Forgotten Suns

by Judith Tarr

Ebook, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Tarr

Tags

Fic, SF, !KS, _import150407, __make_cover, _Read2015

Genres

Collections

Read, ebooks, High rated read

Publication

Book View Cafe

Description

I am no one. I pass from dark into dark. I hunt a track gone cold as stone. For five thousand Earth years, the planet called Nevermore has been empty. Its cities are deserted, with every trace of their inhabitants erased. Only a handful of nomadic tribes remain, none of whom remember the ones who went before. An expedition from Earth has been excavating one of the planet's many ruins, and attempting without success to find the cause of its people's disappearance. Now the expedition is in trouble, its funding cut; unless it makes a major discovery, and soon, it will be shut down. Then the United Planets will invade Nevermore and strip it of its resources, and destroy its ancient and enigmatic treasures. Aisha, the daughter of the chief archaeologists, tries to save the expedition by opening a sealed tomb or treasury-and manages instead to destroy it. But one treasure survives, which may be the key to the planet's mystery. Khalida is a Military Intelligence officer with a quarter-million deaths on her conscience. She has retreated to the near-solitude of Nevermore to try to come to terms with what she has done, but her past will not let her go. The war she thought she had ended still rages, and is about to destroy one planet and spread chaos through a hundred more. Her superiors force her back into service, and dispatch her to a world that may also offer a clue to the mystery of Nevermore. With a mysterious stranger, the sentient starship he liberates from an unholy alliance of Military Intelligence and the Interstellar Institute for Psychic Research, and a crew of scientists, explorers, and renegades, Aisha and Khalida set off on a journey to the end of the universe and beyond. What they find will change not only the future of Nevermore, but that of all the United Planets.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Solnechnaja
It’s always interesting to see the author switching from familiar genre to something completely new. Judith Tarr in “Forgotten Suns” chose to write cosmic fiction instead of fantasy, but she couldn’t help including some distinctive features typical to her main works. From whatever side you
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 look, “Forgotten Suns” is a fantasy novel with space entourage.

The plot leads us to a far away future, when humanity’s finally found a way to colonize other planets. It was quick to find out a major riddle: some of the planets turned up to have the ruins of ancient civilizations, and representatives of the human race lived on several of them. The most distinctive and mysterious was Nevermore, a planet inhabited with pre-technological trybes. Previous residents had left Nevermore long ago, leaving just the frames of ancient buildings and untranslatable inscriptions. In fact, there were no pictures or sculptures or mosaics featuring people of this planet. As well as there were no burial places. The xenoarchaeologist family has been staying on Nevermore for 20 years, trying to solve this puzzle – where the inhabitants of the planet had escaped to and why. But the financial supplies are being cut down, so that the expedition is on verge of coming back to Earth. This makes Aisha, the main protagonist of the story, to undertake some desperate measures to protect Nevermore from the United Planets. Somehow she gets to wake a stranger, who can turn all the Universe upside down, while trying to find the trace of his own nation.

This is how the quest of Rama begins. In his travel through time and space he will be accompanied with Aisha and her aunt, Khalida, who has a hard time recovering from a tragic events of her past. The system of Tarr’s world also reminds us of epic fantasy stories with the lots of political parties wrangling among themselves or developing some treacherous plans. In fact, there are three main forces. The United Planets, which is presented by the Spaceforce with their ships and weapons. MI, or Military Intelligence, a detachment of modified people, capable of destroying the planets when necessary. And the most evil of them all, PsyCorps, wielding some kind of telepathy and almost ruling over other living beings. This parties relations are difficult to grab at first, and they leave us a lot of unanswered questions about aims and purposes of the political contractors.

The main disadvantage of “Forgotten Suns” is character development. While the plot is surprising and captivating, all the main heroes don’t change at all. The same does for supporting characters, although there are ambiguous ones, like Dr Ma or Zhao.

