AndySoc1al reviewed Queen of Candesce by Karl Schroeder (Virga -- bk. 2)
Review of 'Queen of Candesce' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
After the little bit we saw of Venera Fanning in the first book of the Virga series ([b:Sun of Suns|77887|Sun of Suns (Virga, #1)|Karl Schroeder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386921350s/77887.jpg|75218]), I wasn't sure she was capable of becoming a sympathetic character worthy of carrying the weight of an entire novel. She was and she did. Naturally, she couldn't just quietly make her way home, but at least there were horses.
Another good bit of world-building, this time on a more traditional O'Neill Cylinder, and a bit of backstory explaining how Virga came to be cut off from the greater Human Diaspora, Queen of Candesce would be a great textbook. That there's also a rousing adventure tale, of millenia-long familial intrigues and somehow still connected to the evil Falcon from the first book, makes this a recommended bit of quasi-steampunk in an interstellar mileu.
