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Na Viro
Appearing before the head of the Academy for fighting at her graduation ceremony, puffer ship navigator Tia Grom-Eddy must either join the crew of a spaceship on a deep space mission or complete a lengthy probationary period on Earth. Mortally afraid of travelling into deep space, Tia chooses probation. Estranged from her parents, Tia is bereft when her sister, Leilani, joins the crew of a puffer fish spaceship sent to investigate a whirlpool in deep space. And when the cosmic whirlpool sucks Leilani’s shuttle into its grip, Tia must overcome her fear of space travel and find a way to work with her mother, who is leading the rescue, or risk losing her sister forever.
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2022
8 people are currently reading
284 people want to read
About the author
Gina Cole
5 books8 followersGina Cole is of Fijian, Scottish and Welsh descent. She is a freelance writer and lives in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her collection Black Ice Matter won the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book Fiction at the 2017 Ockham Book Awards. Her work has been widely anthologized and published in literary journals. She was the inaugural Pasifika curator at the Auckland Writers Festival in 2021. She is a qualified lawyer. She holds a PhD in creative writing from Massey University and is an Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa. Her second book Na Viro is a science fiction fantasy novel and a work of Pasifikafuturism.
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October 26, 2022This is an imaginative and ambitious book.
What I loved most was its worldbuilding, so rich and overbrimming. It takes place in a high-tech, Pacific-centered, post-apocalyptic future. It’s a future in which people are given prosthetic irises at birth to compensate for damage omnipresent radiation would do to their eyes, and in which the Pacific islands that are protagonist Tia’s ancestral homeland now lie 10 meters underwater. Even tiny wordbuilding details are delightful, like lakescreens, films of water that serve both as communications screens (for visuals across long distances, or to display data) and as doors, or like the main Earth spaceship type—the puffer fish.
The indigenous, oceangoing peoples of the Pacific are a big part of this future, and I love that. In an interview , Cole says she wanted to portray a future in which indigenous peoples exist and are thriving, and she definitely succeeds. At the start of the story, Tia is training to work for the Global Indigenous Alliance:
I say the book is ambitious because it tries to cover a lot. It wants to highlight Pasifika lifeways and outlooks, and does, both in how deep-space phenomena and travel are understood and also in some wonderful scenes on Earth, when Tia is sailing a drua, a traditional double-hulled sailing ship, with her uncles. I loved how traditional and modern were blended in the creation of the drua’s sails:
But there’s also the through-line plot: events take Tia away from the currents of the Pacific and into deep space on a mission to rescue her older sister, Leilani, who has been lost in a space whirlpool. Once Tia is out in space, she becomes aware of dangerous, bigger stakes.
And meanwhile there’s also a painful family story going on: Tia and Leilani’s mother Dani left them behind with their grandmother when they were small so she could pursue a career in the stars. Dani’s lack of involvement with Tia and Leilani is a source of pain and resentment for Tia, who firmly rebuffs her mother’s few, half-hearted attempts to reach out.
That’s not all: there’s also a love story involving an AI (referred to in this story as a ghostborg—great term—or an embod), which goes into a fair amount of depth regarding that AI’s history.
It’s a lot to weave together, and for me in some places it lurched a bit. That’s more or less forgivable, though, because the parts that you lurch to are so interesting. More bothersome for me was Tia’s relationship with Dani. We pretty much exclusively see Tia resenting and disliking Dani, so it was a bit hard for me when Tia would waver and seem to want validation from Dani or disbelieve negative information about Dani—especially seeing as Tia has never lacked for love and support from her grandmother and big sister. But maybe Cole is intending to show the power of the notion of “mother.”
Interestingly, when the ghostborg Turukawa is sharing the story of her creation with Tia, she recounts the tale of how the Fijian snake god Degei nurtured two eggs that his lover Turukawa (for whom the ghostborg is named), a great hawk, had abandoned. The hatchlings became the forebears of the Fijian people. Turukawa says
This seems like a fruitful and thought-provoking way to think about Tia and Leilani’s situation, and I would have loved to have seen that parallel expanded on somehow.
I want to end, though, by returning to the imaginativeness of the worldbuilding, landscapes, and characters. If you think of stories as places where you spend time, Na Viro is a great place to spend some time. I will definitely read more from Gina Cole.
