Pirate Sun
Book Three of Virga
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
-
Narrated by:
-
Joyce Irvine
-
David Thorn
-
By:
-
Karl Schroeder
About this listen
Return to Virga, a bubble universe artificially separated from our own future universe, and the setting of Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce.
Chaison Fanning, the admiral of a fleet of warships, has been captured and imprisoned by his enemies, but is suddenly rescued and set free. He flees through the sky to his home city to confront the ruler who betrayed him. And perhaps even to regain his lovely, powerful, and subversive wife, Venera, who he has not seen since she fled with the key to the artificial sun at the center of Virga, Candesce.
With Pirate Sun, Schroeder sets a whole new standard for hard science fiction space opera.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Sun of Suns
- Book One of Virga
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Joyce Irvine
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Excellent
- By Eivind on 03-04-10
By: Karl Schroeder
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
Lockstep
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 17-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he' s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he' s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still - that he' s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks.
-
-
A Great Idea, Poorly Served
- By D. M. ROBISON on 04-01-14
By: Karl Schroeder
-
Drive
- An Expanse Short Story
- By: James S. A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series. Now a Prime Original series. This story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.
-
-
Fun little short story
- By Carson on 12-28-21
-
Wayward Galaxy
- By: Jason Anspach, J. N. Chaney
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A company of Army Rangers is sent on an interstellar colony ship to secure a foothold on a dangerous, alien planet through violence of action. Leaving behind a warring Earth flung headfirst into a conflict of mutual assured destruction, the Rangers and the accompanying crew of first colonists are guided on a 40-year journey by an unprecedented artificial intelligence. But when they emerge from the frigid embrace of cryosleep, they awake to a nightmare, finding themselves greeted by the same ruthless enemy that brought about the ruin of Earth.
-
-
A breath of fresh air
- By Anonymous User on 09-29-20
By: Jason Anspach, and others
-
First Command Box Set: Spacers, Books 1-6
- By: Scott Bartlett
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 43 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the blue, a young Space Fleet officer's dream becomes reality: He's made captain of a starship. Just in time for the return of humanity's most terrible enemy, after 50 years of peace. To survive against this enemy, Captain Tad Thatcher will have to do more than learn how to become an effective commander, or how to wrangle his wayward crew. He will need to reinvent space combat. From scratch.
-
-
One of my favorite series!
- By Julia Monzon on 08-10-22
By: Scott Bartlett
-
Sun of Suns
- Book One of Virga
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Joyce Irvine
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Excellent
- By Eivind on 03-04-10
By: Karl Schroeder
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
Lockstep
- By: Karl Schroeder
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 17-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he' s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he' s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still - that he' s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks.
-
-
A Great Idea, Poorly Served
- By D. M. ROBISON on 04-01-14
By: Karl Schroeder
-
Drive
- An Expanse Short Story
- By: James S. A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series. Now a Prime Original series. This story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.
-
-
Fun little short story
- By Carson on 12-28-21
-
Wayward Galaxy
- By: Jason Anspach, J. N. Chaney
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A company of Army Rangers is sent on an interstellar colony ship to secure a foothold on a dangerous, alien planet through violence of action. Leaving behind a warring Earth flung headfirst into a conflict of mutual assured destruction, the Rangers and the accompanying crew of first colonists are guided on a 40-year journey by an unprecedented artificial intelligence. But when they emerge from the frigid embrace of cryosleep, they awake to a nightmare, finding themselves greeted by the same ruthless enemy that brought about the ruin of Earth.
-
-
A breath of fresh air
- By Anonymous User on 09-29-20
By: Jason Anspach, and others
-
First Command Box Set: Spacers, Books 1-6
- By: Scott Bartlett
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 43 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the blue, a young Space Fleet officer's dream becomes reality: He's made captain of a starship. Just in time for the return of humanity's most terrible enemy, after 50 years of peace. To survive against this enemy, Captain Tad Thatcher will have to do more than learn how to become an effective commander, or how to wrangle his wayward crew. He will need to reinvent space combat. From scratch.
-
-
One of my favorite series!
- By Julia Monzon on 08-10-22
By: Scott Bartlett
-
Six of Crows
- By: Leigh Bardugo
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder, Brandon Rubin, Fred Berman, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price - and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone.
-
-
7 Narrators, But That's Not a Good Thing
- By KM on 03-18-16
By: Leigh Bardugo
-
Aftermath: Star Wars
- Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- By: Chuck Wendig
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.
-
-
A Lamentable Mess
- By Troy on 09-05-15
By: Chuck Wendig
-
The Colour of Magic
- Discworld, Book 1
- By: Terry Pratchett
- Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place that might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules. But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land.
-
-
TERRIBLE Narration!
- By Kayla I on 07-08-22
By: Terry Pratchett
-
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
-
Consider Phlebas
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....
-
-
Visionary but half-cooked intro to Culture 'verse
- By Ryan on 07-20-13
By: Iain M. Banks
-
Steamborn: The Complete Trilogy Box Set
- By: Eric Asher
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A supernatural swarm. A treacherous scheme. A tinker's apprentice may be the village's only hope. This collection includes Steamborn, Steamforged, and Steamsworn. Grab it and crank up a whimsical thrill-ride today!
-
-
An Incredible Ride!!
- By Lady Meserole on 11-09-17
By: Eric Asher
-
Dragon Blood - Omnibus
- By: Lindsay Buroker
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies
- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thousand years have passed since a dragon has been seen in the world. Science and technology have replaced magic, which has dwindled until it has become little more than an element of myth and legend. There are those who still have dragon blood flowing through their veins, distant descendants of the mighty creatures of old. These rare humans have the power to cast magic, the power to heal, and the power to craft alchemical weapons capable of starting wars...or ending them.
-
-
A YA romance story with a little magic thrown in.
- By Patrick Jaynes on 06-11-17
By: Lindsay Buroker
-
Leviathan
- By: Scott Westerfeld
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.
-
-
Wonderful, but don't forget to buy the book
- By Tahlia Merrill Kirk on 01-21-11
By: Scott Westerfeld
-
City of Golden Shadow
- Otherland, Book 1
- By: Tad Williams
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth's most valuable resource - its children.
-
-
Weird. Seriously weird.
- By Townsend on 05-15-15
By: Tad Williams
-
Survival
- The Emergents Trilogy, Book 1
- By: K.A. Riley
- Narrated by: Janelle Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 2043, with the nation destroyed by war, 17-year-old Kress and her conspiracy of friends embark on a dangerous cross-country mission to locate and recruit other Emergents, the name given to teenagers who have begun to exhibit strange evolutionary abilities. Not all Emergents are ready to accept who and what they are, however, and some have even started using their abilities for selfish or evil ends. Now Kress has to figure out who is friend and who is foe as she risks everything to expose the government’s lies and take down the tyrannical President Krug once and for all.
-
-
Freaking love this series
- By Sheena potter on 07-21-23
By: K.A. Riley
-
Star Wars: Rebel Rising
- By: Beth Revis
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents, she is not completely alone - Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Marie A. on 05-12-17
By: Beth Revis
-
Kacy Chronicles Boxed Set
- The Revelations of Oriceran
- By: A. L. Knorr, Martha Carr, Michael Anderle
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 31 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born to a wealthy Virginian family, privileged Jordan's got her life all planned out. Get her PhD, find the perfect Virginian man to marry, pop out a few more Kacys, and make her state senator father proud. If only Jordan could let the past rest. When your mother disappears without a trace, it carves a gash that bleeds a long time. Jordan has never given up hope that her mother is alive. So when Jordan's old nanny shows up with a mysterious locket containing a portrait of Jordan's mother, Jordan believes her hope was not in vain.
-
-
A good teen fantasy!
- By Montzalee Wittmann on 01-13-20
By: A. L. Knorr, and others
Critic reviews
“Oh, what world-building! Schroeder is a master.” —Cory Doctorow
What listeners say about Pirate Sun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rebecca
- 03-28-21
Swashbuckling Steampunk Science Fiction
I loved it! Virga captivates and the imagined world is so beautifully described that I can close my eyes and see the spinning wheels at the heart of floating cities and great ships and beasts the traverse expanses of air. The people and cultures that have evolved in this bubble galaxy ring true to human nature at its best and worst. Long live Chaison and Vanera and all their cohort!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Julie W. Capell
- 06-03-09
Imagination like no other author writing today
Update August 2023: I am enjoying re-listening to this amazing book. There just isn't that much great hard sci-fi out there, and certainly no one else like Karl Schroeder. Now, fifteen years after its release, this is still an awe-inspiring universe that is just screaming to be adapted into a TV series. The FX are now at a point where all the amazing tech he has imagined could actually be depicted. And the background of the whole adventure--what would it be like if AI controlled everything?--is more relevant today, now that Chat GPT has exploded onto the scene.
[Original 2009 review]: Schroeder should win an award just for the sheer imagination displayed in this third book of Virga. The author obviously enjoys putting his characters in strange situations just to challenge his writing abilities . . . and he never disappoints. This book has a dragon unlike any dragon you have ever read about before, a chase scene unlike any chase scene, a flood unlike any flood . . . and that's just three examples. The book is chock-full of images and situations that are absolutely fresh and unique. Schroeder follows CS Lewis' advice, making me see in my mind what he is describing, no matter how unusual, rather than taking the easy way out and merely saying something is “terrible” or "infinite." With just a few words or sentences, he can make me inhale sharply at the terror on the page, or shake my head in astonishment at the enormity of the vista he has laid out. Add in great characters and a fast-paced story and you have a book that should not be missed.
[I listened to this as an audio book performed by Joyce Irvine and David Thorn, who do an excellent job giving each character a different voice and accent to help the listener keep track of the large cast of characters]
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- A reader
- 10-21-08
An action movie set in an astonishing world
This is the third book in the Virga series, each of which has focused on a different character on the same continuing journey begun in the first book. As always, these books continue to amaze as examples of world-building. The novels are set in a scientifically plausible giant artificial gas bag in freefall, containing many small suns. Even if you are bored of sky pirates and rotating towns by this third novel, Mr. Schroeder has new amazements -- precipice moths! underground currency that gives license to commit crimes! battles between giant towns slowly sent crashing into each other, whole populations leaping from one house to another! There is plenty of the old sense-of-wonder going on here.
And yet, the plot of the book is a Hollywood action movie, specifically the kind of good-natured adventure movie of the old school - the hero is constantly in the right place at the right time to witness amazing things. Narrow escapes abound, nobility is a key virtue, and incredibly staged fights are common. The result can be a bit charactured at times, but is almost always thrilling.
The character at the heart of this book, however, is the least fascinating of the lot, but still quite interesting, overall. Start with the first novel - you'll enjoy this by the time you are three books in - it is well worth it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MikeFarr
- 11-11-15
Better than book two. Space opera at its finest
I wish productions would stick with one narrator. These amazing performers create new voices for each character but it's very hard for two narrators to do the same voices. Get them together and have the man do the men and have the woman do the women!
The male narrators seem to be able to do female characters better than the women can do men. I'm curious if women listeners agree of think the opposite.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!