Ashes of Candesce by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
After four previous volumes that introduced us to the world of Virga and several of its
inhabitants, the final volume brings all the various plots and characters together, in ways that both
play to and confound expectations. It's a good way to end a series that has not only featured wooden spaceships
and artificial suns, but also worked in serious observations on evolution, the nature of intelligence, post-human
morality, and just how humanity might survive in a galaxy gone wild.
The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
There's a whole universe out there, and figuring out who your friends are isn't easy. That's the lesson to be learned
by the inhabitants of Virga, a large artificial environment. But learning that lesson will
have to wait for a little while, there are troubles
closer to home that need to be taken care of first.
Leal Maspeth's life is about to change because of those problems.
Pirate Sun by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Rich Horton
In the third novel in the Virga series, the focus is the Admiral himself, Chaison Fanning who is a
prisoner of the nation he defeated in the first book until he is freed. But
in the process Chaison gets lost again -- his sense of duty causes him to also help free a couple of other
Slipstream natives -- and he and his friends, along with the mysterious "winter waif" Antaea Argyre, end up in a major
city of the enemy Falcon Formation.
Queen of Candesce by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
At the end of Sun of Suns, the first book in the Virga series, most of the major characters were either
missing or presumed dead. Two, a young man who had been the hero of the story, and a woman who, while not an out-and-out villain,
was definitely not a pleasant person, were left drifting off in the free-fall atmosphere that fills the
artificial world of Virga. It would be understandable if book two were to continue the story of the
young man's adventures. Instead, it follows the plight of the arrogant, paranoid, smart, and very dangerous Venera Fanning.
Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Rich Horton
The author's new novel is the real thing -- head-snappingly cool SF, with big and clever ideas, almost believable
transcendence, and a way to map human scale stories into a world where "post-human"
powers exist. It's set in the fairly far future, in a Solar System populated by humans living in space habitats, by
post-humans -- humans who have gained "god-like" computational powers, and possibly by aliens. Ultimately the story concerns
people trying to live human scale lives, yet also lives with meaning.
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The Engine of Recall by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Rich Horton
Canada has been the source of a great deal of intriguing SF over the past decade or so, much of it at least moderately
"hard SF." Hugo and Nebula winner Robert J. Sawyer,
Robert Charles Wilson, James Alan Gardner, Alison Sinclair, Julie E. Czerneda, Sean
Stewart, and Cory Doctorow. One of the most rigorously "hard SF" writers to come out of this "Canadian Renaissance" is Karl Schroeder,
author of the impressive novels Ventus and Permanence.
Permanence by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Rich Horton
The author's second solo novel (after the much-praised Ventus (2000)) is at once
exhilarating and frustrating. Exhilarating because it attacks a truly worthwhile larger SFnal theme in an original
fashion, coming to original conclusions; and because it is packed with clever technological and scientific notions,
and with some awe-inspiring vistas.
Permanence by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
Set in the 25th century, when humanity has settled dozens of extrasolar planets -- the so-called "lit worlds" -- and
thousands of brown-dwarf colonies -- the halo worlds. All the colonies were linked by big starships -- the cyclers -- each travelling
a fixed circuit of worlds. The cyclers never stop, as the energy cost to boost them is too high. Ultra-light shuttles transfer passengers, crew and cargo at
each port. The recent discovery of FTL travel is cheaper than the sub-light speed cyclers, so the halo worlds' economies,
and the Cycler Compact, are near collapse. It gets worse...
Ventus by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Ventus is a terraformed world gone haywire, where the human colonists have lost control over the massive,
intelligent network of terraforming machinery that runs the planet. In fact, as centuries passed, they even forgot that the "Winds" were AIs, and
now they worship them as gods in a culture that has regressed to medieval technology.
Young Jordan, a newly qualified stone mason, is having strange
visions -- episodes so vividly real that for a few seconds or moments he sees
through the eyes of General Armiger, a man fighting a war in another land.
But Armiger is not truly a man -- he's a cyborg extension of a rogue AI that nearly destroyed the galaxy.
Ventus by Karl Schroeder
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
When the nannite swarms that terraformed the planet Ventus had
nearly finished their job, something happened to prevent them from
talking to the human beings whose arrival was ostensibly the reason for
which the swarms had done their work. Those who have managed to survive on the planet live at a near medieval
level of technology as the nano-machines go about their
mysterious business. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants, the universe is about to intrude on them in a big way.
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