A Son of the Rock

Gollancz, 2020, 605 p.

This exploration of a far future Solar System travel through which is powered by solar sails with auxiliary rocket powered launches for shorter journeys continues the adventures of the Ness sisters, Adrana and Fura, after the events of Revenger and Shadow Captain. The readjustment of the economies of the Congregation following the sisters’ agglomeration of a cache of quoins – which resulted in their values changing – is in full swing but they are in flight from a squadron representing the banks and commerce, led by one Incer Stallis. In search of a bone skull (skulls are a kind of mystical communication device only accessible by adepts) to replace Revenger’s defunct one, they take over another ship, the Merry Mare and split the two crews.

Adrana’s promise to an alien, the Clacker, Tazaknakak, to take him to the spindly habitat known as Trevenza Reach gives her an objective. Meanwhile Fura’s ongoing succumbing to the glowy threatens to completely debilitate her while crew member Strambli has been taken over by ghostie stuff.

Adrana’s suspicions about Lagganvor – whom they picked up in Shadow Captain – multiply while her curiosity about the Congregation’s history (the so-called Occupations which have been recurring at increasing intervals and in whose thirteenth instance they all live) grows.

The scenario’s resemblance to (post)Napoleonic era naval encounters adds a swashbuckling feel to proceedings as does some of the terminology. In a sense this is old boy’s adventure stuff with SF trappings – except of course the adventurers are women.

Fura realises quoins are drawn to the Old Sun, and it is revealed they are really little machines, (or vast machines yet mostly hidden,) healing angels designed to descend into the ailing fires of the Old Sun and make it youthful again. Each is a sort of engine in its own right, “‘not quite existing in the same plane of space and time as we do’” robbed from their true purpose, manipulated by aliens who needed humans to retrieve them from baubles.

In a somewhat hurried coda (in terms of what has gone before) they find the source of the recurring Occupations, an artefact called the Whaleship. A reference to Moby Dick?

While I found this conclusion a touch unsatisfactory the ride Reynolds takes us on in this trilogy is an attractive one. The Ness sisters are good company.

Pedant’s corner:-  “into the open top of the one of the central tanks” (into the open top of one of the central tanks,) “the epicentre of the console” (the centre of the console,) maw (many times. A maw is a stomach; not a mouth,) “being stirred around in bucket of cement” (in a bucket of,) Werrenwell (elsewhere always Werranwell,) “can’t fix in jiffy” (in a jiffy,) “presented with lavishly-wrapped gift” (with a lavishly-wrapped gift,) sprung (many times; sprang,) “‘a number of enter[rising successes to his success’” (clumsy double use of success,) “positioning it within cradle at the focal point” (within the cradle,) fit (fitted,) “had called in to the warn her” (had called in to warn her,) an extraneous opening quote mark within a piece of dialogue, “the intervals between volleys was much reduced” (the intervals … were much reduced,) “at that great long tableaux” (tableaux is plural: tableau,) “faded but not entire disreputable café” (but not entirely disreputable,) “back out from under overhang” (under the overhang.) “‘Why not eh.’” (is a question so ‘Why not, eh?’,) “Stallis’ face” (Stallis’s,) “urging them to not to delay” (urging them not to delay,) “even if none of the sizes were an  ideal fit” (even if none of the sizes was an ideal fit,) “as yet the wounds were little too raw” (were a little too raw.)