Please see Hidden Empire, A Forest of Stars, Horizon Storms,
and Scattered Suns in this order before you read this title.

The Ildiran Empire is about to betray the human race. In a Faustian deal, hydrogues have pledged not to exterminate the Mage-Imperator’s people, as long as they help destroy all of humanity.

On Earth, the Terran Hansa is crumbling. King Peter and Queen Estarra are mere figureheads, and the real leader, the Chairman, grows more erratic by the hour. Terrified for the safety of their unborn child, and the Hansa at large, the King and Queen must find a way to survive.

Two elemental forces, the verdani (sentient forest) and wentals (sentient water) are drawn together in an awesome merging of power, while the unpredictable faeros (sentient fire beings) hassle the hydrogues. In an unholy alliance, the hydrogues and Klikiss robots move forward in their plans to eradicate “rock dwellers.” The robots have succeeded in infesting the Hansa’s space fleet with the deadly soldier compies. Entire grids of the fleet may be lost.

Betrayal, subterfuge, and espionage may give way to hope if humanity can pull itself together. After the ruthless measures taken by the Hansa military against outlying colony worlds, the mysterious Roamers, as well as the lack of aid to other allies, planet Earth is in grave danger. Can Hansa “allies” and victims forgive the corrupt government in time to help save the birthplace of humanity? If not, all is lost.

By maintaining the high standard of writing for which he is known, Kevin J. Anderson continues to thrill and astonish readers with the fifth installment of The Saga of Seven Suns. Many “epic” series tend to lull after a few novels, but this Saga thrusts forward in ever-changing ways. While some events are somewhat predictable—perhaps intentionally—there are enough surprises to sustain the level of tension necessary to pull the reader through.

There are a few threads of the tale that will either not make sense, or will seem out of character for a while. Don’t let that fool you. Press on, because even though you may think you know what will happen, you don’t.

After reading this novel, only two questions remain. The first is whether Anderson can finish out this series with the same caliber of storytelling. One would have to read to the end of this book in order to understand the full impact of this question—to say more would be to spoil a spectacular ending. The Saga is not over by a long shot, but Anderson has a lot to live up to.

The other question: Do we really have to wait another year for the next installment?!

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
6/21/2006

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