Unconquerable Sun – Kate Elliott

The blurb refers to “Unconquerable Sun” as a space opera. A defining characteristic of ‘space opera’ (aside from fleets of space ships shooting at each other) is that one person, or a small group of people, can make a difference on a galactic scale. In this case the one person is Princess Sun, and the small group of people are her Companions (capital-C, it’s an official position, and Companions rate companions of their own). The fleets of space ships come from rival empires to either side of the Republic of Chaonia. (The Republic of Chaonia is an oligarchy, with a Queen-Marshall at its head.) The Republic is a military upstart that has broken away from both empires, and makes both of them nervous.

A great deal of politics ensue. In Chaonia, Sun is the target of attempts to discredit her. In Yele, factions that dislike the current treaty with Chaonia are working against it. Phene is ruled by a mysterious council - whose governing faction just lost its majority. And meanwhile, people keep trying to kill Sun.

It was fun to read, and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy. If the book has a weakness, the world-building is thin. There are a few modern-looking technologies (spaceships, stun guns, an internet), but they’re not integral to the story. A bit of editing to turn the book into a fantasy novel would have left it substantively unchanged.