House of Suns

infobox Book |
name = House of Suns
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translator =


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author = Alastair Reynolds
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country = United Kingdom
language = English
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genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Gollancz
release_date = 17 April 2008
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-575-07717-4

"House of Suns" is a 2008 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds ( ISBN 0-575-07717-4) [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0575077174 Amazon.co.uk: House of Suns (Gollancz S.F.): Books: Alastair Reynolds ] ] . He announced the title on June 7, 2007, when he was about halfway done writing it. [ [http://members.tripod.com/~voxish/ Alastair Reynolds ] ] [ [http://voxish.tripod.com/teahouse/index.blog/1703079/into-the-great-wide-open/ Teahouse on the Tracks ] ] He had announced a few months earlier that he was working on a new novel that was not set in the Revelation Space universe and which he then referred to as "Book 8" (and would be his eighth book if only novels are counted, not collections). It is set in the same universe as his novella "Thousandth Night", which appears in the anthology "One Million A.D." (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois. "House of Suns" would then make this the fourth multi-story universe of Reynolds's, besides his Revelation Space universe, 'Sloth' universe (featured in the collection Zima Blue and Other Stories) and "Merlin" universe, although he has stated on [http://www.alastairreynolds.com/teahouse/ his blog] that House of Suns 'does not attempt slavish consistency' with Thousandth Night.

etting

"Thousandth Night", set in the same universe as "House of Suns", took place in the year one million A.D., in a Milky Way galaxy that has been thoroughly colonized by humans and is devoid of any other sentient life. Technologies that are available include anti-gravity, inertialess propulsion, force fields, and stasis fields. The galaxy is dominated by humans and various posthumans. Human civilisations almost invariably seem to fall within a few millennia (referred to as "turnover" in the novel), apparently due to the limits of sub-lightspeed travel making it too difficult to hold interstellar empires together. Civilisations and organisations that inhabit only one planet tend to last considerably longer, as do the "lines"- organisations that do not inhabit any planets or star systems, but instead continually travel, meeting with other line members at periodic intervals. Also of note is the "absence"- the mysterious disappearance of the Andromeda Galaxy several million years before. It is originally unknown as to what caused the absence, although entire civilisations are collecting information related to the event.

‘House of Suns’ concerns a group of people called the Gentian Line, also known as the House of Flowers (in fact, every member is named after a different type of flower); 1000 clones (or ‘shatterlings’), male and female, of an individual named Abigail Gentian. The clones travel the Milky Way Galaxy helping young human civilizations, collecting knowledge and experiencing what the universe has to offer. Every 200,000 years the clones meet up for a 1000 day-long reunion ceremony before going their separate ways for another 200,000 years or ‘circuit’.

The action of the novel takes place six million years after the initial cloning; 31 circuits into the life of the Gentian Line. It has two major storylines: the main story arc is set roughly 6 million years in the future, concerning shatterlings Campion and Purslane, while a sub-plot set roughly 1000 years from now, follows Abigail before she decides to create the shatterlings.

Plot

The novel is divided into eight parts, with the first chapter of each part taking the form of a narrative flash-back to Abigail Gentian’s early life, before the cloning and the creation of the Gentian Line. Every chapter is narrated from the first-person perspective, shifting between three individuals; Abigail Gentian herself (in the flashbacks) and two clones called Campion and Purslane who are engaged in a relationship which is frowned upon, even punishable, by the Line.

The primary storyline begins six million years in the future, when shatterlings Campion and Purslane have been sent to repair a stardam; an artificial structure built around a star using technology left by a now extinct civilization known as the Priors. Upon fixing the dam, Campion and Purslane make their way to the next reunion of the Gentian Line. They are lovers, which could land them in trouble if discovered (even consorting during circuits is frowned upon). Aware that they are going to be late, they take a detour to contact a being known as ‘Ateshga’ in the hope of upgrading the speed of their ships.

After being tricked by Ateshga, Campion and Purslane manage to turn the tables on him and leave his planet with a being he had been keeping captive; a golden robot called Hesperus, a member of the ‘Machine People’; an advanced civilization of robots. The two shatterlings hope that, although they will be late for the reunion, they will be let-off the hook by bringing such an eminent guest as Hesperus.