What I loved most was its worldbuilding, so rich and overbrimming. It takes place in a high-tech, Pacific-centered, post-apocalyptic future. It’s a future in which people are given prosthetic irises at birth to compensate for damage omnipresent radiation would do to their eyes, and in which the Pacific islands that are protagonist Tia’s ancestral homeland now lie 10 meters underwater. Even tiny wordbuilding details are delightful, like lakescreens, films of water that serve both as communications screens (for visuals across long distances, or to display data) and as doors, or like the main Earth spaceship type—the puffer fish.
The indigenous, oceangoing peoples of the Pacific are a big part of this future, and I love that. In an interview , Cole says she wanted to portray a future in which indigenous peoples exist and are thriving, and she definitely succeeds. At the start of the story, Tia is training to work for the Global Indigenous Alliance:
She had a job to do, mapping Pacific Ocean currents for the gravity web – Kermadec Trench, Tonga Trench, Lau Basin. She had learnt to sail with the ocean rhythms, to steer the cross currents. She’d learned these skills from her grandmother, her bubu. She had trained all her life to map the ocean.
I say the book is ambitious because it tries to cover a lot. It wants to highlight Pasifika lifeways and outlooks, and does, both in how deep-space phenomena and travel are understood and also in some wonderful scenes on Earth, when Tia is sailing a drua, a traditional double-hulled sailing ship, with her uncles. I loved how traditional and modern were blended in the creation of the drua’s sails:
Dua hauled a rickety old 3D printer into the lounge and inputted a design for multiple large exo-patch squares. The printer spat out reams of plaited exo-patches resembling pandanus matting in colour and texture, but stronger and interwoven with multiple solar power conduits. Tia sat in the long grass next to the uncles and helped sew the patches together into a triangular sail with a large hook needle.
But there’s also the through-line plot: events take Tia away from the currents of the Pacific and into deep space on a mission to rescue her older sister, Leilani, who has been lost in a space whirlpool. Once Tia is out in space, she becomes aware of dangerous, bigger stakes.
And meanwhile there’s also a painful family story going on: Tia and Leilani’s mother Dani left them behind with their grandmother when they were small so she could pursue a career in the stars. Dani’s lack of involvement with Tia and Leilani is a source of pain and resentment for Tia, who firmly rebuffs her mother’s few, half-hearted attempts to reach out.
That’s not all: there’s also a love story involving an AI (referred to in this story as a ghostborg—great term—or an embod), which goes into a fair amount of depth regarding that AI’s history.
It’s a lot to weave together, and for me in some places it lurched a bit. That’s more or less forgivable, though, because the parts that you lurch to are so interesting. More bothersome for me was Tia’s relationship with Dani. We pretty much exclusively see Tia resenting and disliking Dani, so it was a bit hard for me when Tia would waver and seem to want validation from Dani or disbelieve negative information about Dani—especially seeing as Tia has never lacked for love and support from her grandmother and big sister. But maybe Cole is intending to show the power of the notion of “mother.”
Interestingly, when the ghostborg Turukawa is sharing the story of her creation with Tia, she recounts the tale of how the Fijian snake god Degei nurtured two eggs that his lover Turukawa (for whom the ghostborg is named), a great hawk, had abandoned. The hatchlings became the forebears of the Fijian people. Turukawa says
“[My creator] often pondered how people might have turned out if Degei hadn’t stolen Turukawa’s eggs. Would people have grown into different beings if their real mother Turukawa the hawk had raised them?”
This seems like a fruitful and thought-provoking way to think about Tia and Leilani’s situation, and I would have loved to have seen that parallel expanded on somehow.
I want to end, though, by returning to the imaginativeness of the worldbuilding, landscapes, and characters. If you think of stories as places where you spend time, Na Viro is a great place to spend some time. I will definitely read more from Gina Cole.
Want to read
August 5, 2022Just want people to know that you can order books from this publisher directly from their website. And they ship to the US!
