Sounding Dark

The Calpurnian Wars #1

by Jo Graham

Sounding Dark is a legend, a ghost ship missing two hundred years. Now it may be the only hope for the pirate republic of Eresh to stand against the mighty Calpurnian Navy. In the wake of a terrible defeat, Adelita Massacre, the Steel Captain, knows that their days are numbered without a miracle.

Bister is the only survivor of the defeat, a Tainted smuggler and fixer from the interdicted world of Inanna. Found alive, adrift in a spacesuit hours after its air supply should have run out, her survival is a literal miracle. Has the Lady of the Void herself chosen Bister to free her from imprisonment?

Now Adelita, Bister, Bister’s lover Griffin, and the mysterious Navigator must find Sounding Dark and her ancient weaponry if they hope to protect Eresh from the Calpurnian attack. But Sounding Dark will not give up her secrets easily….

Genres: Science Fiction

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2021

Reviews

[Joss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fight against tyranny with well-rounded, mature characters, strong world-building and an enthralling mythological aspect. Even better on the second read!

[K.V. Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as an ARC when it wasn't up on GR yet and forgot to check back ... Highly enjoyable, hope-filled space opera with some fascinating cultures and characters you'll want to cheer on through subsequent books.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly generic space opera that could easily have been written 40 years ago (except for the Navigator, and even then a few older books took that path.)

I like the idea of a space setting with gods.

I don't think there was any way Graham could have kept us in suspense about whether Bister will succeed. But the genre needs some of those. I'm curious about the name "Bister," though.

Graham can't be blamed for adopting the established SF convention that if you find a 1000-year-old station the door will go "oh, hi" and let you in, and everything inside will work. Likewise, a spaceship that's been missing for 200 years will somehow have downloaded all the OS updates and use all the same processes as modern ships. 200 years ago, 1824, we were just discovering the electromagnet and the electric motor, we saw the Antarctic ice sheet for the first time, and we discovered silicon.

But it's a comfortable read and I enjoyed it.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

60 years after the former prison colony of Eresh declared its independence, the Calpurnian Navy seeks to subjugate the pirate republic once more. Badly outgunned, the Eresh's hope lies in little more than legend: Missing for two centuries, the formidable ship Sounding Dark, bearing weapons capable of matching what Calpurnia has to offer, is said to still be out there in the void, a ghost shop waiting to be found. Finding it and appealing to the Lady of the Void for help may be the only way to preserve Eresh's independence.

Jo Graham's worldbuilding is topnotch as ever, expertly weaving the rich history and mythology of this universe into a gripping narrative that easily had me hooked. An author who never disappoints - 'scuse me while I go buy the sequel!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable space opera. A woman is rescued in space long after her life support should have ended. Could it be divine intervention? Could such intervention help her in the underdog fight against the Big Bad Calpurnian empire?

I'm a huge fan of Graham's Numinous World series and I'm very intrigued at where she is going to go next with this. The worldbuilding is solid and the characters are appealing. I'm really looking forward to the second book!

[B.]

This needed a better editor to be good. Dnf

[K.V. Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as an ARC when it wasn't up on GR yet and forgot to check back ... Highly enjoyable, hope-filled space opera with some fascinating cultures and characters you'll want to cheer on through subsequent books.

(Found that this review, brief as it is, was attached to a different edition entry that isn't cross-linked to this ...)

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo Graham always writes so beautifully about faith, whether it's the Greek gods, or the Egyptian ones, or the Queen of the Void thousands of years in the future with humanity scattered among the stars.