptions of this world so much. There's one destroyed forest called "Leaf's Choir" floating in Virga that gave me chills reading about it. I'd love to see this place come alive for a TV series or a movie because DAMN this is just such a visually astounding setting that I've been thinking about it for days.
However.
In my hypothetical world where someone does make this into an adaptation, they're going to have to change one big thing before I can re-invest into this story.
The characters.
So Hayden Griffen is ostensibly our protagonist. He's a young man from a tiny nation called Aerie. Aerie doesn't have a sun of its own, meaning that it's reliant on its occupying nation "Slipstream" to provide for it. Aerie's inhabitants resent the occupation (naturally) and Hayden's parents get involved in the plan to engineer their own sun so that when the currents of Virga inevitably send Aerie one way and Slipstream another (like continents drifting apart), Aerie will finally be independent. Slipstream finds out about the plan of course, sends a punitive force, and both the nascent sun and Hayden's parents get wiped off the face of the balloon.
Fastforward several years and Hayden's infiltrated Slipsteam. He's managed to work his way into the household of the Admiral in charge of the punitive force all those years ago and plans to kill him to avenge his parents' death. Now the blurb would have you believe Hayden's "dangerous" and "bitter" but the reality is he's "incompetent" and "bland." He has no assassination training so, surprise-surprise, he makes a piss-poor job of things and fails to kill the admiral when he has the chance. The main set-back was his difficulty in actually, you know, murdering someone (which ok, fair enough, I can't say I'd be able to pull the trigger either) but the most "dangerous" thing about him then becomes his "dangerous" ability to put me to sleep when he started monologuing about how much a failure he was.
Hayden, we all knew from about 10 pages in that you weren't ever going to kill the guy. Does Schroeder consider excessively whining about it to be good character development?
Anyway, after Hayden loses his nerve he finds himself enlisted with a couple other household servants to join the Admiral on a fleet of ships. Much like Aerie before it, Slipstream is finding itself threatened by several stronger nations working in tandem to try and conqueror it. This takes him on a grand adventure through Virga as the Admiral follows through on a plot to save Slipstream by hunting a pirate's treasure and using the "Sun of Suns" and yadda yadda. There's mid-air ship battles, a hidden map, air pirates - all the trappings of an adventure story here with plenty of action but I'd be damned if I just couldn't care.
The characters and the sloppy writing where the characters were concerned just absolutely murdered this thing for me. Hayden is an obnoxious personality with a revenge story that just can't hold water. I don't care about his parents because I never knew them and I don't care whether or not Hayden knifes the Admiral because I know he's never going to do it.
The Admiral is, predictably, discovered not to be the cold-hearted murderer Hayden thinks he is but he's also not exactly much of anything else. He's another blank face in story - too shallow for me to invest in and at times too ridiculous for me to take him seriously.
About the time I'd decided I'd had enough of Sun of Suns came about halfway through during a massive battle with air pirates. The Admiral's flagship finds itself stuck in one spot because the pirates have dropped a whole host of mines in the sky in front of it and are peppering the stranded vessel with gunfire. Ok, cool. Neat set piece.
The Admiral decides clearing the mines is priority number one. Ok, fine. Makes sense.
But instead of, oh I don't know, sending some SOLDIERS to do it - he sees Hayden over by the one air-bike they have left on board and tells him to hop to it. Knowing full well - I should add- that Hayden is his wife's servant. A civilian. An untrained civilian. And a force of one.
And he wants to send him out. To clear military mines. From in front of his flagship. Alone. In the middle of a battle. As priority one. So the ship can maneuver. And not get torn to pieces.
One civilian. On the only bike left.
...........
Hayden's the one to insist on backup. To which the Admiral says, "Take whoever."
..........
Take. Whoever.
Your entire fleet is at risk and not only do you trust a civ to clear the mines but you do not care a rat's ass who he takes with him? And Hayden, looking to escape the doomed ship with his buddies (hey, who can blame him?) grabs a 15 year old kid. And the Admiral is cool with it.
.............
That's when I realized I was done with Sun of Suns.
I sped read the rest of it on the treadmill at the gym and I don't even know why. This isn't anything but spectacle sci-fi - a cool world with some cool set-pieces peopled by the blandest, stupidest cast of characters I remember seeing in sci-fi.
Yikes.
Oh cool, I thought. If "Best Served Cold" and "A Crown for Cold Silver," taught me anything is that I have a soft spot for revenge stories. And anti-heroes. And if I can have an anti-hero revenge focused space opera, hell sign me up.
The problem is, "Sun of Suns," isn't that.
Before I dive into my issues with the book let me just say the hands-down coolest part of this novel was the setting. Virga (the world) is a giant balloon filled with air. Space exists outside this balloon and apparently there are other worlds floating around out there. But within Virga's enormous diameter there are thousands of artificially generated suns around which cluster towns which form countries which form nations. There isn't any "space" inside Virga- the air is breathable but away from the suns it becomes cold enough to warrant the name "winter" and is largely desolate except for giant pieces of ice. Air everywhere means that you get things like floating forests and plant life growing from massive chunks of earth lazily and very slowly traveling through Virga. You have waterballs filled with fish, mushroom farms growing on the edges of winter's darkness on tiny spits of rock, and wooden ships that can travel through Virga without the need for spacesuits and breathing tanks for the crew.
I love this idea and I love the descriptions of this world so much. There's one destroyed forest called "Leaf's Choir" floating in Virga that gave me chills reading about it. I'd love to see this place come alive for a TV series or a movie because DAMN this is just such a visually astounding setting that I've been thinking about it for days.
