2023-06-03 05:58:00
A great saga by Derek Künsken, the science fiction novel “The Depths of Venus” recounts the colonization of this very inhospitable planet in the solar system by very resourceful Quebec settlers.
Better to hold your breath when you immerse yourself in this novel by Canadian Derek Künsken. The trip proposed in the atmosphere of Venus is exotic and very dangerous. While it is impossible to live on the surface of this scorching planet, there is a small area in the atmosphere conducive to the development of self-sustaining habitats. But be careful not to fall too low, in the middle of storms and sulfuric acid rains.
Abandoned by the great land powers for its lack of mining resources, Venus was nevertheless colonized by a small community of Quebecers. Rough craftsmen, kings of resourcefulness, able to survive despite omnipresent danger and the absence of their own resources. Above the poisonous clouds are the great settlements of the Colony, complete with government and authoritarian president. Even if its power is only virtual, the real masters are the bankers who lent the currencies to build the huge airships that allow the few thousand Venusians to envisage a radiant future.
The Sling of the Windrunners
But there are also the Coureurs des vents, sort of descendants of the Coureurs des bois, poachers and smugglers from the time of the discovery of Canada. Families who live lower down, in extreme conditions. In the midst of acid rain, they owe their survival only to ultra-resistant suits and also to their ability to domesticate trawlers, kinds of large floating plants that feed on the electricity of storms. Settlers can capture and then rearrange these organisms to live indoors under cover.
The novel tells how Weatherlight’s family survives in this hell. There is the father, proud and stubborn, the son, Pascal, an engineer and very intelligent, Jean-Eudes, the eldest, with Down’s syndrome, and Alexis, the grandson still a kid. Alexis lost his parents. Also dead is the mother, wife of the father, victim of the intransigence of Venus.
Two other children left the depths of the atmosphere of Venus, Émile, in violent disagreement with his father and Marthe, the most intelligent, responsible for representing the family in the Parliament of the colony.
Between veneration and hatred of Venus
Once we have understood how to survive in this environment, the author deploys his main plot: the Aquilons discover on the surface of Venus a real treasure that might change the face of Humanity. The novel takes on the air of space-opera but also of political trap because the Colony and especially the banks risk monopolizing the treasure. A classic duel between the small, honest and united once morest the big, manipulators, liars and litigants, this part of the novel remains just as exciting as the dives into the clouds of acid.
There remains the relationship between the colonists and Venus. A passion that sometimes turns into hatred or madness, to the point of making very dangerous experiences: “ Venus touched them with her coldest, ghostly fingers. He mightn’t take a breath, not a real one, but he might taste Venus, close his lips to the panting atmosphere she offered. Its arid clouds tasted of bitter sulfur, biting salt and stale sterility, drier than anything it had touched. »
First part of a diptych, The depths of Venus, beyond the space component and colonization of the solar system, is also the portrait of a strong family, with endearing individuals. Marthe seduces thanks to her diplomacy, her vision of the future and her sense of sacrifice. And then there is Pascal, a 16-year-old teenager, discovering love while asking himself existential questions regarding his appearance, his gender. A modernity of good quality in this near future where survival does not prevent us from questioning our deep aspirations.
“The depths of Venus” by Derek Künsken, Albin Michel, €24.90
1685777891
#Science #fiction #Acid #rain #depths #Venus
