Chaison Fanning, the principal character in this part of the series, is a much more sympathetic figure than his wife, Venera, who was the focus of the previous book. Consequently, I enjoyed this episode more than the 2nd book. And it was good to catch glimpses of what Artificial Nature means outside the planet-sized balloon Virga. If this seems like damning with faint praise, that is unintentional. Both of these books are good, solid reads. But neither has the impact of the first in the series, [b:Sun of Suns|77887|Sun of Suns (Virga, #1)|Karl Schroeder|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312030230s/77887.jpg|75218], simply because the first book introduced the jaw-dropping engineering ideas that establish the setting for all that follows. (Much like the way the [b:Ringworld|61179|Ringworld|Larry Niven|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348622769s/61179.jpg|924711] sequels are good enough tales, but don't stick in one's mind the way the first book does.] ( )

Another adventure within the world of many suns. Loved the small progressions in characters. ( )

Since it's been years since I've read the first two books I probably should have gone back and skimmed them before picking this volume, but the thing to know is that one is still essentially on the trajectory set in the second book with Admiral Fanning trying to get back to his home polity to deal with a bigger game; the events set in motion by his wife Venera which has allowed the beings kept at bay by the main artificial sun of Virga to penetrate the megastructure's defenses. If you liked the first two books you will certainly like this one. ( )

I really liked the first two in this series (as well as other books I've read by Schroeder) but this one really just didn't do it for me.

It picks up a character that I was never particularly enthralled by in the other books (Chaison Fanning) and puts him front and center. However, even though he's the main character in this book, I still never got a good sense of who he is as a person. I can't even picture him clearly.

The story starts with a prison break - Admiral Fanning's bad-ass wife, Venera, has planned his escape - but things go wrong, and they don't connect. (And we don't see Venera again until the end, blah.)
Instead, Fanning is picked up by an enigmatic woman who is genetically modified to look like an anime character (double-blah; that really turned me off).

Lots of completely forgettable running around occurs. The fate of the (very conceptually interesting) world of Virga is at stake. Unfortunately, I got bored.

I still may move on to the next one in the series, in the hopes that it picks up again - because I really want it to. But I'd recommend giving this one a miss.
( )

Decided I didn't really care any more.