Before reaching the reunion world, Campion and Purslane encounter a message from Fescue, another Gentian Line-member. He warns them that there has been an ambush in which the majority of the Gentian Line was wiped-out. The ambushers are unknown. Despite the recorded warning, Campion and Purslane approach the reunion planet looking for survivors. They find a ship with several Gentian Line members still alive, and manage to rescue them and the prisoners they have captured. The group then make their way to the planet Neume, in the hope of re-grouping with any Gentians who may have survived the ambush. Upon reaching Neume, Campion, Purslane and the shatterlings they rescued are greeted by a survivor called Betony, who has taken informal lead over the remaining Gentians. Campion and Purslane also meet two more robots of the Machine People; Cadence and Cascade, guests of another shatterling. Purslane is made to give up her ship the Silver Wings of Morning to the two robots of the machine people, Cadence and Cascade to return to their territory. During the next few days, Mezereon continues her interrogation of the prisoners; during which one shatterling, Cyphel, is mysteriously murdered, which fuels the Line’s concerns that there is a traitor amongst them.

As Cadence and Cascade prepare to leave, Hesperus, having been repaired from injuries int he fight enar the reunion world, warns Purslane that they are highly dangerous beings. He also reveals that his body and mind are shared between two beings; part Hesperus, part the Spirit of the Air, who has decided to become a mobile individual again. Cadence and Cascade take control of the ship and start moving it away from the planet Neume, with the Shatterlings in pursuit.

Hesperus reveals to Purslane the reason why the other two robots are acting against the Line. They have discovered that the Line was involved in the accidental extermination of an early race of machine people, dubbed the ‘First Machines’. The Lines erased all knowledge of this from their memories but, in the ambush at the reunion, somebody was seeking revenge for the destruction of the earlier machines. Hesperus and Purslane take refuge in a ship in the cargo hold of the larger Silver Wings of Morning. Cadence and Cascade are heading for a wormhole concealed in a Gentian stardam which leads to the Andromeda Galagxy, where some of the First Machines retreated to. They plan to release the machines into the Milky Way. The Shatterlings vow to stop them, in case the First machines intend to exact revenge on humanity.

At the same time, transmissions from Neume confirm that Galingale, another shatterling, is the traitor. As Galingale is part of the party pursuing Purslane’s ship he reveals his true nature to the others. He is part of the House of Suns, a secret Line established to destroy any evidence that there was an early race of machines that had been wiped out by mankind, at any cost. The shatterlings open fire on the renegade ship, and several of them are killed in the ensuing battle.

Campion pursues Purslane’s ship for sixty thousand years, during which time he and Purslane, on their separate ships, are suspended in stasis. Despite efforts to stop the hijacked ship from reaching the stardam, Cascade succeeds in breaking through and enters the wormhole, travelling to the Andromeda Galaxy. On board Silver Wings of Morning Hesperus reveals that while Purslane had been in Abeyance, he and Cascade had engaged in a marathon battle, lasting thousands of years.

Campion, now the only shatterling still in pursuit, enters the wormhole after them and emerges in the Andromeda galaxy, a place apparently devoid of all sentient life, although otherwise intact, with no evidence of the Absence. The Milky Way galaxy also appears to be hidden within another Absence. In his search for Purslane and her ship he lands on a planet and is greeted by a single, mechanical being, which announces itself to be the last of the First Machines in the Andromeda galaxy; the others having left in pursuit of more Prior technology and knowledge. It also announces that the First Machines have no hostile intent towards the humans, and reveals the Absences are due to the existence of the wormhole connecting the two galaxies to prevent violation of causality. The First Machine tells Campion that, due to anomalies in the wormhole, Purslane arrived seventeen thousand years before he did. Campion, now distraught, believes that his lover is lost to him forever.

However, in the final passages of the book, the First Machine tells Campion that Hesperus managed to steer the ship to the same planet as Campion, but the damage sustained by Silver Wings of Morning as it travelled through the wormhole was too great. In his final action Hesperus had sacrificed himself to save Purslane by using his body as a suit of armour for her. The First Machine reveals Hesperus’ body to Campion and states that, inside, is the body of a human, kept in a comatose state. Campion is overjoyed at Hesperus’ selfless act of sacrifice to save his lover. As the novel ends, Campion sobs with joy, realising that, when she is free of the suit made from Hesperus’ body, he will be reunited with his lover for the first time in over seventy seven thousand years.

References