As for science fiction elements, they are mostly standard: virtual web, spacetravel by means of interdimensional jumps or soldiers with high-tech kits. But there are some really interesting ideas, for example, of living and conscious Ship feeding on stars.

In fact, “Forgotten Suns” is a truly interesting novel. The action is slowing down by lots of the riddles and detailes of the fictitious world. It’s not a science fiction novel. The plot, characters and intrigues are the ones typical to fantasy. But space surrounding makes them all feel refreshed and non-standard.
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LibraryThing member Faranae
Given the jacket blurb and the tags, I was super excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I can't speak to whether the plot or characters shake out. I endured the first 2 chapters before giving up. This book suffers greatly from the overuse of a thesaurus and clunky descriptions. If I read a that
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 the characters are "dangling around their home", I expect the characters to either live in trees or be penis-possessing persons going pantless. Descriptions are fairly inelegant and poorly timed - the horses appear several times before the reader finds out their coat colors (and even then, it's unclear, one is described as "leopard-spotted" but no actual colors are given). The nail in the coffin was one character explaining an acronym to another character, who ought to know it already. No justification for the Expository Dialogue was presented.
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LibraryThing member LaurelH
A royal sleeper who has missed six thousand years of humankind's corruption sets out to save his home planet after being awoken by an inadvertent explosion set off by a very technically aware budding archaeologist. She in turn wishes to save the planet from exploitation and her project (really her
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 parents' research) from collapsing. The characters are engaging and compelling, the time and space travel equally so. I loved the expert convolutions that solve logistical problems, the mind-to-mind communication and the live ship. I like these characters . They are realistic enough to be .capable of independent thinking. I hope they compel the author to carry on and write more. A great escape. You will love Aisha, be impatient with Aunt Khalida and annoyed with but hopeful for and impressed by Rama. A great escape!
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LibraryThing member Cfraser
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It was a great book to escape to another world in. Sometimes I found what was happening a bit confusing but overall it was easy to follow. The characters were diverse and easy to remember and though maybe a tad long, you didn't feel it.
LibraryThing member JanaRose1
I had a really hard time getting into this book. The characters seemed really juvenile and could not keep my interest. Overall, a bust.
LibraryThing member irapearson
Not a lot to say about this one. It wasn't bad. A bunch of solid sci-fi/fantasy tropes: psionic ability, stargates, the multiverse, subspace FTL travel, organic living starships, etc. I appreciate the attempt at diversity. Almost all of the main characters happen to be people of color, or at least
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 alien enough that it doesn't matter, and most of the secondary characters are as well, and it's not done in a way that feels political. There are even a few characters who happen to be lesbians, or at least not strictly heterosexual. But while the main characters are complex and interesting, I did not develop an emotional attachment to any of them or to the plot.
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LibraryThing member 06nwingert
After sleeping through 1,000 years, a human time travels to save humanity. While I liked the premise, I found the characters and plot hard to get into.
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Mostly worked quite well, but the underlying premise was quite confused and took a while to be full explored creating a lot of confusion until the history was finally revealed.

We follow a young girl daughter of a family of archaeologists exploring an abandoned planet, attempting to discover what
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 made it's inhabitants leave. They were not aliens, but human stock, diverged from the mainline sometime in the past as many planets have done. But despite only having bronze age technologies (weird in a space going culture) they left very suddenly leaving no traces or images of themselves, merely buildings and a few artefacts. Aisha opens the novel by blowing the roof off a cave (she only meant to crack it a little). Some days afterwards they discover a visitor unused to the world they're in, which gives them considerable surprise. For the planet is controlled access only, Aisha's parents have managed to obtain a cultural preservation order against such a world being exploited by the mega corporations that control human life. Even the fear psi-corps are not allowed to interfere. Aisha's aunt on relief from Military Intelligence can't find any more information about the stranger, but eventually the Aunt gets recalled to serve again and Aisha senses an opportunity to learn more about this mysterious man who's company is so alluring.