August 20, 2022
This book is gorgeous, evocative, the sort of book that lets you get absorbed by the idea of space adventures and alienness all over again. It's one that's aware of the genre context in which it sits but is so far from another Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off - and I mean, I quite happily read ST with the serial numbers filed off, but this, I found myself appreciating every word of the prose. It's Pacific futurism in the sense that it's not just from a Pasifika perspective - though it is and it mean things as simple as spaceships were described in ways I'd never had before - but has such a sense of what the Pacific Islands and their people may become, good and bad, and where they may end up. Tia is thoughtful, relatable, flawed, and when push comes to shove knows which side she's on. It's a story of politics and morals but it's also, wow, the worldbuilding and the spaceships.
There were also [mild spoilers] and the trope I cracked up.
Were there a couple of things at the end I'd rather not have happened? Yeah, and one was a little too close to a trope I'm not wild on, though it strayed away from actually being that. But they were thoughtfully executed enough I'm not going to deduct points. My only real disappointment is that Na Viro isn't going to get the lack of attention it deserves internationally, but it won't be for want of me yelling at everyone about it.
There were also [mild spoilers] and the trope I cracked up.
Were there a couple of things at the end I'd rather not have happened? Yeah, and one was a little too close to a trope I'm not wild on, though it strayed away from actually being that. But they were thoughtfully executed enough I'm not going to deduct points. My only real disappointment is that Na Viro isn't going to get the lack of attention it deserves internationally, but it won't be for want of me yelling at everyone about it.
May 9, 2024
dnf. this book needs an editor before i will finish reading it.
December 16, 2023
3.5 rounded up because I don't want to take points away for ambition. This is such an ambitious book, and where it succeeds it is glimmering and hopeful.
The use of māori, Fijian, Tongan, and other Pacific motifs, language, and ideas was one hundred percent the strongest element in this book. How gorgeous to read an optimistic futuristic novel set post "water wars" which shows indigenous communities and ideas thriving. I wanted to spend more time on Earth seeing how we were recovering from the water wars using indigenous practices to create new life.
The sci fi plot was intriguing but ultimately felt a little "and then this happened, and then this happened." There was a LOT of tell not show which made it hard to be invested because I was never given the opportunity to wonder or start to guess, it would just happen.
Also, there was A LOT of info dumping CONTINUOUSLY which made it hard to feel like I actually had a hold on what was happening and could place myself in the world and begin to see what was possible with all the new information.
Too many elements packed together and told through a YA lens made this ultimately a bit muddled. But it was exciting when it was good, and it wasn't bad when it was weak, just not as compelling.
I look forward to more books like this - pasifika futurism is cool.
The use of māori, Fijian, Tongan, and other Pacific motifs, language, and ideas was one hundred percent the strongest element in this book. How gorgeous to read an optimistic futuristic novel set post "water wars" which shows indigenous communities and ideas thriving. I wanted to spend more time on Earth seeing how we were recovering from the water wars using indigenous practices to create new life.
The sci fi plot was intriguing but ultimately felt a little "and then this happened, and then this happened." There was a LOT of tell not show which made it hard to be invested because I was never given the opportunity to wonder or start to guess, it would just happen.
Also, there was A LOT of info dumping CONTINUOUSLY which made it hard to feel like I actually had a hold on what was happening and could place myself in the world and begin to see what was possible with all the new information.
Too many elements packed together and told through a YA lens made this ultimately a bit muddled. But it was exciting when it was good, and it wasn't bad when it was weak, just not as compelling.
I look forward to more books like this - pasifika futurism is cool.
May 9, 2024
Feel like the university finally understood my specific interests
January 15, 2025
Loved this book. It flowed, had relatable and admirable female leads. Loved the integration of te reo māori and Fijian culture. Recommend this
September 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. One of the reasons I enjoy reading science fiction is to have my brain opened to new ideas and taken in new directions. Na Viro definitely ticked that box as well as being an exciting story.
The idea of indigenous space travel, and some of the consequences, was a novel concept for me and was really intriguing. Set a few hundred years in the future, it's also got a backdrop of technological and societal changes that weave an intriguing web of possibilities to consider.