However.
In my hypothetical world where someone does make this into an adaptation, they're going to have to change one big thing before I can re-invest into this story.
The characters.
So Hayden Griffen is ostensibly our protagonist. He's a young man from a tiny nation called Aerie. Aerie doesn't have a sun of its own, meaning that it's reliant on its occupying nation "Slipstream" to provide for it. Aerie's inhabitants resent the occupation (naturally) and Hayden's parents get involved in the plan to engineer their own sun so that when the currents of Virga inevitably send Aerie one way and Slipstream another (like continents drifting apart), Aerie will finally be independent. Slipstream finds out about the plan of course, sends a punitive force, and both the nascent sun and Hayden's parents get wiped off the face of the balloon.
Fastforward several years and Hayden's infiltrated Slipsteam. He's managed to work his way into the household of the Admiral in charge of the punitive force all those years ago and plans to kill him to avenge his parents' death. Now the blurb would have you believe Hayden's "dangerous" and "bitter" but the reality is he's "incompetent" and "bland." He has no assassination training so, surprise-surprise, he makes a piss-poor job of things and fails to kill the admiral when he has the chance. The main set-back was his difficulty in actually, you know, murdering someone (which ok, fair enough, I can't say I'd be able to pull the trigger either) but the most "dangerous" thing about him then becomes his "dangerous" ability to put me to sleep when he started monologuing about how much a failure he was.
Hayden, we all knew from about 10 pages in that you weren't ever going to kill the guy. Does Schroeder consider excessively whining about it to be good character development?
Anyway, after Hayden loses his nerve he finds himself enlisted with a couple other household servants to join the Admiral on a fleet of ships. Much like Aerie before it, Slipstream is finding itself threatened by several stronger nations working in tandem to try and conqueror it. This takes him on a grand adventure through Virga as the Admiral follows through on a plot to save Slipstream by hunting a pirate's treasure and using the "Sun of Suns" and yadda yadda. There's mid-air ship battles, a hidden map, air pirates - all the trappings of an adventure story here with plenty of action but I'd be damned if I just couldn't care.
The characters and the sloppy writing where the characters were concerned just absolutely murdered this thing for me. Hayden is an obnoxious personality with a revenge story that just can't hold water. I don't care about his parents because I never knew them and I don't care whether or not Hayden knifes the Admiral because I know he's never going to do it.
The Admiral is, predictably, discovered not to be the cold-hearted murderer Hayden thinks he is but he's also not exactly much of anything else. He's another blank face in story - too shallow for me to invest in and at times too ridiculous for me to take him seriously.
About the time I'd decided I'd had enough of Sun of Suns came about halfway through during a massive battle with air pirates. The Admiral's flagship finds itself stuck in one spot because the pirates have dropped a whole host of mines in the sky in front of it and are peppering the stranded vessel with gunfire. Ok, cool. Neat set piece.
The Admiral decides clearing the mines is priority number one. Ok, fine. Makes sense.
But instead of, oh I don't know, sending some SOLDIERS to do it - he sees Hayden over by the one air-bike they have left on board and tells him to hop to it. Knowing full well - I should add- that Hayden is his wife's servant. A civilian. An untrained civilian. And a force of one.
And he wants to send him out. To clear military mines. From in front of his flagship. Alone. In the middle of a battle. As priority one. So the ship can maneuver. And not get torn to pieces.
One civilian. On the only bike left.
...........
Hayden's the one to insist on backup. To which the Admiral says, "Take whoever."
..........
Take. Whoever.
Your entire fleet is at risk and not only do you trust a civ to clear the mines but you do not care a rat's ass who he takes with him? And Hayden, looking to escape the doomed ship with his buddies (hey, who can blame him?) grabs a 15 year old kid. And the Admiral is cool with it.
.............
That's when I realized I was done with Sun of Suns.
I sped read the rest of it on the treadmill at the gym and I don't even know why. This isn't anything but spectacle sci-fi - a cool world with some cool set-pieces peopled by the blandest, stupidest cast of characters I remember seeing in sci-fi.
Yikes.
January 31, 2025
I really didn't like this book. The worldbuilding was weird with space pirates and swashbuckling but in a massive bubble (far larger than Earth) filled with air, water and some land mass all floating around. This bubble was made by a technologically superior race/people/something (not much info there) but instead of finding out about them we follow the people on the inside with swords, guns and torpedoes. This bubble contains some kind of interference to stop technological progress with electronics.
The characters are flat. The protagonist starts ok but quickly becomes purposeless and overly attached to random people he meets. There is a queen/spymaster sort of character but she gets far less prominence later on and little explanation for how she has established her network or her various relationship dynamics. The admiral of the fleet is probably the most interesting but again, quite dull.
We are following a group of space pirates who killed everyone the protagonist ever knew as a child so their desperate plight to save themselves isn't something I was invested in. We later find out the aliens outside the bubble want to make it a utopia but this is bad for some reason. They don't seem to be able to attack the giant bubble in space from the outside which didn't make a lot of sense.
So between the plot, world building and characters being bad it didn't help that the narrator for all these young people's PoVs was an older woman who sounded alternately annoyed or bored at having to read these. She has never narrated any other audiobooks outside of this series that I can find and that doesn't surprise me.
All in all, would not recommend.
