Queen of Candesce Review

Note: I'm attempting a new way of titling these posts. Just letting you all know.


I know that Queen of Candesce is a couple of years old, but I just finished rereading it, and I wanted to post my review. Who knows? You might discover something new.

Karl Schroeder's Queen of Candesce picks up practically where the first novel in the series, Sun of Suns, left off. Venera Fanning and Hayden Griffin were falling through the air near Candesce, Virga's "sun of suns." Queen of Candesce follows Venera Fanning after she abandons Hayden and finds herself on the strange, ancient, cylindrical nation of Spyre.

Does the change in protagonist and location help or hinder Queen of Candesce? Can Venera make a convincing protagonist, especially considering how off-putting some readers might have found her in Sun of Suns? Read on to find out.


Spyre is a crumbling wreck, both physically and spiritually. It's surface is covered in hundreds of tiny insular "nations," some of them only a few yards across. This patchwork of nations and societies is so closed off from the rest of Virga, and even from their neighbors that it has bred a paranoid society, rife with intrigue and suspicion. It sounds like the perfect for Venera.

Over the course of the novel Venera immerses herself in Spyre politics, going so far as to disguise herself as Amandera Thrace-Guiles of the dead nation of Buridan. Only a select few on Spyre know that Venera is in possession of the key of Candesce--a small device that can control Virga's main sun. Even fewer know that Spyre, and Virga itself, aren't isolated places. Outside Virga, the artificial intelligence known as Artificial Nature is approaching. But Queen of Candesce doesn't really touch on these topics, which is strange considering how they played a bigger role in the previous novel.

And really that's my main criticism of Queen of Candesce. It feels more like a side-story, a standalone novel than one that's truly part of the Virga series. Venera Fanning is the only character from the first novel that makes an appearance. This is both a positive and a negative. It's great because the reader gets to see her character grow, and by the end of the novel she was my new favorite character. But it's also a hindrance because other fan favorites like Admiral Fanning are only mentioned in passing.

Schroeder's world building is still fantastic. Spyre is a wonderful setting, but it still feels a little confined when compared to the wide open spaces of Sun of Suns. There are fights and battles, but they're all terrestrial. There are none of the swashbuckling zero-g battles with wooden battleships from the first book. Some might not enjoy the lack of truly large scale action.

Queen of Candesce is a worthy novel, but not necessarily the best direct sequel to Sun of Suns. It's not bad, by any means, but some readers might read it and wonder, "What does this have to do with the overall story?" I'm sure that the third novel, Pirate Sun, will be something more of a return to the series' form. Still you shouldn't skip Queen of Candesce just because its plot is confined to Spyre. You'll emerge on the other side with a greater appreciation for Venera's character. That alone is worth it in my book.