My biggest complaint about the book is the clash with physics, that travelling in a vacuum (space) is quite different from travelling in a fluid (sailing an ocean or flying in atmosphere). This was particularly in my mind after nine "Expanse" books, where this is a key part of the plot - you need fuel to accelerate, you need fuel to decelerate (and stop!), and you can't ac/decelerate too fast or humans will get squished. It was jarring when space ships stopped when they ran out of fuel, or otherwise travelled like something on Earth, but it also belies one of the key pillars of the plot and world building that being an excellent navigator sailing the Pacific Ocean translates easily to being an excellent space navigator. Some people won't be able to get past this, but I managed to fold it into my suspension of disbelief.
I was also a little disappointed that it ended a little quickly. I know it's not a short book anyway, but the last major plot development (no spoilers!) felt it could have been fleshed out more.
I'll refrain from going into details of the things I loved, as that would require lots of spoilers. So I'll just repeat that I really enjoyed it and highly recommend!
The idea of indigenous space travel, and some of the consequences, was a novel concept for me and was really intriguing. Set a few hundred years in the future, it's also got a backdrop of technological and societal changes that weave an intriguing web of possibilities to consider.
My biggest complaint about the book is the clash with physics, that travelling in a vacuum (space) is quite different from travelling in a fluid (sailing an ocean or flying in atmosphere). This was particularly in my mind after nine "Expanse" books, where this is a key part of the plot - you need fuel to accelerate, you need fuel to decelerate (and stop!), and you can't ac/decelerate too fast or humans will get squished. It was jarring when space ships stopped when they ran out of fuel, or otherwise travelled like something on Earth, but it also belies one of the key pillars of the plot and world building that being an excellent navigator sailing the Pacific Ocean translates easily to being an excellent space navigator. Some people won't be able to get past this, but I managed to fold it into my suspension of disbelief.
I was also a little disappointed that it ended a little quickly. I know it's not a short book anyway, but the last major plot development (no spoilers!) felt it could have been fleshed out more.
I'll refrain from going into details of the things I loved, as that would require lots of spoilers. So I'll just repeat that I really enjoyed it and highly recommend!
January 23, 2023
Science fiction's role is to take a new viewpoint or offer the reader a different understanding of their current world. Tia is living in a post-apocalyptic future. Gina Cole argued in her building worlds workshop that all Polynesians live in a post-apocalyptic world because of the devastating effects of European colonialism since the 19th landrace claimed the land for the European powers.
This book explores a number of interesting themes; what happens when the colonised become the colonisers, navigating a universe that is full of life, not seeing space as big empty voids with stars in them, AI romance and the ever-tired trope of a distant mother choosing her career over child-rearing morphing into an evil mother.
Tia is terrified of deep space. Due to her temper letting her down, during her graduation, she has to complete a deep space mission to graduate from the academy and become employed. She would refuse; however, her sister is lost in a whirlpool/wormhole, and she chooses to become part of the rescue party.
This story is about Tia's journey. She is a daughter of the pacific, being bought up by her grandmother in a city anchored to the land which was once Namu. Sea levels have risen, and we live in a world devastated by water wars. Tia and her sister Lelani were deposited at her grandmother's when they were young. Their mother left for a career in the stars as a pilot for the academy. Tia has a burning resentment and a view of her mother in her head. All the way through the book, we experience how she handles her feelings for and about her mother.
The book is full of fabulous concepts. Pufferfish spaceships, iris circuitry to deal with radiation as a result of the water wars, a hive mind AI who creates the first sentient version of itself.
The book also takes you into the world do Polynesia, the amazing art of wayfaring, and how Polynesians navigated the pacific without compasses.
Cole, with the generous help of grants, was able to visit Alson Kelen at Bikini Atoll, one of the last of the keepers of the ancient art of pacific wayfaring. This knowledge is woven into the book and makes for an interesting read. Tia is an expert navigator because she is taught by her grandmother Bubu. This skill helps her when she travels to new worlds in the stars.
If you have never had the opportunity to be a part of the culture of Pacific peoples, this is a GREAT introduction. When I read Whitihermeras Whale Rider, he had a glossary at the back for Maori words. I want a glossary for all the different pacific island words used and which culture they have come from.
In the book, Tia makes first contact with aliens called Thraeans. Earth wants a resource the Thraeans have and behaves the same way as the European's colonisation of most parts of the globe. The Thraeans consider the whirlpool sacred and human behaviour despicable. Tia helps change that but pays a terrible price in the process.
