Customer Reviews

The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am a softy for grand space opera. Of course, I'll read most forms of science fiction but I love the kind of science fictions that spans galaxies and feature strange alien races and grand space battles. Kevin J. Anderson's seven-book epic, science fiction series, The Saga of the Seven Suns, fits all those criteria. I have been enthralled by this series since the first book, Hidden Empire, was published in 2002. I have to give credit to Anderson for creating an interesting universe with intriguing concepts and mostly original alien races. No, the series wasn't always perfect, but it's fun and exciting, and best of all they are the kind of books you can't put down until you've read the last word.

The book arrived on my doorstep Friday and I finished it by Saturday night. I have to give Anderson credit for creating one hell of a good story in Ashes. Of course, like any good final volume, Anderson ties up all the loose ends, but he puts our heroes through a lot along the way, but in the end we get the satisfaction we've been waiting for throughout seven books. If you're not reading The Saga of the Seven Suns you're missing one hell of a great science fiction series and one hell of a rollicking good time.

The four-star rating applies to books up through 5--books 6 and 7 only merit a 3-star rating. If the story would have been tightened up to fit into 5 books, this could have been a really great series instead of just a good series. The plot is complex with many characters, which is fine, especially because the author breaks out each character's story arc into short chapters so it's very clear when the reader switches character viewpoints. The scope of the plot is also interesting with several races and many sub-plots. However, the series is just too long. By the middle of book 6, when the author introduces yet another major sub-plot involving something that seemed to be relegated to the past (won't be more specific to avoid any spoliers). Because of the length of the series, it gets a bit repetitive by the end, especially given that the conflicts are resolved too easily in the same pattern, especially since forces outside of the main characters are the primary means to resolution. Still, if you like long series, this one is worth reading even though it runs out of gas before the books run out of pages.

I really enjoyed the series but it began to lose me after book 5, and it should have ended there. I forced myself to finish the series because that's my nature. I actually groaned at the end of book 5 when the Hydrogues were defeated and suddenly here come the Faeros. I should have seen it coming.

I also found myself becoming annoyed by the continuation of the tom-foolery, especially the Klikiss and Basil Wenceslas. I found myself saying - do us a favor and die already! I couldn't finish this one fast enough just to be done w/ it.

Anyway, I felt the last two books were mostly a waste of trees. (not Verdani though thank goodness)

I would like to offer an overall review of all seven books combined. Even though each book has its own sub-plots, one has to read all seven to stitch every piece together. Unless you plan to read all of them (a major time commitment) I suggest that you go find yourself something shorter to read. This is an epic saga.

I find the books and the story hard to classify. It is science fiction, but what kind? The story starts as if it is going to be hard science fiction. (That's why I probably consider the first book to be the best.) But then it degenerates into several parallel threads, many of which are pure fantasies. By the end of the seventh book, I felt that 90% of the threads and plot were more appropriately described as fantasy than science fiction.

Even if you prefer fantasy over hard science fiction, you will still be disappointed by the repeated "deus ex machina" saving the day. I count seven such cases, three of them occurring in the last volume. Anderson is very good in weaving a complex story to its crescendo and creating a very tense (nearly hopeless) situation for the heroes. Then he cannot get them out of there in any plausible way, and he resorts to dues ex machina time after time. Because of that, you will feel disappointed (perhaps even cheated) once you finish the story, even if you will find it entertaining most of the way.

The characters are one-dimensional. There are good sub-plots of love, hatred, betrayal, revenge... The evil is really evil, and the good-guys could do no wrong. If you don't mind that, you may enjoy the saga.