The characters are flat. The protagonist starts ok but quickly becomes purposeless and overly attached to random people he meets. There is a queen/spymaster sort of character but she gets far less prominence later on and little explanation for how she has established her network or her various relationship dynamics. The admiral of the fleet is probably the most interesting but again, quite dull.
We are following a group of space pirates who killed everyone the protagonist ever knew as a child so their desperate plight to save themselves isn't something I was invested in. We later find out the aliens outside the bubble want to make it a utopia but this is bad for some reason. They don't seem to be able to attack the giant bubble in space from the outside which didn't make a lot of sense.
So between the plot, world building and characters being bad it didn't help that the narrator for all these young people's PoVs was an older woman who sounded alternately annoyed or bored at having to read these. She has never narrated any other audiobooks outside of this series that I can find and that doesn't surprise me.
All in all, would not recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2016
Nel mondo fantastico di Virga vive Hayden Griffin, giovane reso orfano fin dall’adolescenza dal giogo imposto alla sua città dalla nazione di Slipstream. Vendicare la morte dei genitori diventa perciò lo scopo più immediato della sua vita, che si dovrà realizzare mediante l’uccisione del comandante dell’ultima incursione della potenza vicina: l’ammiraglio Chaison Fanning.
Con tali premesse, è facile aspettarsi la lettura di romanzo avvincente. Purtroppo già dopo i primi capitoli il racconto si attesta su di un ritmo monocorde, basato su inseguimenti, battaglie e duelli. Circa il carattere dei personaggi viene menzionato solo ciò che basta a motivare le loro azioni, senza il minimo approfondimento psicologico. Si sente la mancanza di un vero protagonista: se pure uno qualsiasi dei personaggi principali fosse eliminato dalla storia, “Il sole dei soli” potrebbe giungere ugualmente a conclusione, o in un modo poco differente.
Hayden Griffin non è certo un protagonista: non incide mai sugli eventi, anzi, più di una volta salta sulla sua moto volante (“turbofan”) per abbandonare il campo. Inoltre, la sua strategia finalizzata alla vendetta risulta discutibile: egli infatti rifiuta di aiutare gli uomini della Resistenza della sua città per rimanere, senza uno scopo preciso, al servizio della famiglia dell’ammiraglio Fanning (ben presto la motivazione diventa: “combatto al fianco del mio nemico perché il suo nemico potrebbe portarmi un pericolo maggiore”).
Chaison Fanning è un comandante laido; appena raggiunta la salvezza dopo una fuga rocambolesca, ostenta una patetica preoccupazione per un manipolo di soldati abbandonati sul suolo nemico, salvo poi, poco dopo, non esitare a considerare l’idea di utilizzare come esca alcune navi della sua flotta con gli equipaggi a bordo.
Venera Fanning, la perfida moglie dell’ammiraglio, è invece il personaggio che influisce maggiormente sulla direzione degli avvenimenti; doppiogiochista, sembra soprattutto perseguire oscuri interessi personali.
Aubri Mahallan è l’ultimo dei personaggi principali. Viene presentata come “l’armaiola”, nonostante le sue competenze si rivelino subito di livello decisamente superiore. È una straniera, proveniente da un mondo esterno a Virga; il riserbo circa la sua persona finisce per rinchiuderla in un ruolo semplicemente misterioso.
Ad un tratto un brano di dialogo tra Hayden ed Aubri sembra aprire nuove prospettive e spazio a qualche ragionamento:
«Tu odi i pirati che hanno cercato di catturare la Rook e la sua gente? Beh, ci sono pirati così potenti che riescono a farsi chiamare con altri nomi. Nomi come “Pilota di Slipstream”. Cos’è Slipstream se non la più grande flotta pirata del mondo? Così grande che non si limita a catturare e saccheggiare navi, ma intere nazioni».
Ma è solo un attimo, perché il racconto torna subito sui binari del “cappa e spada” fantascientifico. La parte migliore del romanzo è costituita dallo sfondo (il mondo di Virga), descritto però non sempre in modo chiaro; a volte è difficile riuscire a visualizzare i molteplici ambienti (è il caso della complicata struttura di Warea, per citarne uno) e l’accumulo ridondante di dettagli contribuisce a creare confusione. I dialoghi costituiscono un altro punto a sfavore; sorvolando sul fatto che tutti i personaggi si esprimono quasi allo stesso modo, le battute spiritose tra pallottole sibilanti, le spiegazioni e le discussioni nel bel mezzo di scontri all’arma bianca rendono davvero molto arduo raggiungere lo stato, che ogni lettore di fantascienza ben conosce, di “sospensione dalla realtà”.
In un’intervista citata nell’Introduzione, l’autore racconta: «Ho anche usato della scienza vecchia. […] Non c’è alcuna scoperta scientifica, utilizzata nella serie, successiva al 1940». Ed è curioso che il suo romanzo evochi proprio la fantascienza che si pubblicava con successo in quegli anni (e fino gli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta). Si può concludere che “Il sole dei soli” è un’avventura di pura fantasia e, vaghe influenze “steampunk” a parte, una “space opera” di stampo classico.
Con tali premesse, è facile aspettarsi la lettura di romanzo avvincente. Purtroppo già dopo i primi capitoli il racconto si attesta su di un ritmo monocorde, basato su inseguimenti, battaglie e duelli. Circa il carattere dei personaggi viene menzionato solo ciò che basta a motivare le loro azioni, senza il minimo approfondimento psicologico. Si sente la mancanza di un vero protagonista: se pure uno qualsiasi dei personaggi principali fosse eliminato dalla storia, “Il sole dei soli” potrebbe giungere ugualmente a conclusione, o in un modo poco differente.