It is all too much too piled up upon another and never quite resolved. We have Aliens, psi, time travel, history, military solar politics, pirates, family, religion, preserved muslin cultures, mysterious strangers (yes more) etc etc all thrown in one after another. Each of those themes in it's own right could be a fulfilling and engaging novel, exploring various matters of contemporary society and 'what ifs', however all thrown into one melting pot nothing of consequence emerges and we just get a bit of a chase across the universes. Aisha just about works as a character. Nobody else gets a look in. While some of the dialogue was good there wasn't enough interplay between the characters an no chance of building any kind of rapport with them, and so I never really cared what happened to Aisha or the world.

Mostly interesting to see what the author was going to do next, very plot driven, lacking in world building and characterisation with a few continuity errors for good measure.
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LibraryThing member darceypaige
I read this in about ten sittings, yeah ten sittings in two days. I literally picked it up every spare minute I had. This book is AMAZING if you like timey wimey (Doctor Who saying) things.....
I really love fantasy and science fiction and this just hit all the right spots, all of them! It has
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 magic, I mean sun god kind of magic. A sleeper who has slept for thousands of years, THOUSANDS!! There is even a ship that is alive god damn really alive...
A girl (Aisha) who is downright crazy... A guy (Rama) who is downright crazy.... And an Aunt (Khalida) who is downright crazy.... I love it. All of it. Every character was something else. Brilliant. I got into the book from the start. The girl blows up a cave in Nevermore (I want to live here), something is let loose. WHAT! YES!! This something is Rama. I love Rama, he is wild. Together they travel through worlds and eventually dimensions trying to find where his people are. Do they succeed? Hell yeah, with a big bang here and there..... I actually want there to be another book, which surprised me. I've read a lot of trilogies but mainly it's because I can't stand a book not completely finished. But this beauty, Judith Tarr please, please, please write more :D!! You should almost certainly read this. what ever genre your into. It is certainly something to think about. I like SOMETHING to think about. I love every 'what if?' that is ever written. Go and find yourself a copy of this right away. That is an order from the Corps.... Not that you will know who they are until you read, so make sure you do ;)
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LibraryThing member dmclane
This is the first Judith Tarr novel I've read, and it lived up to its billing as a science fiction story although now that I've finished and have read some of the author's biographical information I can certainly see the fantasy side of her writing creeping through. I liked the novel and believe it
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 to be a strong effort in the science fiction genre. Doubtlessly, others reviewing it will reveal the plot in detail and harp or carp (as you prefer) about the plot details that were either too detailed or not enough; too unlikely scientifically or just impossible scientifically. Such is some of the fun in reading about science fiction novels but I try simply to enjoy (or not) the story, grasping a moral if one is presented, and moving on to real life having enjoyed the respite. This was fun, interesting, and served well to provide the amusement I wished. Thank you, Judith Tarr, her publisher and Librarything Early Reviewers Program for the opportunity.
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LibraryThing member carod
Fans of Judith Tarr’s fantasy works, especially the Avaryan books, will find the universe of this novel familiar. This one takes place in a future time with more science fiction elements. The planet Nevermore is a mystery. Ancient cities lie in ruins and the only inhabitants, a few nomadic
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 tribes, can shed no light on what happened to the vanished civilization. A family of archeologists live on and study the planet. Thirteen year old Aisha is desperate to find a treasure and keep the United Planets from taking over the planet and stripping it of it’s resources. In her attempt to open up a sealed treasury, she unleashes something far stranger which will lead her on an adventure across the universe.

I really enjoyed this novel. The author’s experience as a fantasy novelist is clear. Her world building is exceptionally detailed. I liked the combining of her earlier works involving mages and World Gates, with a more space opera future with descendants from Earth. Her characters had depth and flaws and grew and learned during the novel. The characters were diverse with many races and religions included. Rama was both childlike and full of ancient wisdom. Aisha was mature beyond her years and yet still a little girl. Most of the other characters were complex and interesting, although a couple of the villains were more two-dimensional. There was a lot of humour as well as action and suspense. There was no content which would be inappropriate for YA readers, and the youth of one of the major characters would probably appeal to younger readers. I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy as well as science fiction.
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LibraryThing member MathieuPerona
I read Forgotten Suns like someone who thouroughly enjoys a family recipe at a family dinner. Most of the ingredients are known: the teenage focus character, the family mentor, the age-old hero, the evil government agency as an opponent. Many tropes flows through the book: the contact between psi
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 and science, worldgates (hello Hyperion), the Thing from below, psi-gifted humans finally breeding their own counterpower (K. Dick's Ubik, Dune), event the sentient Ship has an air of déjà-vu. And yet, I found the book very enjoyable.

The narratives includes enough backstory to make thge universe credible, without taking any unecessary pain to show off own many different alien species ou starnge words the author can imagine. Of course, there is also the twist of having female characters as focus (and of muslim culture at that) and a large female cast in usually male roles (military, science team lead and so on).

In short, this book brings a fresh cast to a classic frame. And this is no mean feat.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Great story. I started it, and felt that I was reading a good YA - like an early Norton. Got to the climax of that story - and realized I was less than a quarter of the way through. There's a lot more to this one... Strange powers, odd viewpoints, deep emotions of every sort. Saving the universe -
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 or two of them, or a lot of them. In very different ways, from very different threats. It is, in a way, a YA book - the protagonist (ok, one of the protagonists - but most of the book is from her POV) is 12 (I think), and she misses a lot. She knows she doesn't like PsyCorps and why, but it's a real shock to her when some people feel the same way about the United Planets - and some others feel far more strongly than she does about PsyCorps. We the readers, seeing things from her viewpoint, have a bit of an outsider view for some of the harsher scenes (for which I am grateful). There could definitely be more to the story; there could also not be, and it would be complete. Or maybe some short stories set in this universe? That would be fun. I got this from the Kickstarter campaign that financed it. Glad I helped create this!
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LibraryThing member scmerritt
I received this book from the early reviewers list from Library Thing. This was a very good story. Kept me captivated and reading more at a sitting than I usually do. The story primarily centers around a teen Aisha, her grandmother Khalida and a man that Aisha accidentally wakes up from thousands
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 of years of stasis buried in an archeological dig site who they call Rama. The story includes Psionics, multiple worlds and universes, a mystery of a race of people who disappeared and apparently wiped most of the evidence of their existence from the area. There is an underlying battle for power between non-psionic people, psionics who control most of government and Military Intelligence fighting for control as well.
This story mixes together a lot of familiar SciFi themes in a way that makes for a very interesting story line and good character interaction. Overall a very enjoyable book.
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LibraryThing member scvlad
Space opera! Fun space opera! The universe is some point in the future where the United Planets exist with help from SpaceForce and PsiForce. Aisha lives on a strange world that's classified as a reservation - so no colonists. But the grant supporting her parents' research is tenuous and when Aisha
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 accidentally blows the top off of a mountain and lets out something that is going to change her life.

I enjoyed this. It's not perfect and I found it almost ridiculously wide-ranging and the plot a little all-over, but it's fun. The writer knows what she's doing and it's easy to read. Like space opera? Go read!
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LibraryThing member elsi
When I read “Aisha, the daughter of the chief archaeologists, tries to save the expedition” in the book description, I was hooked. I knew that I just had to read this book.

I really liked Forgotten Suns and read through it as quickly as I could. One thing that made the book so outstanding for me
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 was the attention paid to character development. With two point of view characters, both female, it could have devolved into a sameness, but instead the reader was given two well-differentiated characters.

First up, we meet Aisha, the almost thirteen year-old daughter of xenoarchaeologists exploring planet MEP 1403, otherwise known as Nevermore. Aisha was born on Nevermore and has only visited other planets for short periods. Although there are ruins indicating a highly advanced civilization, the planet is basically unpopulated except for a few nomadic tribes. And, after twenty years of exploration, the scientists still don't know what happened to the original occupants. Now, the research funding is at risk and developers are eager to gain control of the planet and open it for colonization. As if that weren't bad enough, Aisha must be examined by Psycorps immediately after her birthday. If she shows signs of psi talents, she'll be taken away by the Corps and she'd much rather study to be a xenoarchaeologist.

Next, we meet the second primary character, Khalida, aunt to Aisha and her brother Jamal. Khalida is an officer in Military Intelligence, come to Nevermore to continue her recovery from the trauma of putting down a rebellion on far-away Araceli. A mis-step resulted in the detonation of a nuclear device and the deaths of several million including all those on her team. Although Psycorp treated her and suppressed some of her memories, she refused further treatment and retreated to Nevermore.

The other main character around whom the action revolves is Rama, a man with either no past or a millenia-old past. Claiming to have been in stasis for thousands of years, he sets out to find what happened to the original inhabitants of Nevermore.

This was a thoroughly entertaining book. In addition to fully fleshed characters, the universe in which they live was magnificently developed. Judith Tarr has done a masterful job in weaving the stories of Rama, Aisha, Khalida, and others. Throughout, there was space travel, military forces, psi (or magic?), science, aliens, and more. I strongly recommend Forgotten Suns to all who love well-crafted science/space fiction.

Thanks to the publisher, Book View Cafe, and Library Thing Early Reviewers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member rjlouise
It's a rare thing indeed that you see one of your favorite authors promote the book you got through the LibraryThing Early Review program, but that is exactly what happened! John Scalzi hosted Judith Tarr in his "The Big Idea" blog series and, if anything, that made me all the more excited to read
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 this book.

I love the world Judith Tarr has built and the beautiful blend of cultures she presents. Blending is a bit of a theme across the story, as there is plenty of supernatural as well as science fiction, though ultimately, I would call this SF. Tarr starts with interesting, engaging characters and immediately blends them into interesting, engaging situations. This was excellently fun to read and I hope to read more of her work.

B+ (beautifully blended worlds, cultures, styles, and characters)
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LibraryThing member Cricket2014
I won this book on LibraryThing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This review is written for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers

It is a science fiction/fantasy space adventure with a hero and a young girl.

Some of the people on Nevermore are psi, and the Military Intelligence comes to take those children
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 who have psi. Aisha is one, and one day she tries to help her parents who are part of an archeological team, and blows open a hill. Out of that hill comes a man--she has awakened someone that has been sleeping for over 6000 years. She calls him Rama. With her help, and the help of her aunt, Khalida, Rama tracks down what's left of his people.

This book is full of adventure, of jumping between universes (if there are more than ours), and the struggle of Aisha to grow up and mature. It deals with love, friendships, and promises kept.

I would recommend this book to those interested in space travel and adventure.
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LibraryThing member Helsky
I’m sad to say that I did not like this book. It took me a long time to read it. I literally forced myself to read, because I received a free copy of the book to review. I found the story and characters flat and uninteresting. I couldn’t care less as to what happened to them and if they
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 achieved their goal.
Forgotten suns tells the story of a 13-year old Aisha, her aunt Khalida and Rama. Aisha and her family are on an excavation expedition in the deserted planet Nevermore. Aisha accidentally unearths Rama who has been ‘sleeping’ for five thousand years. All his people vanished during his sleep. Aisha and Rama embark on a quest to find Rama’s people.
There is psi, Military Intelligence and the United Planets. And interestingly enough Aisha and Khalida are of Muslim origin from the planet Earth. This could be a very exciting story if told differently.
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LibraryThing member daleala
Aisha, a girl on a remote planet accidentally releases a powerful entity called Rama from his cage where he has been sleeping for the past 6 milennia. Together, they steal a ship and roam the universe(s) in order to find where his people have disappeared to, fighting the authorities and becoming
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 pirates in their own right. Will she survive the trip with this dangerous and unknown entity? Will they find out his past and why he has been imprisoned for so long? Will she survive the trip between the two universes and the epic battle with an ancient enemy who swallows stars whole?