I am writing this review after reading all seven books in a row. I waited until all 7 books were available in paperback till I read it so I would not have continuity issues. The main "elemental" antagonists were poorly described on a sadly consistent basis. These "ancient" battlers , Hydrogues, Faeros, Wentals, Verdani really had very little motivation for any of the actions. They exhibited mutual hatred or fear and not much else. The Wentals desire for order had little foundation. The dialogue for most of the 7 novels was trite at best. I felt some empathy for some of the characters, but overall it just felt poor, and badly connected. The human "bad guys", were just bad, with little balance. I will give the author some credit for undertaking a saga of this scope, but the societies were contrived and flimsy in their description, it was sad. I wanted to read this saga after suffering through his Dune pre-quels and sequels. In those books the author butchered the science and never created the atmosphere of wonder. In this saga, all of Anderson's own, he failed to go deep in so many areas, yet he had 600+ pages per book. I could not believe how poor the dialogue was throughout. The final pages of the last book, where King Peter is addressing his compatriots who just went through years of horror and grief was so poor, so trite, I was appalled.
This fails the test of great space opera, it was a big disaster movie put to print.
some specifics:


The explanation for known science is sadly idiotic. I understand that describing science is often a problem for speculative scifi, as it puts speculative science and engineering at risk during the story, so I will not criticize that. A few of many horrible mis-statements
From of Fire and Night
1- Admiral Stromo asking about emergency signals from Qronha. The Response from communication officer "We're still very far away sir, the transmitters on the pods are not very powerful". Power has to do with the strength of the signal, more power cannot overcome limitations of the speed of light.
2- A scene with Jora'h and the hydrouge emissary
" The emissary's voice manifested as a throbbing hum as if it were manipulating air molecules to transmit sound waves rather than using a simple speaker system." are you kidding me.
3- on Forrey's Folly- explanation for the lack of planets. "while coalescing, the sun had lost its grip on most of the material in the primordial cloud and hadn't had enough mass left over to create any planets worth counting. .... But the metal asteroid Forell's Folly was there for the taking." This explanation was poor

Emotions- you get to feel for some characters pain due to loss, and it was effective. There are other examples where this fell short
* DD the companion computer - Consistently wrong characterizations of emotions expressed throughout. There were supposed to be clear limitations to what it could feel, by its own admission, but complex emotions kept coming out including fear.
* All elementals- no attempt to describe the emotional wars inside all of them, potential conflict among their society. Some attempt with the Wentals. No attempt to use their POV. This is a total abdication for a work of this length and scope. They are four caricatures of fantasy creatures with great powers. Another way to consider them is (boogeymen [drogues], fairies[ wentals] , imps [faeros], and damsels in distress [verdani], It makes them cheap

Descriptions
* Ildirans- there are so many kiths, but descriptions were poor, the contrast between humans and Ildirians was also poor, and this is significant as there was cross breeding.
* The physical description detail was wildly inconsistent in terms of beings and landscapes
* A poor job of describing hydrougue cities, etc. Through the eyes of DD, Osira'h, Brindle, etc.
* Great opportunity missed- on so many levels, compare this to Iain Banks, China Mieville, Peter Hamilton

Dialogue
* down right poor overall, terse, never an extended conversation about views of any kind. Most concepts are delivered in expository form, which provides little excuse for ignoring the viewpoints of the elementals.
* The chapters are arranged in tiny components which really does not lend itself to getting into vital scenes.

I've really enjoyed reading this series. Anderson did a great job world-building, and his alien races are interesting.

This final book I only give four stars because it seemed a little rushed and haphazard. His attention to detail wasn't always there - characters handled some situations in ways that were almost against their personality, because it was seemingly necessary in order to tie up the loose ends and close out the books.

But again, this is really a minor flaw in a truly great set of seven books.

Ashes of Worlds (2008) is the seventh SF novel in the Saga of Seven Suns series, following Metal Swarm. In the previous novel, the hydrogues were defeated in a great battle in the Sol System and then bottled up in their gas giant planets. The EDF and Idiran navies were greatly depleted in the final battle.

King Peter and Queen Estarra escaped from Earth during the battle and fled to Theroc. There they declared a new unified government for humanity: the Confederation. With the Therons, the Roamer clans and orphaned Hansa colonies joining the Confederation, the Terran Hanseatic League became even more isolated.

Rusa'h -- the Faeros Incarnate -- attacked certain green priests through their telink/thism pathways and converted them to carriers of the faeros. The flaming green priest set the world forests on fire. Soon, the verdani treeships were under attack.