It also is a pacific positive story about a possible better future. Coles aliens align with current environmental views surfacing at the moment, and we have a view of Earth's future which would be good to avoid.
This book is a good introduction for young and new readers to science fiction and a pacific positive read. It is full of action and angst, so it would be a great novel for young adult teen readers. It is new and interesting. I prefer the term speculative rather than science fiction, as it will open the book up to readers who don't like space opera but love well-written books. A definite must read for 2023.
This book explores a number of interesting themes; what happens when the colonised become the colonisers, navigating a universe that is full of life, not seeing space as big empty voids with stars in them, AI romance and the ever-tired trope of a distant mother choosing her career over child-rearing morphing into an evil mother.
Tia is terrified of deep space. Due to her temper letting her down, during her graduation, she has to complete a deep space mission to graduate from the academy and become employed. She would refuse; however, her sister is lost in a whirlpool/wormhole, and she chooses to become part of the rescue party.
This story is about Tia's journey. She is a daughter of the pacific, being bought up by her grandmother in a city anchored to the land which was once Namu. Sea levels have risen, and we live in a world devastated by water wars. Tia and her sister Lelani were deposited at her grandmother's when they were young. Their mother left for a career in the stars as a pilot for the academy. Tia has a burning resentment and a view of her mother in her head. All the way through the book, we experience how she handles her feelings for and about her mother.
The book is full of fabulous concepts. Pufferfish spaceships, iris circuitry to deal with radiation as a result of the water wars, a hive mind AI who creates the first sentient version of itself.
The book also takes you into the world do Polynesia, the amazing art of wayfaring, and how Polynesians navigated the pacific without compasses.
Cole, with the generous help of grants, was able to visit Alson Kelen at Bikini Atoll, one of the last of the keepers of the ancient art of pacific wayfaring. This knowledge is woven into the book and makes for an interesting read. Tia is an expert navigator because she is taught by her grandmother Bubu. This skill helps her when she travels to new worlds in the stars.
If you have never had the opportunity to be a part of the culture of Pacific peoples, this is a GREAT introduction. When I read Whitihermeras Whale Rider, he had a glossary at the back for Maori words. I want a glossary for all the different pacific island words used and which culture they have come from.
In the book, Tia makes first contact with aliens called Thraeans. Earth wants a resource the Thraeans have and behaves the same way as the European's colonisation of most parts of the globe. The Thraeans consider the whirlpool sacred and human behaviour despicable. Tia helps change that but pays a terrible price in the process.
It also is a pacific positive story about a possible better future. Coles aliens align with current environmental views surfacing at the moment, and we have a view of Earth's future which would be good to avoid.
This book is a good introduction for young and new readers to science fiction and a pacific positive read. It is full of action and angst, so it would be a great novel for young adult teen readers. It is new and interesting. I prefer the term speculative rather than science fiction, as it will open the book up to readers who don't like space opera but love well-written books. A definite must read for 2023.
August 8, 2025
Every year, I choose one sci-fi book to read. I came across Na Viro as I was researching books for my Read the World in Translation challenge and I was super psyched to learn about Pasifikafuturism, where customary knowledge and indigenous culture is woven in a sci-fi story. Gina Cole appears to be one of the creators of this subgenre.
Unfortunately, I did not like this book. It suffered too much from the normal YA difficulties. Why were teenagers so important to these missions? Most of the adults (not grandmothers but the other adults) were the villains. It is clear that none of the younger members of the mission had a lot of emotional maturity. Tia was very angsty, and I couldn't tell what she was actually skilled at so it was unclear to me why she was even on the ship.
It was honestly hard to follow the action in the book, hard to imagine the interactions between the characters, and the technology just seemed like a hodgepodge. I am guessing that Turukawa has some cultural/folkloric/mythological reference (still can't figure it out,) and I still don't know what a ghostborg is. The development of the science in this book felt underdeveloped and secondary to the angsty teenager saves another world from colonization plot. This book desperately needs world-building.
I am clearly not the intended audience for this book. I hope someday that there is a pasifikafuturistic novel aimed at adults.
