Review: The Lost Empire of Sol

Been a long time since I posted, blah, blah, blah.

I had been wanting this book for a few years, since it was first announced. This is an anthology of new Sword and Planet stories. It went through a phase of developmental hell before finally reaching daylight sometime last year. Picked it up around Christmas and finally got a chance to read it.

Overall, it’s pretty good. I like the concept better than any of the actual stories, so the sum is greater than its individual parts. Essentially, there was at one time in the past a great Empire of Sol that spanned our Solar system. These stories take place in the remnants of that Lost Empire, one on each planet (including one on the planet that became the Asteroid Belt).

There is a certain air of disjointedness to the collection that may be a reflection of the changing editorial situation, or simply the looser editorial framework. It is not as tight as the Thieves’ World books, for instance, where the stories (for the most part) all fit together. These tales are largely independent of each other and the concept as a whole.

Anyway, to bring myself back up to speed as a blogger, this review will be short and sweet. As before, any major spoilers will be in parentheses (like this).

There is a forward describing how the concept originated and developed by one of the editors. This is followed by an introduction by John O’Neill of Black Gate fame. Both are solid and set up background and expectations.

There is a prologue and a later epilogue that serve as framing devices for the stories. A great world-devouring entity (think Vger from the first Star Trek motion picture) enters the edge of our solar system where it encounters an old space station. The Emissary, who runs and/or monitors the Leviathan, reconstitutes the station’s captain to extract memories from her. He is intrigued to discover that the station was here awaiting the Leviathan’s arrival. The following stories are essentially memories of events from the long-dead captain.

Pretty cool set up. Drawn in right off the bat.

The first story is “To Save Hermesia” by Joe Bonadonna and David C. Smith. Hermesia is Mercury, and the technology that made it livable in the earlier Empire of Sol era is breaking down. The heroine, a stout warrior, must travel with a sage to a lost facility and hope they can get a message off to anyone of the Empire still alive and in power, hoping to restore the dying world. The story’s pretty good, with solid action and plotting. Tense until the end. A nice start.

This is followed by “The Lost Princess of Themos” by Tom Doolan. Themos is Venus; we are going outward from the Sun with each story. A princess survives the destruction of the airship she was on, and encounters some terrors trying to survive. She is saved and befriended by a kind of native giant. He has been sent to meet her, for there is a peril she is the key to stopping. The writing features some interesting telepathic contact, presented in a unique way. A decent story.

Next is “What Really Happened at the Center of the Earth” by Christopher M. Blanchard. The story is essentially an interrogation of a survivor of an expedition to locate lost technology from the lost Empire of Sol. I like the adaption of the classic Hollow Earth trope, which embraces the pulp roots of the Sword and Planet genre, as does the use of Atlantis. There was some decent action and nice reveals. The frame of it being a retelling of events seemed to lessen its intensity for me, though.

Then comes “A Sand-Ship of Mars” by Charles Allen Gramlich. An all-woman crew of a trading sand-ship encounter an oddity from the stars. The description of the sand-ship and how it functioned was kinda hand-waved, so it was hard for me to visualize the story as it unfolded. The hull is described as frictionless, but whether from substance or magic is not told. One of the few descriptions of the ship says it is broad-bottomed, but more wetted surface of a hull causes more drag and therefore friction, so being a sailor this made me inherently more critical here. The ending was bit too convenient. But I liked the enemy and the pressure on the heroine. A good but flawed story.

Howard Andrew Jones wrote the next story, “Whispers of the Serpent.” This takes place on Tharsia, the planet followed too closely by a sister planet, and the eventual asteroid belt. This starts of with the heroine and her companion crashing their ship and reviving (10,000 years in the future). Despite the time gap, the being they originally were going to save is still in contact with them. There are several Jonesian twists in this one, and the usual solid action and pacing. A strong story.

After this is “Outcasts of Jov” by Mark Finn. This opens up with a battle between royal airships and sky pirates. The daughter of the general who was going to become the ruler of Jov (Jupiter) survives, and is rescued by different pirates, who see an opportunity. The central viewpoint continually switches between the characters in the story, and it becomes a comedy. The mystery of the Red Spot is addressed, but there is a nonsensical aspect (as there is a secret society within it, which no one on Jov knows about, but evidently some of the societies on Jov’s moons know about and interact with, but this is somehow kept secret from everyone on Jov?). Not a fan of this one, but humor is subjective.

Next up is “Written in Lightning” by Keith J. Taylor. It starts of in catacombs on Themos before going through an old imperial gate to Cronesh (Saturn). This story really makes an effort to present the planet as a unique environment, more than any of the other stories, which I really liked. There is an intriguing bit of mystery, but the story fizzles out after an anti-climactic scene in which nothing that is built up is resolved. The story ends with the pair of heroes – a male thief/pilot and a female warrior – realizing they are here on Cronesh to stay, which is supposed to carry great weight. But nothing that the words and actions of their hosts on the planet is building toward is even attempted to be resolved. I love the world building, but it’s ultimately disappointing.

“Survivors of Ulthula” by E.E. Knight is next. The planet of Ulthula (Uranus) is incidental to the story, simply a refuelling place. Instead, it takes place aboard a couple of spaceships between the planets, and involves a lost ship and more space pirates. A decent story, featuring a bit of gruesome medical horror, but only tenuously Sword and Planet. Nice shout-out to Alien at the end as the survivors make a log entry.

After this is “Hunters of Ice and Sky” by David A. Hardy, taking place on Neptune. There is some more solid world building here, with esoteric descriptions the planet’s make up and industry. It moves along quickly, and picks up too much speed as global events unfold in rapid succession and the action is almost allegorical rather than described. This story was pretty good.

The last story is “A Gate in Darkness” by Paul R. McNamee, set on Pluto, of course. A broadly sketched tale with airships and imperial ambitions and spreading darkness and betrayals. There was nothing specific about this story being set on Pluto, though. It wasn’t even mentioned, which is a bit of contrast to the other stories; it could have been on any world anywhere, aside from Earth which is glimpsed in the titular Gate briefly. A decent tale, though.

Last in the anthology is the epilogue, after the Emissary has drained the dead captain of her knowledge and he reflects on the information. He brings his concerns to a trio of deity-like beings, and they see the handiwork of their ancient enemy in humanity, guiding it. They decide to end the threat, and the Emissary plots which world to destroy. This is either a set up for a sequel, or maybe an explanation for the asteroid belt (rather than the sister planet smacking Tharsia)?

In writing this review, I guess I liked the stories more on reflection than I did actually reading them. I had set the bar pretty high in my mind, being a fan of Sword and Planet, but there just ain’t no more Leigh Bracketts. That shouldn’t hurt my enjoyment of what is out there now. But while some of the stories were good, none struck me as being great.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on this book. I think you’ll like it.

I’ll have another couple of posts soon. Hope you’re all well!