Chairman Basil Wenceslas had Admiral Deinte intercept Mage-Imperator Jora'h in midspace and escort his ships to Luna. Jora'h and his retinue were placed in suites within the moonbase. Basil visited Jora'h on the moon and declared him to be a "guest" of the Hansa.

In this novel, Admiral Sheila Willis takes her ships to Theroc to turn them over to the Confederation. Approaching the planet, she notices pandemonium among the ships in orbit. Apparently the planet is under attack, but by whom?

Admiral Willis soon sets up relays of her smaller ships to dump water on the flames. The faeros fight back and the water dumps are performed from higher attitudes. The treeships pull up the fully engulfed trees and dump them into a black hole. Finally, the fires die out, but large expanses of land have been reduced to ashes.

General Laymon raids the Roamer skymines at Golgen. They are totally unprepared and the EDF captures enough ekti to keep their ships operating for months. They also plant pingers on the escaping cargo escorts.

Chairman Wenceslas has been withdrawing within himself, blaming other people for his troubles. If they would only do exactly what he tells them to do, everything would be just fine. When they fail him, Basil arranges various degrees of punishment.

The Mage-Imperator is growing more desperate as the faeros kill his people. He tries talking to the Hansa Chairman, but Basil has some conditions. Jora'h must repudiate King Peter and the Confederacy or the EDF will not allow him to return to Ildira.

In this story, Chairman Wenceslas is approached by Sirix's compies offering to trade repaired EDF ships for newly constructed Klikiss robots. Basil makes a deal with Sirix, but asks for certain other repairs. Naturally, both parties expect to betray the other.

The Chairman is having problems with the Archfather of Unison. The supreme pontiff of the Hansa state religion has been growing more reluctant to give speeches approving of the Klikiss robots. When he complains to the Chairman, Basil allows him to prepare a speech of his own devising. Then the Archfather is blown apart by a bolt of energy out of the sky in full view of the video audience.

General Laymon is also having problems. When he raids the Osquivel shipyards, the Roamer ships give his ships a warm reception. Then Admiral Willis brings her ships out against his and Laymon flees back to Earth.

The Klikiss are swarming and warring against each other. They are also retaking their former planets and killing off many human colonists. The swarm on Llaro, however, is infused with the personality of Devlan, who tries to protect the humans.

The Roamers are changing their strategy toward the Hansa. They are beginning to develop warships of their own and using them against EDF raiders. They are also developing weapons to use against the faeros and the Klikiss.

This tale is the final volume in the series. It is just as crowded with characters, places and events as the previous six books. Even more characters are terminated in this novel. The conclusion is rather pat, but fits into the ambiance of this series.

Recommended for Anderson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of epic space opera, alien societies, and human folly.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Wow! The Saga of the Seven Suns conclusion is everything I hoped it would be - Climatic battles, emotional struggles, sacrifices, betrayal, and victory. Anderson has woven a brilliant space odyssey that never loses it punch and excitement over the seven volumes of the epic story.

No matter what type of science fiction fan you are you will enjoy this series. While you can read any one of these books and be satisfied, the saga has to be read completely to fully enjoy the depth of this sweeping tale. As you read each installment you will grow to love some characters, hate others and be shocked and surprised.
What I was most pleased with in Ashes of Worlds was the deftness which Anderson wraps up the many strings of this story. There is a definite climax at the end on many levels and the denouement is well done without being contrived. I was very satisfied with the ending and put the book down not wanting more, which for the conclusion of a seven book series is a good thing. Kevin deserves a lot of credit for not letting the quality slip during the series. Many times a long series lags and it is obvious the author ran out of story. That is definitely not the case with TSOTSS.

If you haven't read any of this series I urge to go buy all seven books and start with the first volume Hidden Empire. Once you finish that book you will be glad you have the next six on hand!

Ordered book thru amazon/xandu - received book but it turns that i already read it & have to return - all went smoothly and in timely fashion

Anderson developed a universe and several storylines that kept my interest across all seven volumes. I could easily see opportunity for developing a Sci-Fi television series around several of those storylines, particularly the Roamers.