This story is very well written. It brings in themes that other books may shy away from, including a lesbian character, and the main character is a Muslim. Most mainstream books shy away from including these themes, but this book brings them in a way that is respectful and not in-your-face about it. The flow of the books is great, and it kept my attention during the whole saga. I especially enjoyed the epic battle scene, the writing was well thought out and effectively displayed the massiveness of the enemy they were fighting, along with the way they were battling it.

All in all, a very enjoyable read!
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LibraryThing member readinggeek451
Maybe I'm slow on the uptake, but I didn't realize until more than halfway through that this is a far-future sequel to the Avaryan Rising sequence.
LibraryThing member Loisthelion
I obtained a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers programme and really enjoyed it. Tarr created a detailed book of a different world which created wonderful imagery in my mind as I was reading it. I'm not usually a sci-fi sort of fan, but I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to
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 others.
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LibraryThing member ariatracker
Forgotten Suns, written by Judith Tarr, is a fast paced coming of age story about a young girl, Aisha, who accidentally frees a cosmic being, Rama. Rama, now awakened, is on a mission to find his people who are lost somewhere in the cosmos and Aisha decides to come along. Both are caught up in a
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 galactical war engineered by the Military Intelligence (MI) who test and enlist the various psychic people on different planets to fight their war. Aisha’s aunt, Khalida, work against MI to order protect millions of people. Although the story can become complex and political, Ms. Tarr does not leave her readers hanging. Recommended for those who like space and otherworldly adventures.
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LibraryThing member ariatracker
Forgotten Suns, written by Judith Tarr, is a fast paced coming of age story about a young girl, Aisha, who accidentally frees a cosmic being, Rama. Rama, now awakened, is on a mission to find his people who are lost somewhere in the cosmos and Aisha decides to come along. Both are caught up in a
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 galactical war engineered by the Military Intelligence (MI) who test and enlist the various psychic people on different planets to fight their war. Aisha’s aunt, Khalida, work against MI to order protect millions of people. Although the story can become complex and political, Ms. Tarr does not leave her readers hanging. Recommended for those who like space and otherworldly adventures.
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LibraryThing member Anome
Forgotten Suns is an adventure story, revolving about an enthusiastic adolescent girl, her battle-scarred aunt, and an ancient being of unclear motivation. The ideas are interesting, the narrative moves at a good pace, and it's generally a good read.

There is a quibble, over how the author handles
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 sexuality. It's not that the character in question is gay, or how it emerges in the narrative so much, but how it is described in terms of the family relationships. Given how far in the future the story is set, I find it troubling that the author felt she had to explain that the character's parents were embarrassed. Partly because I'd have thought most people would have moved on from that, and partly because it doesn't add anything to the narrative. It doesn't seem to help in the world building, and doesn't really impact on the character's other relationships which (particularly their romantic relationship) are actually central to the plot. There is already a separate metaphor in the book for the kind of isolation that gay people may feel in our society, that explicitly adding it to this imagined society was unnecessary.

I also think there's one post-coital scene that should have been handled slightly differently, which stops me from considering the book for younger readers. This might be just me, though. Again the offending passage doesn't add anything really to the scene, nor does it seem to be included for any prurient reasons. It really seems out of place, and the scene would still work without it.

The only other thing wrong with the book, and probably a more serious problem than my niggles about minor details around sex, is that there are possibly too many ideas going on. Either a few of the concepts she's working with need to be removed, or the frenetic pacing of the bulk of the book needs to be slowed down, to give the reader time to keep up with it all. Or possibly some of them should have been left for a later story.

Still, all in all, an enjoyable read. Where it might stretch credibility in places, the pacing allows you, and encourages you, to plow ahead.
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Original publication date

2015

ISBN

9781611384772

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Tarr

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Rating

½ (50 ratings; 3.6)

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