Queen of Reviews

Hi,

Hammered through Queen of Candesce: Book Two of Virga by Karl Schroeder. As is evident from the title, it's a sequel to Sun of Suns which I reviewed earlier this year. This sequel stands very well on it's own and if it leaves loose ends, it does end at a pretty satisfying point.

In fact, I think the sequel is even better than its predecessor.

So, to recap the basic premise: Imagine a giant bubble 5000 miles in diameter floating in space. Inside the bubble it's mostly air, but there's some rocks, water, and fusion powered "stars" that light and heat nearby areas. In the center is a much larger "star" that lights up the core.

That's Virga. Everyone is in free-fall and they build spinning habitats and take jet-powered skyships to fly to different places. The "nations" of Virga drift around on the air currents and that makes for some interesting geopolitics.

Queen of Candesce takes place on a single colony, the nation of Spyre. It's a long cylindrical colony (Greater Spyre) with a smaller set of "town wheels" hovering in the center (Lesser Spyre). For the world of Virga, this is a huge place. It's also ancient, it's one of the last of the original habitats built at Virga's founding.

Into this world, falling out of a clear blue sky, comes Venera Fanning. Venerea possesses an artifact that controls Candesce, the fusion "star" at the center of Virga. Venerea is also a fascinating character. Raised in an atmosphere of treachery and paranoia, and possessed of a burning desire for an unobtainable revenge, her efforts to build up enough power and influence to escape Spyre and return to search for her husband make for some great reading.

Sun of Suns was a great book, but it was the setting and the ideas more than the plot that really made the book. In Queen, the setting and ideas continue to roar, but the plot holds it's own. Even though Venerea never really leaves Spyre, there's still lots of great story to tell and Mr. Schroeder admits that was part of his goal in writing the book -- to focus in on one corner of virga and show all the possibilities for adventure. The restricted location and smaller cast of characters also means there's more time to focus in on Venerea's story and it's fun to watch her plot and scheme her way to the top. Fans of Amber should really enjoy her conniving.

The book is also fairly short by modern novel standards (under 400 pages). I rather like that. It's a nice, zippy read that works hard to get the most bang for the buck.

While I think you'll enjoy Queen more if you've read Suns first, I'm still think that Queen is a fantastic read and you should pick it up.

later
Tom

p.s. I'm now more motivate than ever to do a Spirit of the Century game set in Virga.

Queen of Reviews

Hi,

Hammered through Queen of Candesce: Book Two of Virga by Karl Schroeder. As is evident from the title, it's a sequel to Sun of Suns which I reviewed earlier this year. This sequel stands very well on it's own and if it leaves loose ends, it does end at a pretty satisfying point.

In fact, I think the sequel is even better than its predecessor.

So, to recap the basic premise: Imagine a giant bubble 5000 miles in diameter floating in space. Inside the bubble it's mostly air, but there's some rocks, water, and fusion powered "stars" that light and heat nearby areas. In the center is a much larger "star" that lights up the core.

That's Virga. Everyone is in free-fall and they build spinning habitats and take jet-powered skyships to fly to different places. The "nations" of Virga drift around on the air currents and that makes for some interesting geopolitics.

Queen of Candesce takes place on a single colony, the nation of Spyre. It's a long cylindrical colony (Greater Spyre) with a smaller set of "town wheels" hovering in the center (Lesser Spyre). For the world of Virga, this is a huge place. It's also ancient, it's one of the last of the original habitats built at Virga's founding.

Into this world, falling out of a clear blue sky, comes Venera Fanning. Venerea possesses an artifact that controls Candesce, the fusion "star" at the center of Virga. Venerea is also a fascinating character. Raised in an atmosphere of treachery and paranoia, and possessed of a burning desire for an unobtainable revenge, her efforts to build up enough power and influence to escape Spyre and return to search for her husband make for some great reading.

Sun of Suns was a great book, but it was the setting and the ideas more than the plot that really made the book. In Queen, the setting and ideas continue to roar, but the plot holds it's own. Even though Venerea never really leaves Spyre, there's still lots of great story to tell and Mr. Schroeder admits that was part of his goal in writing the book -- to focus in on one corner of virga and show all the possibilities for adventure. The restricted location and smaller cast of characters also means there's more time to focus in on Venerea's story and it's fun to watch her plot and scheme her way to the top. Fans of Amber should really enjoy her conniving.

The book is also fairly short by modern novel standards (under 400 pages). I rather like that. It's a nice, zippy read that works hard to get the most bang for the buck.

While I think you'll enjoy Queen more if you've read Suns first, I'm still think that Queen is a fantastic read and you should pick it up.

later
Tom

p.s. I'm now more motivate than ever to do a Spirit of the Century game set in Virga.