Hayden Griffin non è certo un protagonista: non incide mai sugli eventi, anzi, più di una volta salta sulla sua moto volante (“turbofan”) per abbandonare il campo. Inoltre, la sua strategia finalizzata alla vendetta risulta discutibile: egli infatti rifiuta di aiutare gli uomini della Resistenza della sua città per rimanere, senza uno scopo preciso, al servizio della famiglia dell’ammiraglio Fanning (ben presto la motivazione diventa: “combatto al fianco del mio nemico perché il suo nemico potrebbe portarmi un pericolo maggiore”).
Chaison Fanning è un comandante laido; appena raggiunta la salvezza dopo una fuga rocambolesca, ostenta una patetica preoccupazione per un manipolo di soldati abbandonati sul suolo nemico, salvo poi, poco dopo, non esitare a considerare l’idea di utilizzare come esca alcune navi della sua flotta con gli equipaggi a bordo.
Venera Fanning, la perfida moglie dell’ammiraglio, è invece il personaggio che influisce maggiormente sulla direzione degli avvenimenti; doppiogiochista, sembra soprattutto perseguire oscuri interessi personali.
Aubri Mahallan è l’ultimo dei personaggi principali. Viene presentata come “l’armaiola”, nonostante le sue competenze si rivelino subito di livello decisamente superiore. È una straniera, proveniente da un mondo esterno a Virga; il riserbo circa la sua persona finisce per rinchiuderla in un ruolo semplicemente misterioso.
Ad un tratto un brano di dialogo tra Hayden ed Aubri sembra aprire nuove prospettive e spazio a qualche ragionamento:
«Tu odi i pirati che hanno cercato di catturare la Rook e la sua gente? Beh, ci sono pirati così potenti che riescono a farsi chiamare con altri nomi. Nomi come “Pilota di Slipstream”. Cos’è Slipstream se non la più grande flotta pirata del mondo? Così grande che non si limita a catturare e saccheggiare navi, ma intere nazioni».
Ma è solo un attimo, perché il racconto torna subito sui binari del “cappa e spada” fantascientifico. La parte migliore del romanzo è costituita dallo sfondo (il mondo di Virga), descritto però non sempre in modo chiaro; a volte è difficile riuscire a visualizzare i molteplici ambienti (è il caso della complicata struttura di Warea, per citarne uno) e l’accumulo ridondante di dettagli contribuisce a creare confusione. I dialoghi costituiscono un altro punto a sfavore; sorvolando sul fatto che tutti i personaggi si esprimono quasi allo stesso modo, le battute spiritose tra pallottole sibilanti, le spiegazioni e le discussioni nel bel mezzo di scontri all’arma bianca rendono davvero molto arduo raggiungere lo stato, che ogni lettore di fantascienza ben conosce, di “sospensione dalla realtà”.
In un’intervista citata nell’Introduzione, l’autore racconta: «Ho anche usato della scienza vecchia. […] Non c’è alcuna scoperta scientifica, utilizzata nella serie, successiva al 1940». Ed è curioso che il suo romanzo evochi proprio la fantascienza che si pubblicava con successo in quegli anni (e fino gli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta). Si può concludere che “Il sole dei soli” è un’avventura di pura fantasia e, vaghe influenze “steampunk” a parte, una “space opera” di stampo classico.
April 19, 2009
Karl Schroeder demonstrates an impressive capacity for worldbuilding and imaginative hard science fiction. Sun of Suns is truly awesome in the scope of its technological milieu. The civilization of Virga, with artificially-generated gravity, is as alien to us as the idea of "Artificial Nature" is to the isolated Virgans. Set against this majestic backdrop, the protagonist, Hayden Griffin, is on a mission of revenge that quickly becomes complicated.
Quixotically, Schroeder spends very little time actually allowing us to get to know Hayden. As a result, I found it difficult to relate to the main character--not because I lacked empathy, more because I just didn't know much about him. The story begins when Hayden is a young adult, then jumps forward six years after the massacre in which his parents die. Apparently, Hayden spent the interim with pirates, but Schroeder reveals remarkably few details. On one hand, I admire his ability to avoid what some may consider unnecessary exposition--Hayden only brings it up when it's relevant to the plot. On the other hand, this backstory is important in establishing who Hayden is; I felt its absence throughout the entire novel.
Some of the other characters are far better fleshed out than Hayden. Venera Fanning was a fun and ruthless antagonist with an interesting--and explained--background. Likewise, her husband, Admiral Chaisson Fanning, is a dedicated and patriotic man who is willing to sacrifice his life to protect his nation. In time, they come to rely upon Hayden--and to some extent, he relies upon them--even though Admiral Fanning is Hayden's target for vengeance. I appreciate Schroeder's attempt to introduce moral ambiguity; the tenuous environment of Virga lends itself to the idea that people who are enemies may suddenly become dependent upon one another.
The posthuman universe outside the fullerene barrier of Virga's balloon shell was intriguing. I can only surmise that such an important plot point will be developed further in the next books of this series. Likewise, I found Hayden's love interest, Aubri Mahallan, intriguing but lacking much depth. She seemed marked for "tragic love interest" from the moment she appeared, and Schroeder played the trope straight enough that I had to look away. Her motivations seemed more driven by plot than by character, and her death was almost as needless--although perhaps not as melodramatic--as that of the Rook's chartmaster.
