Customer Reviews

A Forest of Stars (Saga of Seven Suns, Book 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been many years since I have been this excited and emotionally attached to a science fiction series. In A Forest of Stars: The Saga of Seven Suns Book 2, Kevin J. Anderson not only builds upon the galactic epic begun in Hidden Empire, he makes the incredible drama detailed in the first book seem like a warm-up act to the real performance. You have to commit yourself to the story; there is just too much happening to too many characters for you to read this novel in dribs and drabs and expect to keep up, but that should not be a problem because A Forest of Stars is all but impossible to ever put down in the first place.

Five years have passed since the Earth-based Terran Hanseatic League used ancient alien technology to turn a gas giant into a brand new star, thereby incurring the wrath of the unknown and seemingly unstoppable race of hydrogues who call the gas giants home. Almost every race and planet in the Spiral Arm has suffered both mentally and physically at the hands of the hydrogues, while the deadly enemy's refusal to allow ekti (the source of stardrive fuel) mining in the atmospheres of their home planets has crippled the galactic economy. Even the impressive Solar Navy of the might Ilderan Empire has been proved embarrassingly inferior to the destructive hydrogues. The ominous events detailed in Hidden Empire barely hint at the things to come in the pages of this second entry in the series. A Forest of Stars will take your breath away again and again.

I could never begin to describe all of the momentous and oftentimes shocking things that take place in this novel. The improved military might of the Hansa's Emergency Defense Force remains ineffective against the hydrogues, and the growing scarcity of stardrive fuel has resulted in the breakdown of Hansa control over a number of its colonies. The Roamers, descendants of earth-based pioneers, continue to maintain their independence and nomadic lifestyle among the stars, but the Roamer economy struggles as its very foundation, the mining and selling of ekti for stardrive fuel, collapses. On Theroc, home of the sentient worldforest, life goes on much as normal for some time, but even the Therons will not emerge from this book unscathed. On Earth, young King Peter, a king in name only, matures and begins to assert himself, all but openly rebelling against the true source of Hansa power - Chairman Basil Wenceslas. Across the Spiral Arm, the true intentions and plans of the Mage-Imperator of the Ilderan Empire are made known, invoking great emotional pain among several important characters as well as the reader. Power changes hands on almost every central civilization involved before A Forest of Stars ends. Beloved characters die, incredible new plot elements (as well as unexpected, mysterious forces) are thrown into the mix, the destructive hydrogues still seem unstoppable, and romance in all its forms tears at the heart-strings of the reader. Kevin J. Anderson holds nothing back.

Two lengthy books into this saga, the story is amazingly even more refreshing and promising than ever; I get the distinct feeling that "I ain't seen nothin' yet." The very nature of the awful war changes in these pages, as we learn that this is an ancient war between elemental forces never before imagined by the humans and Ilderans who now find themselves dragged into the apocalyptic conflict. Only now do we begin to understand just who the real enemies of the hydrogues are. Only now do we learn of the Ilderans' secret plans for survival and their total subjugation of select humans in barbaric breeding grounds. Only now do we gain insight into the disappearance of the ancient Klikiss race and begin to learn the truth about the incredible robots they left behind.

The Saga of Seven Suns is such a fantastic science fiction series that I would almost recommend waiting until the series is complete before reading it. Having just read both of the first two novels, I am dying to learn what happens next - the wait for succeeding entries in this saga will be almost painful. Oftentimes, science fiction characters are rather cold and distant from the reader, but Anderson brings each of his characters to life and, through their triumphs and sorrows, brings the reader intimately into their world. No one (apart from the hydrogues) is starkly good or evil. Best of all, I have no idea how events will play out from this point forward. I may only be two books into this open-ended epic science fiction series, but I can already say that The Saga of Seven Suns is the most impressive, exciting series I have read since Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

"A Forest of Stars", the second of the "Saga of the Seven Suns" series, although exactly how much it is about the Ildirans (the occupants of the planet surrounded by said stars) is debatable, mostly its about human beings, individual human beings such as Jess Tamblyn, the Roamer miner, Cesca Peroni, the Roamer Speaker, King Peter, the puppet king trying not to be so much of a puppet, Tasia Tamblyn, commander of a space cruiser in the Hanseatic navy attempting to get some revenge for the death of her family by the hydrogues, and then come the Ildirans mostly high powered officials such as the Mage-Imperator, a ruthless tyrant who cares only for the survival of the Empire, his son the lover of Nira, the green priest, the Admiral who sacrifices his life to get some revenge. There are other characters although nowhere near as developed e.g. the hydrogues, the Klikiss robots and so on. The war that started in the first book continues in this one getting more intense, in fact all round a better book. The hydrogues start a war of total destruction of other races, attempting to rid the galaxy of the verdani (the worldtrees with sentience), the wentals (space based water intelligence), and eventually the faeroes (fire based entities living inside stars), humans and Ildirans. The Klikiss, with the help of their rebellious robots, are gone, none left and it seems that noone can stop the hydrogues although the faeroes unexpectedly coming to the aid of the verdani and humans suprises the hydrogues who now face them, the humans, the Ildirans, the verdani and unknown to them the last vestiges of the wentals.

