Gollancz, 2019, 430 p.
The previous novel in this sequence, Revenger, was narrated by Arafura Ness. In this one, by contrast it is her sister, Ardana, whose viewpoint we are privy to.
Like in Revenger, the scenario – even down to modes of speech – is reminiscent of old-time pirate stories and the adventures have a swashbuckling feel, though the characters are blessed with (some) higher-tech.
They inhabit a human society arranged in the Congregation, an array of worlds centred round the now fading Old Sun. All of human activity is carried out within a volume only eighteen light minutes across. Fairly recently an enigmatic race of aliens known as Crawlies has entered into The Congregation whose past history has consisted of a series of so-called Occupations in which what Ardana calls monkey civilisations – of which her own is only the latest – have risen only to fall again. These efflorescences take place on a fairly regular basis, a fact which Ardana feels is significant and may be due to an object orbiting the Old Sun at a considerable distance beyond The Congregation’s limits. That, though, is for a later book.
Travel between the many scattered usually relatively small worlds is by spaceships powered by solar sails, with rocket powered launches used for shorter distances (approaches to habitats and so on.) This slow mode of travel is of course a direct analogue of sailing ships of the past.
Due to having to eat lightvine to survive, Fura is a victim of a disease known as the glowy. In the last book she rescued Ardana from the clutches of the notorious pirate Bosa Sennen, who was killed and her ship taken over. Bosa’s malign influence on Ardana in trying to mould her into a possible successor still lies within her and comes out in times of stress. The sisters are now in charge of that ship, Nightjammer, which they call Revenger. Their companions are Surt, Prozor, Strambli, Tindouf (who speaks like an old sea dog,) and a diminished AI called Paladin.
Their first objective here is to stock up on fuel for their launch to which end they have to venture down into the habitat where Bosa stored it. Inside they follow a corridor traversed every thirty-eight or so minutes by a tight-fitting sphere, rolling over everything in its path like something out of Indiana Jones, not to mention a group of zombie-like twinkle-heads from which they have to flee with only a couple of fuel tanks.
However, on the Revenger’s scope Surt has noticed a sail flash, possibly from a shadowing ship. Being on Bosa’s ship whose death being unknown will mean they will be taken for her and subject possible arrest.
In the captain’s cabin an object called the Glass Armillary (though it’s more like an orrery) displays the Congregation as a series of spheres arranged in processionals – rings around the Old Sun.
When Strambli is injured while the sails are being adjusted to disguise Revenger’s appearance, there are three possible habitats to find medical help. Metherick needs too much fuel, the inhabitants of Kathromil hate Bosa, which leaves Wheel Strizzardy. Fura secretly has another reason to land there as she hopes to find a man called Lagganvor, one of Bosa’s former crewmates who managed to escape her clutches.
Wheel Strizzardy, a gloomy, misbegotten place somehow or other suffering from sodden conditions, turns out to have fallen under the control of Mister Far-Gone Glimmery, a victim of the glowy more advanced than Fura. Glimmery’s physician, Dr Eddralder, administers a palliative when he suffers an attack, but to protect against poisoning Eddralder also has to give the drug to his daughter Merrix beforehand.
An incident involving the death of a Crawly allows them to leverage an escape along with Eddralder, Merrix and Lagganvor, whose knowledge of Bosa’s habits enables them to locate the world known as The Miser where she kept her hoard of quoins the Congregation’s mysterious currency. What happens there means they have to get themselves well away from the Congregation presumably to seek out Ardana’s object circling well away from the Old Sun. But Ardana knows Lagganvor and Dr Eddralder have secrets of their own.
While Shadow Captain has plenty of incident – and intrigue – it wasn’t as engaging as Revenger. This may be the curse of middle parts of trilogies. The scenario is no longer new, the resolution delayed. It is executed well though, the main characters are sufficiently complex to remain interesting. The third instalment, Bone Silence, (bones are a fantastical type of instantaneous communication device involving twinkles) is on my tbr pile.
Pedant’s corner:- maw (x 2, it’s not a mouth,) “none of the others were directing,) (none of the others was directing,) “like a gristly pendulum” (grisly? Though gristly also works,) “like a carrion” (like carrion,) “‘we’d unwise to’” (we’d be unwise,) “none of us were immune” (none of us was immune.) “‘At least day or so’” (At least a day or so,) “to be reliable judge” (to be a reliable judge,) “off of” (just ‘off’, no ‘of’,) “feeling that that,” (only one ‘that’ needed,) sunk (sank,) “a Bone Merchants” (Bone Merchant’s.) “One was small black pouch” (was a small black pouch,) “it was handsome piece” (was a handsome piece,) “though I had strived” (had striven.) “‘Is it a falsehood, I trust?’” (It is a falsehood, I trust?) skeptical (sceptical,) “was a like a coffin” (no need for that first ‘a’,) an extraneous end quotation mark, sprung (sprang,) “‘may spare us a save us two or three days’” (either ‘may spare us a two or three days’ or ‘may save us two or three days’.) “‘Yours is still be finalised’” (still to be finalised,) “on such a doubtful grounds” (either ‘on such doubtful grounds’ or ‘on such a doubtful ground’,) “that might have once have adorned” (has one ‘have’ too many,) from whence (just ‘whence’, the ‘from’ is superfluous,) diaphanous (diaphanous.) “Lagganvor’s answered me” (Lagganvor answered me.)
This is a novel (or more correctly a collection of nine shorter pieces linked to each other, four with the same narrator) which tells the story of a woollen mill situated thirty miles from Perth. The viewpoint characters are:-
