The novel “Pirate Sun” by Karl Schroeder was published for the first time in 2008. It’s The third novel in the series of Virga.
Admiral Chaison Fanning was captured and imprisoned by his enemies. His wife Venera manages to set up his escape but he almost derails it because he wants at all costs to free two countrymen. Eventually, he manages to escape with them but is forced to improvise to bring the trio to safety from their enemies.
Soon, the three of them meet Antaea Argyre, a member of the semi-legendary group of Virga Home Guard, who aim to protect the artificial planet from external threats. Channing must try to return to his Slipstream but gets involved in a much larger story. In addition to understanding what Antaea really wants from him, he must find out why what he considered his best friend shows up in an enemy nation but apparently to recapture him.
Chaison Fanning and his wife Venera appeared for the first time in “Sun of Suns“, the novel that began the series of Virga. At the end of it, Venera was separated from her husband and her adventures were told in “Queen of Candesce“, the second novel in the series. In “Pirate Sun” both of them appear again in the continuation of their stories so we can say that this novel is a sequel to both of the previous ones.
Admiral Chaison Fanning obtained a great victory but paid a high price. Locked up in an enemy prison, he doesn’t even know what happened to his wife. For him, everything seems lost except honor and when someone helps him escape he stops to free two countrymen. From there, things get more and more complex.
Chaison Fanning’s story becomes much more than his attempt to return to his Slipstream. With dismay, he discovers that he’s not considered a hero but a traitor so going home is far from simple. Soon, not only he must escape from his enemies but also from his best friend.
For Chaison Fanning, things become even more complicated after he meets Antaea Argyre and with his breakaway companions gets embroiled in various machinations within the group of Virga’s Home Guard. The more he has to do with them the more he realizes that in the best case scenario they are telling him half-truths and in the group there doesn’t seem to be a great harmony. The Guardians want something from Chaison Fanning but what?
Personally I found Chaison Fanning’s adventures enjoyable in his attempts to return home to face Slipstream’s rulers, starting with the Pilot himself, to clean his name. Although in the middle Karl Schroeder add some padding, the artificial planet Virga with its habitats and its suns offers an amazing setting for these adventurous stories.
However, the part of “Pirate Sun” I liked the most is the one about Virga’s Home Guard. In “Sun of suns” Karl Schroeder provided some information about Virga’s nature and what happens outside this artificial planet. In the third novel, the author tells a lot more about much broader conflicts and Virga’s role in them.
“Pirate Sun” has a pace that is generally even faster than the previous novels. Karl Schroeder can almost always include a lot of information in the story without slowing down the action, present in large amount. The character of Chaison Fanning, at the center of almost the entire novel, is further developed but the other characters are well depicted as well, making them a further strength.
In the end, the plot is very complex because it brings together several elements sometimes quite heterogeneous. For a novel just over 300 pages long in the hardback edition there are really many events and twists. For Karl Schroeder it wasn’t easy to handle anything but I think he does it well giving a satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy dedicated to Chaison and Venera Fanning.
Overall, “Pirate Sun” seemed to me a really good novel that must be read after the previous two of the series of Virga to be fully enjoyed. So far I’ve found this series really exciting and intriguing so I recommend reading it.