The book is of course about people but the entire scheme concerns the vast conflict between these other races stretching over the whole galaxy. The book is much better than the first in the series although it leaves gaps and some plot problems e.g. the Mage-Imperator mentioned that the humans killed millions of hydrogues when lighting the Klikiss torch and the Chairman fails to see why the Ildiran Emperor did not warn them that would be the result when he knew this would happen and since he did not warn them the implications thereof such as the attempt by the Ildirans to eliminate the humans by using the hydrogues to do it. This is very obvious and the seemingly intelligent chairman of the Hanseatic League misses it completely. There are many other failures e.g. why not develop weapons which attack the hydrogues via a biological approach, how is the fact that the Klikiss robots are trying to destrot humanity not clear yet etc etc.

It is worth it though and the pace of the novel accelerates to a high speed, I read it in two days. It does make it worth getting the next one.

Forest of Stars, the second book in Anderson's series, is a chip off the old block with regard to the first. Unfortunately, one would have hoped for a bit more improvement in the second book. All the flaws of the first are here: the too-quick shifts from scene to scene, relatively shallow characterization, implausible (even for space opera) plot events, some weak writing/dialogue, and the still maddening habit (though at least less often) of repeating previous exposition as if the reader can't be trusted to remember a few chapters back. The first book overcame these flaws with its robust ingenuity and simple sense of fun. This book doesn't quite match the verve of the first, however, and so the flaws are magnified, affecting the reading experience more. Too much of what happens here we've seen already in the first, such as King Peter chafing under Basil's restrictions, the inventiveness of the Roamers, etc., which takes away a bit of the spark as well.
There are some good scenes in here, and a few of the characters manage to stand out as more sharply drawn and more compelling than others. Applying the same level of characterization to others would have greatly helped, as would streamlining the book a bit to cut down on repetitive action or dialogue. As it was, I kept reading to see what would happen but I can't call it very compelling. Having read the third book I can say that it too shares the same flaws without the balancing positives. One hopes as a series continues that we're treated to more than an unspinning of the plot--deeper characterization, improved writing style, a sense of a more full story. Unfortunately, Anderson seems stuck a bit in the same gear as book one. The potential is there, but is so far unmet. He hasn't dropped off much, but I'll need more than holding course in book four to continue. Recommended for those who read and liked the first with the warning not to expect much more, but at this point I wouldn't recommend the series to new readers.

A Forest of Stars is the second novel in The Saga of Seven Suns series, following The Hidden Empire. In the previous volume, the Terran Hanseatic League has used technology discovered in ancient ruins of the extinct Klikiss aliens to ignite a giant gas planet, turning it into a sun. Unknown to the Hansa, however, millions of aliens living within the atmosphere of the planet were vaporized by this Klikiss Torch. Other Hydrogue aliens then declared war on all surface dwelling sentients, including the Ildirans as well as the Humans, and began destroying their gas mining operations, drastically reducing the production of ekti, the only known fuel for FTL starships.

One of the casualties of this war is King Frederick, nominal head of state of the Hanseatic League. However, the Hansa produces an heir to the deceased monarch and the crown passes to King Peter. The new King was formerly Raymond Aguerra, an orphan from poor circumstances, who was kidnapped by Hansa operatives and brainwashed to perform as the chief of state. However, King Peter has discovered that the death of his family was not an accident, but ordered by Basil Wencelas, Chairman of the Hansa, and the new king resists his conditioning.

In this novel, five years have past since the Klikiss Torch ignited the Hydrogue war. King Peter has been subtly maneuvering for a degree of autonomy from Wencelas. The Chairman is trying to finesse more Green Priests from Theroc, for these priests can communicate instantaneously with each other through worldforest saplings. The current Father and Mother of Theroc are about to abdicate in favor of their eldest child and he suggests an alliance through marriage to Cesca Peroni, the newly appointed Speaker for the Roamers. While Cesca loves Jess Tamblyn, they decide that her marriage must promote the best interests of the Roamers. Meanwhile, Jess' sister Tasia has been promoted within the EDF to command of a Thunderhead Weapons Platform.

