This is the first book in the science fiction (or perhaps science fantasy) trilogy about Virga. It was a free book from Tor last year.
Sun of Suns shines in the world building and yet, it’s a fast-paced, swashbuckling pirate story. The story is set on Virga which is a pressurized air planet. Many artificial suns give light and warmth to the different nations that hang in the gravityless air. The towns have to generate their own gravity and in some towns only the rich can afford to live in gravity. But without gravity, the people will grow thin, almost weightless, and weak.
At the center of the air planet is the main sun, Candesce or Sun of Suns which stars in many tales. The other suns are artificial and the people, who control the technology to create and maintain the artificial suns, can rule over others.
Slipstream is one of the most powerful nations currently and it wants to conquer other towns. A small resistance group in the town of Aerie has managed to steal the secrets of building suns. They want to use it to build their own sun and be free of Slipstream. The project isn’t quick or easy. Unfortunately, just as the rebels are about to ignite their own sun, a military force from Slipstream descends on Aerie and destroys the sun and the town.
The only survivor is Haydon Griffin, the young son of the two rebel scientists who died with their sun. He’s forced to live in the winter parts of the air planet for years, building his hatred and his dreams of revenge on the man he thinks is responsible: Admiral Chaison Fanning who lead the attack.
Years later, Hayden manages to infiltrate the Fanning household with the intent of murdering the Admiral. But he’s promptly recruited by the Admiral’s wife, Venera, as her personal pilot. Much to Hayden’s surprise, he also finds out that some of the other citizens of Aerie have survived and would like to recruit him to their resistance. Unfortunately, his and their aims aren’t the same.
Venera Fanning grew up in a palace full of cutthroat intrigue and she even had to use all of her own skills so that she could marry a man of her own choosing. But afterwards, she found it a bit hard to adjust to living in a nation where people aren’t constantly trying to murder each other for better positions. She was also horrified to find out that her new homeland didn’t have an espionage division. So, she founded it.
Now, her spies have brought her information about a new, powerful ship that could conquer Slipstream. Finally, it’s time for her to tell her Admiral husband what she has been up to all these years. But Venera is determined to do what it best for her. Even a bullet to her jaw years ago didn’t stop her. However, the bullet did bring her dreams about strange places which plague her.
Admiral Chaison Fanning is a loyal subject of Slipstream. However, even he can see that the current ruler, called a Pilot, isn’t a good ruler. Still, he will do anything he can to protect his home.
When seven military ships leave on a secret mission that could mean the life or death to the whole nation of Slipstrem, Venera makes sure that she and her new pilot are on board even though her husband isn’t thrilled about it. In fact, Venera has to blackmail him to get onboard. The ships head out to winter parts, which is a colder and wilder frontier and home to the pirate fleets.
The setting of the book is intriguing: normal wooden ships which sail through the air in three-dimensional space. Fighting is also three-dimensional. In the cities, there can be gravity in the houses but not on the streets. The streets are rope ladders that lash the houses together into a town. You can also use bikes to fly between the houses. The towns aren’t, of course, anchored into anything and so also drift through the air. The descriptions in the book about the places are quite stunning.
I didn’t like the characters as much, though. They weren’t really original as such although it was interesting to see Hayden working for the man he wants to murder. Hayden is still rather a standard young male who does a lot of growing up during the story. On the other hand, Venera is a ruthless schemer who doesn’t care about anybody else, and her types of characters are usually seen only as villains in the stories. Here she’s a point-of-view character although even then her ruthlessness could be quite shocking and unexpected. I guess I still tend to expect that POV characters don’t do certain things. Chaison was in charge of the operation and wasn’t really colorful himself.
There were a few good minor characters. Aubri Mahallan is the small fleet’s armorer and she’s from outside Virga. She tells a bit about the artificial worlds outside the air planet and her life there. Hayden grows quite fond of her during the story. Lyle Carrier is Venera’s minion and servant. He seems quite aloof and distant, and Hayden thinks that Carrier is a killer.
The plot is fast and is very much a sea fearing pirate adventure but in the air. Light and quick read.
