Sun of Suns (Virga, Book 1)

Sun of Suns is an all-around mediocre book. The setting is fascinating, but the characters are subpar. The plot makes for a simple quick read. However, the characters fall completely flat and ruin the experience. It's a shame since the world seems like a great place to explore. It's an OK book if you just want to pass the time and read a quick story, but I wouldn't give this a particularly high recommendation. I think this would have been better presented as a hard sci-fi short story than a full-length novel.

For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2014/09/book-review-sun-of-suns-by-karl.html

In general this was an easy and enjoyable read. There are some subtle hints and allusions to some more intellectually intriguing concepts such as autopoiesis, and the ontology of 'nature' that were left largely unexplored or unexplained. While this isn't a problem for the book per se, it left the book feeling a little shallower than it could have been. I know from some o Schroeder's other stuff that he does delve a bit deeper into some of these ideas. That being said, like a sitcom we can't help but tune into every week, this was an enjoyable ride.

I simply forgot to add this. I read it but while the world-building was indeed as spectacular as iO9 suggested the characters and the story didn't touch me. I would not re-read it or read any more books in the series.

It was okay. I found it very unforgiving if you didn't know things ahead of time.

For example, the book was recommended to me so I never read the blurb about the book. Within a page or two I got really confused. Turns out the "world" was the inside of a balloon the size of a planet.

I know a couple of times I had to go back pages to check if i missed something.

That being said, they had some interesting overarching stories that were eventually reveled. I don't think I'd recommend the book to anyone, but i wouldn't discourage anyone who was interested. It just wasn't for me.

I was a little skeptical when I saw this was "Book 1" of a series. But it was top-notch. Some fantastic ideas. I will definitely keep an eye out for book 2.