On Ildira, the plans of the Mage-Imperator are beginning to bear fruit, but he is deadly ill and will soon die. The Prime Designate, Jora'h, feels humble and unready to succeed his father, but he becomes angry when he is told that Nira, a Green Priest and his lover, has been incorporated into the Human contingent of an ongoing breeding program and that Nira has borne his previously unknown daughter. Adar Kori'nh, commander of the Ildiran naval forces, is continually irritating the Mage-Imperator with his compassion and interest in the Humans.

This novel includes massive destruction of sentients and machines. Some of the main characters are killed and others are missing in action. For the most part, the Hydrogues are unstoppable, although the Humans and Ildirans are beginning to inflict some losses on the enemy, but at tremendous cost. New species of aliens are beginning to appear and the worldforest is beginning to yield additional information on a previous war with the Hydrogues.

This novel introduces the concept of elemental aliens; the Hydrogues represents air and the worldforest is earth. Now comes aliens who represent the elements of fire and water. Although this concept does not seem central to the story, it does add a touch of the mystical to the plot.

My main criticism of this series is the two-dimensional characters; that is, they have little or no depth. While they are not always stereotypes, what you see is what you get. They change as the plot develops, but only in predictable directions. The aliens seem more mysterious, but their secrets are mostly part of the plot. The only main character with some degree of depth is Adar Kori'nh, who always obeys his Mage-Imperator, but does have a few objections every now and then; Adar obviously has a deepset desire to stop playing safe and just kill a few Hydrogues, no matter how high the cost.

This novel moves the plot along very nicely and, of course, terminates just as events are really heating up. The sequel better not be long delayed or I may implode.

Recommended for Anderson fans and anyone else who enjoys large scale space opera, with a seemingly unstoppable enemy and untrustworthy allies.

....because i've now read both of these novels now and am looking foward to number three! And that's despite the fact that with every chapter told from a different perspective of the many characters involved it sometimes makes it a bit of a challenge to read. All in all though i'm starting to feel that that just might be a good thing. After all I can understand when you're reading for entertainment you might resent it if the book doesn't have an easy "flow". But on the other hand it does cause you to think some more and pay closer attention. And if you didn't really want to think while reading you might just as well watch re-runs on TV I suppose. In this book Kevin seems to have revealed all of the "elemental superbeings" that will be the major players throughout the series and while in my opinion this does lend a bit of "hokieness" to it i'm willing to see how it plays out before making any final judgements. And it's not like being hokie in sci-fi is uncharted territory, sometimes it's what makes it endearing and some series just absolutely revel in it. I do think that Kevin does a great job with the characters, especially considering how many there are, I found myself being really interested in how what was happening in the universe affected them and how they'd react. Yeah sure some of them are obvious and uncomplicated but it gives the "average person" characters they can relate to and understand as these characters try to make sense out of their lives as the universe is spinning out of control around them. Kevin has also created a very interesting universe to use as a backdrop for those characters. All those years of playing in other people's universes seem to have given Kevin all the tools he needs to construct his own and i'd say he's putting them to good use. So far so good, I guess the best compliment I can give is as long as Kevin keeps writing this series he's got me hooked so that i'll keep reading them.

Book 2 in the Saga is a great read. The plot thickens, new mysteries and characters are introduced, book 1 characters get added depth. They act like real humans (and Ildrians), not comic book heroes. Nira, Tasia and Estarra are the kind of girls that actually exist -not some Lara Croft wet dream. Jess, Robb, King Peter are guys you could have a beer with and live to tell about it -not sci-aryan socio-pathoids. Two of the better heroes of Book 2 are older married archaelogists!

Forest of Stars' writing is unpretentious and the story is plausible. Unlike many sci-fi writers, Anderson doesn't seem to be in a contest to snow you with grisly violence, inane dialog, fantasized technology, cultic drivel, and heroes you'd be afraid to meet.

A few plot inconsistencies? Man, what were those reviewers reading with, a microscope? I'm most intrigued by the Saga's four sentient being- Earth (the World Forest Trees Verdanis), Air (the gas planet Hydrogues on the rampage), and at the end of Book 2 --the introduction of water and fire beings.