Oh yes, death. There's quite a bit of that in Sun of Suns, beginning with the deaths of Hayden's parents. Lots of fighting and adventure too--this would make a good movie if anyone figured out how to actually film it. For those who thirst for swashbuckling adventure, this book has it all: pirates, vehicle chases (bike chases through air, no less), sword fighting, and free fall aerial manoeuvres. Yes, this book is action-packed. And I am not being sarcastic when I say that this is a redeeming feature. Although I'm not one to enjoy an excess of action, Schroeder makes it a cornerstone of his story. It makes up for the lack of description of characters or environment (beyond the scientific explanations woven into the dialogue). The action elevates Sun of Suns from amusing posthuman rumination to entertaining work of hard science fiction.
Schroeder has created a fascinating world around which to weave a series. I hope (probably in vain) that the next book has better, more three-dimensional characters. Alas, that sort of improvement doesn't seem likely, and the mediocrity of Sun of Suns' protagonist consigns the book itself to the unpalatable category of "good, but not great."
My Reviews of the Virga series:
Queen of Candesce →
Quixotically, Schroeder spends very little time actually allowing us to get to know Hayden. As a result, I found it difficult to relate to the main character--not because I lacked empathy, more because I just didn't know much about him. The story begins when Hayden is a young adult, then jumps forward six years after the massacre in which his parents die. Apparently, Hayden spent the interim with pirates, but Schroeder reveals remarkably few details. On one hand, I admire his ability to avoid what some may consider unnecessary exposition--Hayden only brings it up when it's relevant to the plot. On the other hand, this backstory is important in establishing who Hayden is; I felt its absence throughout the entire novel.
Some of the other characters are far better fleshed out than Hayden. Venera Fanning was a fun and ruthless antagonist with an interesting--and explained--background. Likewise, her husband, Admiral Chaisson Fanning, is a dedicated and patriotic man who is willing to sacrifice his life to protect his nation. In time, they come to rely upon Hayden--and to some extent, he relies upon them--even though Admiral Fanning is Hayden's target for vengeance. I appreciate Schroeder's attempt to introduce moral ambiguity; the tenuous environment of Virga lends itself to the idea that people who are enemies may suddenly become dependent upon one another.
The posthuman universe outside the fullerene barrier of Virga's balloon shell was intriguing. I can only surmise that such an important plot point will be developed further in the next books of this series. Likewise, I found Hayden's love interest, Aubri Mahallan, intriguing but lacking much depth. She seemed marked for "tragic love interest" from the moment she appeared, and Schroeder played the trope straight enough that I had to look away. Her motivations seemed more driven by plot than by character, and her death was almost as needless--although perhaps not as melodramatic--as that of the Rook's chartmaster.
Oh yes, death. There's quite a bit of that in Sun of Suns, beginning with the deaths of Hayden's parents. Lots of fighting and adventure too--this would make a good movie if anyone figured out how to actually film it. For those who thirst for swashbuckling adventure, this book has it all: pirates, vehicle chases (bike chases through air, no less), sword fighting, and free fall aerial manoeuvres. Yes, this book is action-packed. And I am not being sarcastic when I say that this is a redeeming feature. Although I'm not one to enjoy an excess of action, Schroeder makes it a cornerstone of his story. It makes up for the lack of description of characters or environment (beyond the scientific explanations woven into the dialogue). The action elevates Sun of Suns from amusing posthuman rumination to entertaining work of hard science fiction.
Schroeder has created a fascinating world around which to weave a series. I hope (probably in vain) that the next book has better, more three-dimensional characters. Alas, that sort of improvement doesn't seem likely, and the mediocrity of Sun of Suns' protagonist consigns the book itself to the unpalatable category of "good, but not great."
My Reviews of the Virga series:
Queen of Candesce →
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2023
The world building in Sun of Suns is superb, but the character work is somewhat shallow and basic. The battles are quite fun, but I can't help but feel like they never truly reached the potential manoeuvrability in three dimensions and lack of gravity allots. Overall, quite enjoyable. I look forward to the next book.
November 30, 2025
Great tale about a part of the universe that was artificially created to counter some AI developments that made outrageous adjustments to the rest of the universe. In the artificial part called Virga there are big cities like Aerie, Slipstream and Rush that all fight for some sunlight from a sun they've dubbed Candesce. There's also the interesting fact that in this part of the universe only steam engineered technology will work... Stephen Baxter praised this series by Karl Schroeder and I think he did rightfully so!
April 22, 2013
Normally, by the time I finish a book I have an idea of what I want to say. Or I've made a few notes along the way to help facilitate my final thoughts and opinions. With Sun of Sun's I find I'm struggling with what to say, so I'm going to be a bit more methodical in my review.
World setting - Virga is an absolutely fascinating setting. A "planet" of air, with a central mechanical "sun" called Candence. Smaller cities can build their own suns and live out in "winter", which are areas far enough away from Candence as to need their own light and power source. There appears to be one entry and exit in and out of this self contained bubble that most people are unaware of. People flit about via air bikes, feet fins, and larger motorized vessels. Cities are strung together by rope and wood. Water droplets can condense into balls the size of boulders and larger and pose a serious threat to the cities and other structures. This whole thing is just cool. A unique take on the steampunk genre.
My issues - There seems to be a significant amount of wood, and I was struggling to figure out how this much wood can be grown in this environment when water and air is governed by air currents. And the air - how do they manage to keep the oxygen from being depleted? Where does the moisture come from? I can totally understand plants can be grown by hydroponics, but to be self sufficient when everything is just sort of floating around in this massive bubble took a leap of believability that I just couldn't manage.