Unfortunately, I did not like this book. It suffered too much from the normal YA difficulties. Why were teenagers so important to these missions? Most of the adults (not grandmothers but the other adults) were the villains. It is clear that none of the younger members of the mission had a lot of emotional maturity. Tia was very angsty, and I couldn't tell what she was actually skilled at so it was unclear to me why she was even on the ship.
It was honestly hard to follow the action in the book, hard to imagine the interactions between the characters, and the technology just seemed like a hodgepodge. I am guessing that Turukawa has some cultural/folkloric/mythological reference (still can't figure it out,) and I still don't know what a ghostborg is. The development of the science in this book felt underdeveloped and secondary to the angsty teenager saves another world from colonization plot. This book desperately needs world-building.
I am clearly not the intended audience for this book. I hope someday that there is a pasifikafuturistic novel aimed at adults.
November 21, 2023
Have finally got around to catching up on my reviews here! I first heard about this book back in 2020, when Gina Cole was talking about her current WIP at a convention. She described it as "Fijian women in space" and I made a note of it because that sounded awesome. And it is! If you've heard of Africanfuturism (coined by Nnedi Okorafor, who writes fantastic books that you should also read) this is Pasifikafuturism, and I want to read more of it.
In a future where Pacific Islands have been deeply affected by climate change, Tia has just finished up at the Academy, and has eschewed a career in deep space in favour of joining the Global Indigenous Alliance to map ocean currents. I'm particularly interested in science fiction stories where people choose to stay on Earth, so I was highly sympathetic to Tia... especially when her sister, Leilani, is lost in space and Tia has to go rescue her. That's a very bare-bones description - I don't want to spoil anything - but the currents of colonialism, ethics (or the lack thereof) in exploration and academia, and family conflict permeate the narrative. It's really, really good... and apparently there are follow-up volumes to come. I can't wait!
In a future where Pacific Islands have been deeply affected by climate change, Tia has just finished up at the Academy, and has eschewed a career in deep space in favour of joining the Global Indigenous Alliance to map ocean currents. I'm particularly interested in science fiction stories where people choose to stay on Earth, so I was highly sympathetic to Tia... especially when her sister, Leilani, is lost in space and Tia has to go rescue her. That's a very bare-bones description - I don't want to spoil anything - but the currents of colonialism, ethics (or the lack thereof) in exploration and academia, and family conflict permeate the narrative. It's really, really good... and apparently there are follow-up volumes to come. I can't wait!
May 21, 2024
There were parts of this book I really really loved. However, the plot doesn't really start until over 30% of the way into the book, which I was not expecting. A lot of the emotional aspects of Tia felt a little underdeveloped. She has a fear of deep space but I never really felt I understood why. And some of the emotional beats throughout the story fell a little flat for me.
Although I don't have a ton of experience in the Sci-fi genre this felt a little hard to follow at times and I was definitely having some trouble keeping up. But maybe if you're more used to reading books like this it won't be an issue for you.
Overall the world was super interesting and I'm curious to look into Gina Cole's other works.
Although I don't have a ton of experience in the Sci-fi genre this felt a little hard to follow at times and I was definitely having some trouble keeping up. But maybe if you're more used to reading books like this it won't be an issue for you.
Overall the world was super interesting and I'm curious to look into Gina Cole's other works.
January 14, 2023
I enjoyed this sci fi story set in a distant future. It was interesting to have a character who used a 'they' pronoun and i got over half way through the book before I stopped pausing each time to think "singular, not plural". I liked the liberal use of Maori and Pacific island language and hope that these languages will persist in our future too.
did-not-finish
March 8, 2024I’ve decided to DNF this book at pg 36, or 9%. I was really fascinated by the premise, especially because I’m wanting to read more sci fi this year. But I just didn’t care to pick this book up & I don’t think it’s for me at this time.
May 5, 2024
I adored the worldbuilding, how thoughtfully she built it around Pacific whakapapa, and I love that today's indigenous kids grow up with their own speculative futures to inhabit. This feels like the starter for a genre that will be revolutionary.
May 16, 2023
Awesome to see familiar Pacifica language and locations woven into a great scifi story! I enjoyed the characters and plot twists and look forward to reading more from this world.
July 12, 2023
3.5/5, rounded up for the wonderful use of Māori and Pacifica cultures and languages.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews