-
Sun of Suns
- Book One of Virga
- Narrated by: Joyce Irvine
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and aimlessly floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and "towns" that are in the shape of enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for gravity.
Young, fit, bitter, and friendless, Hayden Griffin is a very dangerous man. He's come to the city of Rush in the nation of Slipstream with one thing in mind: to take murderous revenge for the deaths of his parents six years ago. His target is Admiral Chaison Fanning, head of the fleet of Slipstream, which conquered Hayden's nation of Aerie years ago. And the fact that Hayden's spent his adolescence living with pirates doesn't bode well for Fanning's chances.
Critic reviews
“The swashbuckling space settlers of Schroeder's fantastical novel inhabit warring nation-states inside a planet-sized balloon called Virga. This adventure-filled tale of sword fights and naval battles stars young Hayden Griffin of the nation of Aerie, orphaned by an attack on the artificial sun that his parents tried to build. Schroeder layers in scientific rationales for his air-filled, gravity-poor world-with its spinning cylinder towns and miles-long icebergs-but the real fun of this coming-of-age tale includes a pirate treasure hunt and grand scale naval invasions set in the cold, far reaches of space.” —Publishers Weekly
“Outrageously brilliant and absolutely not to be missed.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“We already knew that Karl Schroeder could do Kubrick. Now it turns out he can do Dumas as well. And more: not since Middle Earth have I encountered such an intense and palpable evocation of an alien world. Sun of Suns puts the world-building exercises of classic Niven to shame.” —Peter Watts
Related to this topic
-
Faster Than Falling
- The Skylighter Adventures
- By: Nathan Van Coops
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beneath the Ocean of Sky, heroes will rise. Samra Rose is in trouble. Living in a colony floating high above the clouds, she's been far away from anything resembling an adventure, but when aerial raiders carry off her home - with her inside - she gets more excitement than she ever wished for. Her best friend, Kipling, and a Grounder boy with a skyship will take to the air in pursuit, but all three will face dangers they've never imagined.
-
-
boring read and anticlimactic ending..
- By foxonthebarrel on 10-23-17
By: Nathan Van Coops
-
At Any Price & Rolling Hot
- Hammer's Slammers Series
- By: David Drake
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This two-story compiliation, read by Stefan Rudnicki, offers two stories from David Drake's popular Hammer's Slammers series. In At Any Price, Col. Alois Hammer's indomitable Slammers are called in to support human colonists against a native uprising in this novel-length adventure. But even though the natives' off-world weapons are no match for the Slammers, their ability to teleport gives them a frightening advantage! In Rolling Hot, the battle-crazed troop of recruits and vets, led by Captain Ranson, must cover 300 miles of hostile enemy territory.
-
-
Not a cohesive story or stories
- By Jeffery on 01-19-21
By: David Drake
-
Airborn
- By: Kenneth Oppel
- Narrated by: David Kelly
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Ashley on 04-19-11
By: Kenneth Oppel
-
The Breakers Omnibus
- Books 1-3 and Prequel Novella
- By: Edward W. Robertson
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 42 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books 1-3 and the prequel novella of the Breakers series.
-
-
So glad I downloaded this one.
- By Stevie Havoc on 11-16-15
-
The Vagrant
- By: Peter Newman
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity's destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. A s each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
-
-
It was the concept and the prose that kept me goin
- By Alexandra on 08-18-15
By: Peter Newman
-
The Awakening
- Broken Worlds, Book 1
- By: Jasper T. Scott
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Darius Drake is desperate to save his daughter, Cassandra. So desperate he's willing to risk their lives in cryo-sleep to give her a future. But the dark, freezing vault where he wakes up is nothing like the luxurious Florida hospital he remembers. Everything about this place is alien to him, even the language. Little does he know how alien it really is. Darius and his daughter go exploring their new surroundings with a few others from the cryo pods, and they soon discover frozen, mutilated bodies everywhere.
-
-
Alien/Predator/Star Wars mashup
- By Leonidas Karr on 08-28-18
By: Jasper T. Scott
-
Faster Than Falling
- The Skylighter Adventures
- By: Nathan Van Coops
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beneath the Ocean of Sky, heroes will rise. Samra Rose is in trouble. Living in a colony floating high above the clouds, she's been far away from anything resembling an adventure, but when aerial raiders carry off her home - with her inside - she gets more excitement than she ever wished for. Her best friend, Kipling, and a Grounder boy with a skyship will take to the air in pursuit, but all three will face dangers they've never imagined.
-
-
boring read and anticlimactic ending..
- By foxonthebarrel on 10-23-17
By: Nathan Van Coops
-
At Any Price & Rolling Hot
- Hammer's Slammers Series
- By: David Drake
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This two-story compiliation, read by Stefan Rudnicki, offers two stories from David Drake's popular Hammer's Slammers series. In At Any Price, Col. Alois Hammer's indomitable Slammers are called in to support human colonists against a native uprising in this novel-length adventure. But even though the natives' off-world weapons are no match for the Slammers, their ability to teleport gives them a frightening advantage! In Rolling Hot, the battle-crazed troop of recruits and vets, led by Captain Ranson, must cover 300 miles of hostile enemy territory.
-
-
Not a cohesive story or stories
- By Jeffery on 01-19-21
By: David Drake
-
Airborn
- By: Kenneth Oppel
- Narrated by: David Kelly
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Ashley on 04-19-11
By: Kenneth Oppel
-
The Breakers Omnibus
- Books 1-3 and Prequel Novella
- By: Edward W. Robertson
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 42 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books 1-3 and the prequel novella of the Breakers series.
-
-
So glad I downloaded this one.
- By Stevie Havoc on 11-16-15
-
The Vagrant
- By: Peter Newman
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity's destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. A s each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
-
-
It was the concept and the prose that kept me goin
- By Alexandra on 08-18-15
By: Peter Newman
-
The Awakening
- Broken Worlds, Book 1
- By: Jasper T. Scott
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Darius Drake is desperate to save his daughter, Cassandra. So desperate he's willing to risk their lives in cryo-sleep to give her a future. But the dark, freezing vault where he wakes up is nothing like the luxurious Florida hospital he remembers. Everything about this place is alien to him, even the language. Little does he know how alien it really is. Darius and his daughter go exploring their new surroundings with a few others from the cryo pods, and they soon discover frozen, mutilated bodies everywhere.
-
-
Alien/Predator/Star Wars mashup
- By Leonidas Karr on 08-28-18
By: Jasper T. Scott
-
Frozen
- By: Melissa de la Cruz, Michael Johnston
- Narrated by: Phoebe Strole, Dan Bittner
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature: freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground, and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows. At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called "the Blue".
-
-
Decent story with the most WTF ending
- By Tuesday on 02-12-19
By: Melissa de la Cruz, and others
-
Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds
- The First Adventure of Alacrity Fitzhugh & Hobart Floyt
- By: Brian Daley
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mankind was beginning its third leap into the Galaxy, but Old Earth had so long kept to herself that her people were unable to travel safely among the rough-and-tumble cultures that had evolved on distant worlds. That annoyed Earth's rulers, for Hobart Floyt--a minor Terran bureaucrat-- had been left a mysterious inheritance by the deceased ruler of a small but wealthy interstellar empire.
-
-
Best Sci Fi Fun anywhere!
- By A. Foxter on 07-07-15
By: Brian Daley
-
The Wizard Hunters
- Fall of Ile-Rien, Book 1
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Talmadge Ragan
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ile-Rien is in peril. A mysterious army known only as the Gardier has surrounded the country, attacking in ominous black airships. Hope is not lost though, for a magical sphere created by Ile-Rien's greatest sorcerer may hold the key to defeating the faceless enemy. But the sphere is unpredictable and has already claimed several lives. When a magical spell goes disastrously awry, young Tremaine Valiarde and a brave band are transported to another world-a world of rough magics, evil mages, honorable warriors, and a secret Gardier base.
-
-
skip the listen, read the book
- By Cascadian on 11-08-13
By: Martha Wells
-
The Final Empire
- Mistborn Book 1
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison.
-
-
Prepare for sleepless nights
- By tercia on 10-21-18
-
Frozen Earth
- Rogue Star, Book 1
- By: Jasper T. Scott
- Narrated by: Flynn Earl Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Logan Willis’s life is falling apart: he lost his job and found out that his wife is cheating on him all in the same day. Thinking that his world has ended, Logan checks into a hotel and turns on the TV to see that he's not far wrong - radio telescopes have detected mysterious signals coming from inside our solar system, and the source is moving toward us at over 500 miles per second. The media concludes that these signals must be of an alien origin. Still reeling from the news, Logan gets a phone call from his brother-in-law.
-
-
Not that good
- By Kindle Customer on 12-27-18
By: Jasper T. Scott
-
Forgotten Ages
- The Complete Saga
- By: Lindsay Buroker
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 23 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest military leader of his time. The most talented code breaker her people have. Sworn enemies. When deadly secrets from the ancient past are unearthed, secrets capable of fracturing the world and destroying all life on the planet, these two enemies will have to work together. They are humanity's only hope.