The Hero - Hayden Griffon watched his mother and the rebels of the city Aerie prematurely light a sun and blow themselves up instead of being captured by the forces of Slipstream. Hayden has nursed his grudge against Chaning for 8 (?) years and is now within reach of killing the man who killed his mother.
My issues - I couldn't empathize with our young hero. He is a young, ignorant, backwater plebe who finds out the world is bigger than his grudge.
The Plot - Our young Hero is swept up into a series of events from which he manages to miraculously escape against improbable odds.
My issues - Our young Hero is swept up into a series of events from which he manages to miraculously escape against improbable odds and in the end, well, it was mostly predictable.
So there were aspects I liked - the world setting, a touch of steampunk, pirates (oh yes! pirates!) and space battles that felt like a scene out of Master and Commander. And aspects I didn't - the main character and his motivations.
Recommended with reservations.
World setting - Virga is an absolutely fascinating setting. A "planet" of air, with a central mechanical "sun" called Candence. Smaller cities can build their own suns and live out in "winter", which are areas far enough away from Candence as to need their own light and power source. There appears to be one entry and exit in and out of this self contained bubble that most people are unaware of. People flit about via air bikes, feet fins, and larger motorized vessels. Cities are strung together by rope and wood. Water droplets can condense into balls the size of boulders and larger and pose a serious threat to the cities and other structures. This whole thing is just cool. A unique take on the steampunk genre.
My issues - There seems to be a significant amount of wood, and I was struggling to figure out how this much wood can be grown in this environment when water and air is governed by air currents. And the air - how do they manage to keep the oxygen from being depleted? Where does the moisture come from? I can totally understand plants can be grown by hydroponics, but to be self sufficient when everything is just sort of floating around in this massive bubble took a leap of believability that I just couldn't manage.
The Hero - Hayden Griffon watched his mother and the rebels of the city Aerie prematurely light a sun and blow themselves up instead of being captured by the forces of Slipstream. Hayden has nursed his grudge against Chaning for 8 (?) years and is now within reach of killing the man who killed his mother.
My issues - I couldn't empathize with our young hero. He is a young, ignorant, backwater plebe who finds out the world is bigger than his grudge.
The Plot - Our young Hero is swept up into a series of events from which he manages to miraculously escape against improbable odds.
My issues - Our young Hero is swept up into a series of events from which he manages to miraculously escape against improbable odds and in the end, well, it was mostly predictable.
So there were aspects I liked - the world setting, a touch of steampunk, pirates (oh yes! pirates!) and space battles that felt like a scene out of Master and Commander. And aspects I didn't - the main character and his motivations.
Recommended with reservations.
August 11, 2020
Rating
Review
*** This review originally appeared on Out of this World Reviews. ***
Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder starts out flat out hard to understand. Not the writing, or the language, or even the plot (though it does take a while to fully unfold). It's the world itself that took me way too long to comprehend. The setting is a sort of blend of science fiction and steampunk and takes place on a planet called Virga. Maybe 'planet' is the wrong word. The description on Amazon defines Virga as a "planet-sized balloon," which is about right now that I think about it. But that fact was never understood, at least not by me. I figured Virga for a gas planet because there is no surface, but, to confuse things a bit more, there are artificial suns within the 'balloon.' People travel about inside this balloon using ships armed with rockets and protected by hosts of flying motorbikes. At one point, they travel to the outer (inside) edge, but can go no further. There is a sentient, all-powerful race outside the balloon, and presumably they're the ones who keep the people from venturing outside of the balloon. Again, confusing.
All that strangeness aside, Sun of Suns is a surprisingly entertaining novel: Hayden Griffin wants revenge on the man responsible for killing his parents and forcing the subjugation of his nation. Chaison Fanning, admiral of the Slipstream, is that man. But as Hayden gets close to the admiral, intent on killing him and selling his own life in the process if necessary, he comes to learn of a threat more dangerous than even the admiral. Faced with a common enemy, Hayden joins Fanning and even finds himself growing attached to certain Slipstream crewmembers, to the point where he finds himself unwilling to carry out his original mission.
Schroeder has quite the imagination when it comes to world-building. I only wish he'd stopped for a moment to explain it a little better. While the novel does meander a bit—the main plot points are not revealed until the reader is well into it—a riotous, action-packed ship battle at the end almost makes the whole experience worth it. Add Sun of Suns to your reading list. It’s a five book series, so plenty of time for explanations of how things work later on.
Review
*** This review originally appeared on Out of this World Reviews. ***
Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder starts out flat out hard to understand. Not the writing, or the language, or even the plot (though it does take a while to fully unfold). It's the world itself that took me way too long to comprehend. The setting is a sort of blend of science fiction and steampunk and takes place on a planet called Virga. Maybe 'planet' is the wrong word. The description on Amazon defines Virga as a "planet-sized balloon," which is about right now that I think about it. But that fact was never understood, at least not by me. I figured Virga for a gas planet because there is no surface, but, to confuse things a bit more, there are artificial suns within the 'balloon.' People travel about inside this balloon using ships armed with rockets and protected by hosts of flying motorbikes. At one point, they travel to the outer (inside) edge, but can go no further. There is a sentient, all-powerful race outside the balloon, and presumably they're the ones who keep the people from venturing outside of the balloon. Again, confusing.
All that strangeness aside, Sun of Suns is a surprisingly entertaining novel: Hayden Griffin wants revenge on the man responsible for killing his parents and forcing the subjugation of his nation. Chaison Fanning, admiral of the Slipstream, is that man. But as Hayden gets close to the admiral, intent on killing him and selling his own life in the process if necessary, he comes to learn of a threat more dangerous than even the admiral. Faced with a common enemy, Hayden joins Fanning and even finds himself growing attached to certain Slipstream crewmembers, to the point where he finds himself unwilling to carry out his original mission.
Schroeder has quite the imagination when it comes to world-building. I only wish he'd stopped for a moment to explain it a little better. While the novel does meander a bit—the main plot points are not revealed until the reader is well into it—a riotous, action-packed ship battle at the end almost makes the whole experience worth it. Add Sun of Suns to your reading list. It’s a five book series, so plenty of time for explanations of how things work later on.
November 3, 2019
Recensione pubblicata su Cronache di Betelgeuse
Immaginate di vivere in un mondo ristretto, in cui tutto dipende da un Sole centrale. Senza di esso la vita non avrebbe senso, perché il freddo glaciale stroncherebbe qualsiasi essere vivente.
Virga è questo mondo e al suo interno scopriamo diverse storie intrecciate tra loro, che ci permettono di esplorare tutti i suoi angoli. Esistono città sparse nello spazio, che cercano di sottrarsi al predominio di Candesce, il Sole centrale, per avere indipendenza e libertà. Troviamo pirati che solcano gli strati del cielo di Virga, alla ricerca di navi da depredare. Scopriamo come la tecnologia all’esterno di Virga abbia raggiunto livelli incredibili, ma gli abitanti di questo mondo ne sono esclusi per un qualche motivo.
Per riuscire a svelare tutti i misteri racchiusi nel libro non bastano le pagine che ci troviamo davanti, ma dovremo proseguire la lettura dei libri della serie. Non per questo la storia è meno affascinante, con un ritmo incalzante e con diversi personaggi affascinanti. La tecnologia utilizzata, a tratti estremamente steampunk, è intrigante, perché con un funzionamento semplice rende possibile qualsiasi operazione, anche la più complessa.
Il personaggio di Venera Fanning, che non è tra i primi a comparire, in realtà si dimostra centrale nella vicenda. Piccola ma tenace, è rinchiusa in un matrimonio senza amore. Nonostante questo non si limita a comportarsi da mogliettina sottomessa, ma ha una serie di ambizioni e progetti per il suo futuro e quello del marito. Il suo piano, in apparenza molto complesso, si basa su una rete d’informatori e di colpi di fortuna inaspettati. A questo si unisce la volontà di Venera di non arrendersi mai di fronte alle difficoltà, per quanto grandi possano sembrare.
Hayden Griffin invece è molto giovane e una specie di testa calda. Il suo esordio nel libro è circondato da una tragedia dietro l’altra. Il suo comportamento è mirato puramente alla sopravvivenza. Ha visto troppe volte la morte da vicino per riuscire a interessarsi a ideali più alti. Forse però durante i capitoli riuscirà a trovare una spinta che lo farà riflettere sul suo comportamento e gli farà accettare il suo passato per forgiare un nuovo futuro.
Immaginate di vivere in un mondo ristretto, in cui tutto dipende da un Sole centrale. Senza di esso la vita non avrebbe senso, perché il freddo glaciale stroncherebbe qualsiasi essere vivente.
Virga è questo mondo e al suo interno scopriamo diverse storie intrecciate tra loro, che ci permettono di esplorare tutti i suoi angoli. Esistono città sparse nello spazio, che cercano di sottrarsi al predominio di Candesce, il Sole centrale, per avere indipendenza e libertà. Troviamo pirati che solcano gli strati del cielo di Virga, alla ricerca di navi da depredare. Scopriamo come la tecnologia all’esterno di Virga abbia raggiunto livelli incredibili, ma gli abitanti di questo mondo ne sono esclusi per un qualche motivo.
Per riuscire a svelare tutti i misteri racchiusi nel libro non bastano le pagine che ci troviamo davanti, ma dovremo proseguire la lettura dei libri della serie. Non per questo la storia è meno affascinante, con un ritmo incalzante e con diversi personaggi affascinanti. La tecnologia utilizzata, a tratti estremamente steampunk, è intrigante, perché con un funzionamento semplice rende possibile qualsiasi operazione, anche la più complessa.
Il personaggio di Venera Fanning, che non è tra i primi a comparire, in realtà si dimostra centrale nella vicenda. Piccola ma tenace, è rinchiusa in un matrimonio senza amore. Nonostante questo non si limita a comportarsi da mogliettina sottomessa, ma ha una serie di ambizioni e progetti per il suo futuro e quello del marito. Il suo piano, in apparenza molto complesso, si basa su una rete d’informatori e di colpi di fortuna inaspettati. A questo si unisce la volontà di Venera di non arrendersi mai di fronte alle difficoltà, per quanto grandi possano sembrare.
Hayden Griffin invece è molto giovane e una specie di testa calda. Il suo esordio nel libro è circondato da una tragedia dietro l’altra. Il suo comportamento è mirato puramente alla sopravvivenza. Ha visto troppe volte la morte da vicino per riuscire a interessarsi a ideali più alti. Forse però durante i capitoli riuscirà a trovare una spinta che lo farà riflettere sul suo comportamento e gli farà accettare il suo passato per forgiare un nuovo futuro.
