The novel “The Sunless Countries” by Karl Schroeder was published for the first time in 2009. It’s the fourth novel in the series of Virga.

Leal Hieronyma Maspeth works as a tutor at the University of the City of Sere, where the only light is generated by lamps. Leal has many dreams but her position at the university remains rather precarious. Things get worse when the ruling party starts enacting laws that make studying unnecessary because reality will be decided through the democratic vote.

When some ships vanish into thin air, stories of monsters start spreading. The arrival of Hayden Griffin, the sun lighter who’s cheered as a hero, gives hope to Sere but the situation is more complex than city authorities think. The unlikely collaboration between Leal and Hayden allow to discover that the dangers come from far away.

In “Sun of Suns“, Karl Schroeder introduced Virga, an artificial planet and hollow, a giant balloon whose inhabitants live inside it. Virga’s population is fragmented into a multitude of small nations situated on asteroids and large wheels that use centrifugal force to simulate gravity.

The first novel in the series was also the first of a trilogy witg Admiral Chaison Fanning and his wife Venera as protagonists. However, it also introduced Hayden Griffin, who becomes a protagonist in “The Sunless Countries” together with a new character, Leal Maspeth.

“The Sunless Countries” begins in Sere, one of the many cities of Virga, with what initially may seem like just a local story, a political and social satire. Sere’s government is in theory democratic and indeed drives the decisions taken by citizens to unprecedented limits. It’s decided the citizens will vote what is true and for this reason the university activities are heavily reduced.

What passes for a democratic process is actually a dystopia in which citizens determine what is true irrationally. The “democratic” truth is actually a truth of convenience and the majority that decided it takes comfort from it while inconvenient facts are rejected by the vote and thus declared untrue.

Scientific facts don’t matter anymore in Sere but only what is being voted by citizens. It’s a democracy pushed to extremes but that means that ignorant citizens may decide the official truth even if it’s the opposite of what scientists who studied the subject for decades claim. This can include the nature of the external threats that cause ship disappearances.

It’s thanks to the mystery of the missing ships that the story quickly expands beyond the local one ending up concerning the whole Virga and beyond. In his previous novels Karl Schroeder had already provided information on the outside and on Virga’s Home Guard, in “The Sunless Countries” the outside universe becomes even more important.

Leal Maspeth wanted to teach at the university but the political evolution – or devolution? – of Sere destroys that dream and the events force her to work with Hayden Griffin to save much more than the city. The two of them form a pair of heroes despite themselves because they both are in a situation they didn’t seek and are struggling to find help in Sere because their investigations lead to findings that go against official truths.

Karl Schroeder put many references to events from the previous novels to develop certain elements of the story. This sometimes slows the pace down but allows the reader to remember what events are the basis of new developments. For this reason, it’s even possible to read “The Sunless Countries” without having read the previous novels but I think it would be a shame because the series is overall terrific.

The previous trilogy is composed of novels that were still at least partially self-contained, on the contrary “The Sunless Countries” doesn’t have a real ending but is concluded with a cliffhanger so the story continues in the fifth novel of the series of Virga. I think it’s still another terrific novel so I recommend reading it as well being aware that you must read the next one too.