-
-
Fun and strange mashup of scifi and fantasy
- By domlav on 06-28-16
By: Lindsay Buroker
-
Bill Baldwin's The Helmsman
- By: Bill Baldwin
- Narrated by: Steve Cumming, full cast
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the few survivors of a League sneak attack on his poor and miserable homeworld of Carescria, Wilf Brim sets out to settle the score. Were it not for the attrition from the war that followed, Wilf would never have escaped his lower-class status and been accepted into the Academy. Now, freshly graduated, young Sublieutenant Wilf Ansor Brim, Imperial Fleet, begins his first assignment, Helmsman of the I.F.S. Truculent.
-
-
The Helmsman
- By David on 05-28-04
By: Bill Baldwin
-
TimeRiders
- By: Alex Scarrow
- Narrated by: Aaron Landon
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maddy should have died in a plane crash. Liam should have died at sea when the Titanic sank. Sal should have died in a tragic fire. But a mysterious man whisked them away to safety. Maddy, Liam, and Sal quickly learn that time travel is no longer just a hope for the future; it is a dangerous reality. And they weren't just rescued from their terrible fates…they were recruited for the agency of TimeRiders created to protect the world from those seeking to alter the course of history for personal gain.
-
-
Rather mundane story, not very scifi
- By DoctorMu on 01-24-16
By: Alex Scarrow
-
The Pearl Wars: Skyship Academy, Book 1
- By: Nick James
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A devastated Earth's last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers -political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth's stratosphere - and the corrupt Surface government.
-
-
Starts slow but picks up in the quarter...
- By Karissa Eckert on 12-11-16
By: Nick James
-
The Dreaming Void
- Void Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.
-
-
What can I say
- By Randall on 05-08-18
-
Stolen Time
- By: Danielle Rollins
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seattle, 1913. Dorothy spent her life learning the art of the con. But after meeting a stranger and stowing away on his peculiar aircraft, she wakes up in a chilling version of the world she left behind - and for the first time in her life, realizes she’s in way over her head. New Seattle, 2077. If there was ever a girl who was trouble, it was one who snuck on board Ash’s time machine wearing a wedding gown - and the last thing he needs is trouble if he wants to prevent his terrifying visions of the future from coming true.
-
-
Boring!
- By Kindle Customer on 06-06-21
By: Danielle Rollins
-
Clockwork Heart
- Clockwork Heart, Book 1
- By: Dru Pagliassotti
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taya soars over Ondinium on metal wings. She is an icarus - a courier privileged to travel freely across the city’s sectors and mingle indiscriminately among its castes. But even she can’t outfly the web of terrorism, loyalty, murder, and intrigue that snares her after a daring mid-air rescue.
-
-
Reasonably Entertaing
- By Lessa on 06-22-14
By: Dru Pagliassotti
What listeners say about Sun of Suns
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eivind
- 03-04-10
Excellent
Clearly inspired by Larry Nivens Ringworld this series is a masterpiece of world building. Imagine a gigantic breathable gas giant with a manufactured sun in the middle that interrupts certain technology. There is no gravity except that created by the centrifugal spinning of wheels, pirates with cutlasses and muskets in ships that soar across the three-dimensional gas sea attacking the unsuspecting trader, mushroom farmers on minute pieces of rock.
A magnificent adventure.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- HappyatHeart
- 01-31-18
Space pirates!
This story was incredibly unique and a great yarn. I loved the steampunk feel and yet the fact that it was not really true steampunk at all. In some ways it felt like a combination of fantasy and science fiction. The characters were relatable. The only real flaw was that the big villain, Falcon Formation, is completely faceless and evil and you learn nothing at all about them. It is a completely one-dimensional cardboard cutout held up for all the characters to unite and fight against. But other than that one complaint, I absolutely loved this book and every quirky thing about it.
The narrator is exceptional and may be the best female reader of male voices I've ever heard. In short, I highly recommend this audiobook!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Noah Smith
- 02-02-11
A visual feast for your mind
The images evoked by this book will blow your mind. Vast, open three-dimensional spaces filled with a combination of far-future biotech and robotics and 17th-century wooden sailing ships. Cylindrical wooden towns rotating for gravity, artificial suns, hollowed-out lakes in the sky with airship pirate hideouts lurking inside...
Karl Schroeder has written something really fresh here. Though it's brilliantly creative science fiction, Sun of Suns feels like a swashbuckling pirate adventure. The characters, if not the deepest ever penned, are fun, realistic, and memorable. All in all, a great listen, perfect for the audiobook format.
Two caveats. The first is that the narrator does not do a lot of different voices. The second is that this is very much the first in the series, so be prepared for the inevitable cliffhanger.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful