Let me open with this: Furious Heaven is a fantastic book, a sequel to the also brilliant Unconquerable Sun. You can say it's a gender-flipped, science-fiction re-imagining of the life of Alexander the Great. I think that's a great summary, but it does the text something of a disservice, because there's just...so much here. Politics. War, encompassing grand strategy and short, brutal tactical engagements. There's family squabbles - and sometimes that family is powerful enough that their disagreements can break worlds. There's friendships and betrayals, and people building on shifting sands, trying to make things better. And in a story built on war, built on conflict, there's a suggestion that the two sides may not be as far apart as all that.
So yes. This is a clever book, that delves into the depths of politics, violence, warfare, power, friendship...and a lot of other big words. But it's also a fast-paced, action packed story filled with explosions, the occasional assassination, and enough happening on every page that I couldn't put it down.
As always with Eliot, the worldbuilding is rich and intricate. The Republic of Chaonia is given more texture here; a lavishly wealthy active monarchy, where the queen is the final, absolute authority. A star-spanning political union, the Republic has been shaped by its conflict with its nearest neighbour, the Empire of Phene. They're militaristic, and identify strongly with their political system; they're ready to fight and die for the Republic - and the government of the Republic is more than happy to use its pervasive media control to encourage that willingness in its citizens. In the meantime, the Republic aristocracy are engaged in one-upping, politics, and the occasional bout of murder. And that's just what we know about. Looking at the less than stellar underbelly of the Republic is a delight. We always knew it was a bit sketchy, but placing the characters, most of whom are good people by their own lights, into a worrying system they're largely at the top of and sustaining, is fascinating. And it helps that this contrasts with their adversaries, the Empire of Phene. The Phene are genetically engineered, and seemingly largely egalitarian, a union that believes in equality. But they're also maintained by a shadowy council of "riders", who are kept largely screened from the population they lead, and whose ability to communicate with each other across vast distances is deeply mysterious and the thing holding their Empire together. The Phene also have their own problems - including experimentation on other sentients, and a whole gamut of politics and backbiting. We get to see more of the latter in this story, which delights in giving us a Phene point of view, to compare with that of the otherwise estimable Princess Sun and her coterie. And amongst these space faring powers sit other, stranger things - including fleets sailing between the stars, and telepathic symbionts, and roses blooming in dead earth. This is a grand universe, one which echoes with history and determination, and one which has enough grease and blood and tears on it that it feels real.
Funnily enough, the same applies to the characters. Sun, our Alexander analogue, continues to blend a regal, mysterious, ruthless public persona with something a little more real, or at least something a little differently real, gentler, more contemplative, in a private context. And she does this while leading a war fleet of ships across the depths of space, slowly concentrating her power and her ambitions and her personal connections,, becoming a personality and a power in her own right, out from under the thumb of her mother, Eirene. Eirene, incidentally, and especially her interactions with Sun, is characterised with exquisite detail - a monarch who broke the mould, who fought through hell and back and made victory out of ashes, and peace out of defeat - and who lives a hard, often transactional existence. Eirene is what Sun could be, one day, if she makes the same kinds of choices - a warning and a celebration all at once.
And then there's the Wily Persephone. Persephone is one of Sun's companions, an aristocrat, but one who was determined to live out from beneath the shadow of her family intrigues. She's sly, sarcastic, and smart. I'm always here for the witty one-liners, and the refusal to accept other people's nonsense, and Perse delivers on that very well. It helps that she's also a capable leader, and willing to back up being a smart-arse with being willing to kick ass, as necessary. That said, Persephone is still grappling with her need to prove herself as part of Sun's coterie, and with the affection she has for, well, lets say less than suitable admirers. And with the secrets of her own past, which threaten to envelop and overthrow the life she's made for herself. But that all sounds frightfully ominous, and you know what, while it is, Perse is our accessible entry point into the halls of power, someone who at the very least is willing to think the obvious questions, to explore outside-he-box solutions, to fight and die to change the world, or change a mind. She is, in sum, a fully realised person, and one who's probably a heck of a lot of fun at parties, and easily underestimated on a firing line.
There's other characters here too, I just...don't want to spoil too much. We do see a lot more of the Phene this time around, and exploring their culture, in its nuanced horror and joy, is fascinating. And we see a little more of Sun's Republic through the eyes of those a little further down the tree. Without spoilers then: these are, it feels like, real people doing their best within their circumstances, and we can sit alongside them in their lavishly explored inner-lives while they do so. Top-notch characterisation all around.
By now you know I'm not going to spoil the plot. But. But but but. It's something. It's the sort of story that had me turning pages at 2am to find out what happened next. The sort of story that's seared across your brain for nights afterward. The sort of story that makes you laugh, cry, and then turn the page because you have to know what's next. For those of you here for the combat: it's bloody and brutal and visceral, from the unexpected decompression of atmosphere during the silent, deadly dance of fleet engagements, through the chaos of boarding actions, to the gore and muck of hand to hand fighting planetside. It's unafraid to explore the glory of the fight, but also the horrifying costs, and the waste of it all. There's idols being thrown up here, but the story isn't afraid to explore the sacrifices which they ask for. And as the tale carries on, you can see that whatever happens, Sun's world, Persephone's world, the Republic and the Empire, it's all going to change.
So is it any good? Absolutely. I tore through this second volume even faster than the first, and need to know what happens next. If you need a space opera in your life, this is a bloody good one.
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