October 16, 2011
This novel certainly has a very cool and well imagined setting. A hollow sphere the size of a small planet, filled with air. In the center is Candesce, a fusion powered artificial sun. Dotted around the place are lesser artificial suns. Around the suns low G human civilizations cluster for warmth, building giant wooden wheels to create their own gravity strongly tainted by coriolis force. Weather systems are logical extensions of the environment, with convective currents driving everything from icebergs to clouds to whole civilizations around the place.
Unfortunately it all quickly becomes rather tedious. The novel attempts to recreate the feel of an adventure novel set in the age of sail. A young man who, years ago, saw his nation conquered and his parents murdered infiltrates the highest levels of the enemy nation command structure. Said enemy nation sends a fleet (yes, cool flying ships) on a pre-emptive strike. And that’s where I called it quits. Despite the cool gadgets, I found the characters less than engaging. I didn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to any of them. After the fabulous premise was well established, it was disappointing to find the story itself so trivial, and the characters so mundane. This story needed a co-author with a better hand at dialogue and characterization, not to mention combat.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1258
Unfortunately it all quickly becomes rather tedious. The novel attempts to recreate the feel of an adventure novel set in the age of sail. A young man who, years ago, saw his nation conquered and his parents murdered infiltrates the highest levels of the enemy nation command structure. Said enemy nation sends a fleet (yes, cool flying ships) on a pre-emptive strike. And that’s where I called it quits. Despite the cool gadgets, I found the characters less than engaging. I didn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to any of them. After the fabulous premise was well established, it was disappointing to find the story itself so trivial, and the characters so mundane. This story needed a co-author with a better hand at dialogue and characterization, not to mention combat.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1258
July 7, 2016
Video Review(2min): https://youtu.be/bHwaJkmVuOs
Highlights:
This universe is just really great. The zero-g, full atmosphere, bubble in space, with land masses inside, moveable cities, and basically air-ship battles are all highly imaginative. I liked how the book had to be read in three dimensions where a lot of times books are only on land or only on one ship. I also really liked the character of Venera. She had a lot of gumption and fortitude but was also extremely feminine.
I never really connected with the main character Hayden. I thought if the beginning focused more on his character, was a little longer, and focused less on the world-building, I would have connected to his emotional plight easier. The plot wasn't all that interesting to me. I was more interested in exploring this world than the plot and those type of books a lot of times don't work for me. I also thought that conversations took odd turns at times, from one subject to the next. There weren't many transition scenes or established endings to conversations. It all seemed overly edited in my opinion.
2/5
10/25 Possible Score
Plot - 1(Weak)
Characters - 2(OK)
World Building - 4(Strong)
Writing Style - 2(OK)
Heart & Mind Aspect - 1(Weak)
Highlights:
This universe is just really great. The zero-g, full atmosphere, bubble in space, with land masses inside, moveable cities, and basically air-ship battles are all highly imaginative. I liked how the book had to be read in three dimensions where a lot of times books are only on land or only on one ship. I also really liked the character of Venera. She had a lot of gumption and fortitude but was also extremely feminine.
I never really connected with the main character Hayden. I thought if the beginning focused more on his character, was a little longer, and focused less on the world-building, I would have connected to his emotional plight easier. The plot wasn't all that interesting to me. I was more interested in exploring this world than the plot and those type of books a lot of times don't work for me. I also thought that conversations took odd turns at times, from one subject to the next. There weren't many transition scenes or established endings to conversations. It all seemed overly edited in my opinion.
2/5
10/25 Possible Score
Plot - 1(Weak)
Characters - 2(OK)
World Building - 4(Strong)
Writing Style - 2(OK)
Heart & Mind Aspect - 1(Weak)
March 11, 2012
The first book of Virga. Steampunky far-future tech and a high concept world of floating countries set inside a massive fullerene balloon 3000 metres in diameter, drifting in space. There's a (mostly) breathable atmosphere, but no gravity except where it's created locally, and it's deadly cold away from the artificial suns. Hayden Griffin is a dangerous young man, determined to murder Admiral Fanning of the nation of Slipstream, whom he believes to be responsible for the death of his parents. But things are more complicated than Hayden had ever dreamed possible. Fanning turns out to be a decent man and Hayden is caught up in events involving Fanning's scheming wife, Venera, Aubri Mahallan, a woman engineer from outside Virga, and a mission to Candace, the Sun of Suns, through the inside of the balloon a vast space encompassing floating rocks, some occupied, and with enemy ships out to stop them at any cost. Hayden's simple view of good and evil is overturned in short order. I found this a slow read. Vastly inventive ideas seemed to dominate the characterisation and I prefer character-led stories.
July 28, 2008
I always have enjoyed "niche universe" stories in science fiction-- you know, where the inhabitants are living in an artificial construct so huge they have no idea that it's a construct. Stories such as RINGWORLD, THE INTEGRAL TREES, NON-STOP, THE WOODEN ASTRONAUTS, ORBITSVILLE, etc. are all fine examples of this 'niche genre'. The VIRGA series expands on the idea by having the inhabitants exist in a low-tech "pocket universe".. a few thousand miles of pocket reality floating in some vast unknown outer darkness, in an unforseen future time where humanity has learned to warp reality so much that they keep a little "museum universe" around to remind them of what it's like. The story is really quite good-- mostly for the setting and to some extent the characters. I love the rudimentary technological level-- reminiscent of a steampunk in space theme or maybe even that old STARJAMMER roleplaying game from TSR.
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