Hopefully Book 3 explains these ancient forms without slipping too much into the mythological-mystical-astrological pseudo-religious murk from whence these four "elements" have emerged. I'm also wondering if Kevin will introduce the so-called FIFTH Element? ...Spirit... Or maybe he already has in the Roamers, Cesca, Jess, Tasia, Estarra, King Peter and Jorah the new Mage-Imperator? Looking forward to Book 3. -NM

once again Kevin anderson has astonished me with his storytelling ability in his second novel in his epic Saga of the seven suns. This novel is sequel to Hidden empire in which 25th century mankind unknowlingly started a terrible interstellar war with a ancient and advance race called the Hydrogues. This terrible war in seen through the eyes of some memorable characters both human and alien and across the expand of space.King Peter-the young monarch of Earth who in a deadly power struggle with the ruthless Basil Wenceslas, chairman of Hanseactic Terran league who rulers the human empire behind the scenes and uses King Peter as his puppet. Tasia Tamblyn-the roamer woman who joins the terran army to vengeance against the hydrogues and who sees the Hanseactic league brutal treatment of it's colonies. Prime Designate Jora"h the soon to be Mage-Imperator of IIdiran empire.Jess Tamblyn-the roamer businessman who will make a incredible first-contact with a alien race that might help the humans in their tragic war against the hydrogues.
Nira-the girl from Theroc who is enslaved by the IIdirians in their sinister breeding program!
Anderson's world-building skills are incredible once again as he takes you worlds like the green planet Theroc where world-trees communicate beyond the vastness of space and IIdiran empire where shocking secrets threaten this alien realm and it's leaders will take terrible steps insuring the survivial of their empire! Anderson's plot twists are wonderful as you watch the machinations of it's villians such as Klikiss robots who aid earth in their war but secretly plot to destroy the human race and the battle scenes in this book are sweeping in their intensity as you see the cause of lives.Now my own drawback is waiting another year for the next book in this powerful series!

This is a series that I have been enjoying very much. After having waited a year for this book, I finally came across a copy while on vacation. Needless to say, the rest of my vacation was spent around gas giant planets...
The book flowed very well from character to character and from situation to situation. I can't wait to see what Mr. Anderson does with the third book.
The only real downside to this book was the fact that I wanted to know what happened to Margaret Colicos.

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin....You are truly the MAN! As much as I enjoyed Hidden Empire, you really topped yourself with this Book 2. Absolutely loved this book. I've already recommended it to tons of people. You have aboslutely achieved the impossible Kevin, you have caused me to start the whole Dune series just so I can then read your prequels. I note that I've attempted many times to start Dune and have just never really gotten into it. I know I'm an idiot (HOW CAN ANYONE NOT ENJOY DUNE?). Well I'm anxiously awaiting Book 3, I just don't know if I can wait until next summer. Keep them coming.....

It's been five years since hydrogue warships destroyed the first gas giant skymines. The major governments in the Spiral Arm are desperate for ekti, the only known fuel for stardrive engines. With skymines out of operation and few other ways to obtain ekti, trade has ground to a near halt and distant colonies are starving.

The Ildiran Empire has suffered, as well. Hydrogues don't distinguish between the humans who accidentally annihilated billions of their people, and the alien species that only resembles them. Forced to desperate ends, the Mage-Imperator must convince his successor of the need for a reprehensible program--the one that tore his lover away.

For the past five years, the hydrogues have been content to limit the destruction to trespassers. Now they've been seen throughout the Spiral Arm, raising tensions in already-fracturing societies.

In this, the second installment to "The Saga of Seven Suns," Anderson pens an epic tale worthy in its own right. While he continues to use multiple subplots to weave the story, each thread is easily distinguishable, and they succeed in creating an overall tapestry of overwhelming depth. More impressive is his ability to do so while providing enough unknowns to keep the reader engaged.

For those who don't like metaphors: It's good. Darn good. If you forget who a character is, you can look it up in an appendix.

Although brilliant, this novel possesses a few issues, albeit nothing devastating. The first is the fuzzy timeline. Events occur in a linear order, but there are few indicators as to the passage of time. The reader is left wondering has much time has passed until one of the rare mentions of "in the past __ months. . ." A simple date stamp for each chapter, or a more concise timeline appendix would be great.

The other issue worthy of mention is that some readers may grow annoyed with the numerous subplots. This is a point than can go either way. As mentioned before, it is this reviewer's opinion that each subplot is clearly drawn and, while not always vital, certainly helpful in allowing the reader an overall view.

Highly recommended to sci-fi fans.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
5/31/2006