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Hidden Empire
Hidden Empire
Hidden Empire
Audiobook20 hours

Hidden Empire

Written by Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by George Guidall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

An explosive new science fiction series by New York Times best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, Hidden Empire is the first volume in The Saga of the Seven Suns, modeled after the Star Wars and X-Files universes. Anderson has become the foremost science fiction writer of the century, bringing to life vivid characters and worlds that delight his fans across the galaxy. The Klikiss, a now-extinct alien civilization, left behind vast technological information that has been discovered by two xenoarchaeologists. One discovery, a device that converts gas planets into life-giving suns is quickly put to the test with unimaginable results. Arising out of the test is a new alien species that threatens every human. Mankind is left with the dim reality-either fight the new alien life form or face humiliation, death and extinction. This riveting adventure swings you from one wondrous realm to another as the Hidden Empire is sought after and exposed. Anderson has created a gripping beginning to what will surely be his best series yet. George Guidall has returned a stellar performance and brought these characters to life in vivid detail.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 22, 2004
ISBN9781440780967
Hidden Empire
Author

Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson has published more than eighty novels, including twenty-nine national bestsellers. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. His critically acclaimed original novels include Captain Nemo, Hopscotch, and Hidden Empire. He has also collaborated on numerous series novels, including Star Wars, The X-Files, and Dune. In his spare time, he also writes comic books. He lives in Wisconsin.

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Reviews for Hidden Empire

Rating: 3.497375408136483 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

381 ratings26 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting start on first book of a series, looking forward to reading the next book in the series Of this War between such different species
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this story. It stands out as a good example of "space opera": an epic tale in the future, with an interplanetary setting, wide in scope as told by a web of personal relationships. Anytime I put the book down for a while and picked it back up, I found the opera part a bit of a drag and often asked the question, "Now wait, who's that?" But the world building is primo. Yes, it is soft sci-fi because of Theroc's "green priests" who are able to commune with the trees and communicate telepathically across space when touching a treeling. Yes this solves the FTL (faster than light) communication problem, but via tree hugging, really? Points for originality on that but minus points for credibility. Give me an ansible. :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Humans have reached the stars and are quite determined to take control of every system they can find. They discover some tech that had been developed by an extinct alien race, and use it to light up a gas giant and turn it into a star. When lights rise from the planet no one takes any particular heed. Until factories in orbit around other gas giants are suddenly attacked by a previously unknown race. Or, perhaps the knowledge of this alien species has been hidden?Anderson can spin a yarn and populate a galaxy with complex civilizations of many species. The action, a bit slow to start, heats up into a galactic war that threatens to destroy humans outright.And, semi-sentient trees!Cliff hangers, alas, but not personal ones. Just an ongoing story far too big to fit into one book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    'The Hidden Empire just gets a pass mark as not a complete waste of time - more aeroplane fodder than serious reading. The tale takes a while to get going - the multiple POV chapters switch threads very frequently. It is fantasy masquerading as SF, as there is not much actual science as compared to faux science put into the set up. A very adjective heavy prose was offputting too. By the cliffhanger end of Volume 1, at least 3 main characters are in 'very tight spots indeed'. and Vol 2 looks well set. I'll return to the series later.

    Note: 3 years later I've not yet got there!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Man has reached the stars, spreading out and colonizing them, but not without help. The Ildirans have given man the stardrive, an inexpensive way to cross the vast distances of space in a fraction of the time that it takes light to travel. Other than the Klikiss, an extinct race whose archaeological remains are scattered on disparate planets, only humanity and the Ildarans remain as sentient species, and they are partners, at peace.

    Or so they think. When human scientists execute and experiment using Klikiss technology, found among the extinct species' ruins, they turn a gas-giant planet into a small star and inadvertently destroy an entire population of the as yet unknown hydrogues living there. Provoked and without seeking explanation or apology, the hydrogues declare war and cut off access to the only fuel source for the stardrive, effectively starving disparate human populations reliant on Earth for resources.

    Published first in 2002, Hidden Empire is the start of Kevin J. Anderson's The Saga of the Seven Suns series, which itself is the start of a multi-series epic. Given how prolific Anderson is (look him up--his name is synonymous with "productive writer"), I thought it was a bit strange I'd never read anything by him. In addition to his own original fiction--like the Seven Suns series--he's also written in both the Star Wars and Dune universes and has over 50 best sellers. He also runs Wordfire Press, which publishes a lot of science fiction and fantasy, including other authors I have read and enjoyed. After I heard him speak on a panel at Salt Lake Comic Con, I figured I ought to add some Anderson to my repertoire (and shelf). In addition to his book on productive writing, I picked up Hidden Empire since Anderson was then in the middle of promoting the first book in the second series in the Seven Suns universe (which would also later be Hugo nominated).

    For a guy who dictates his books on walks in the Rocky Mountains, Anderson sure does come up with some clever and creative plotting. The Saga of the Seven Suns imagines a world under the control of corporatist/capitalist powers in the mold (both literally and figuratively) of the Hanseatic league of the 15th through 19th century. They designate a king as a figure-head ruler of Earth, though humanity's populous don't know any better. The Hanseatic league's control of humanity has pushed the independent and free minded to hide in uncharted star systems, in asteroids, and other secret places.

    Meanwhile, the Ildirans are an old race, their own history obscured even from themselves. And yet, they know more than they let on, and it soon becomes clear that they are less allies to humanity than they seem. When the hydrogues attack Earth, the Ildirans turn a blind eye, and humanity finds itself alone against an enemy it neither knows nor can oppose.

    It's a fun read, though if I had one complaint--and it's a small one--it's that Anderson's voice tends to be expository. He lays out what is happening in clear, unequivocal terms that leave nothing to the reader to anticipate or guess. One need not guess, because Anderson tells you. But what Anderson loses in exposition he more than makes up in epic scope. His tale spans the reaches of space and is a multi-pronged adventure. I look forward to reading A Forest of Stars, the second in The Saga of the Seven Suns series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An entertaining and fun read that really has me looking forward to the rest of the series. Recommended for anyone who enjoys the space opera genre.

    4.5 stars
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really solid SF story, alot of different angles.

    The only downside for some people might that the first book takes ages to really get going, due to so many characters being introduced.

    I personally like that im a sucker for long story's.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fascinating plot but reads like a film script rather than fiction.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Other than the last 20-30 pages of the book being a glossary/preview/etc, so I thought there was more to read than there was, it was good. Will eventually pick up the rest of the series to find out what is going on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The tale my reading this book actually begins a couple years ago, when Borders was closing. I saw it then, wanted to read it, but already had a tall stack of books I was planning to buy, and I couldn't justify the wildcard addition.

    Not that Kevin J. Anderson is a wildcard author. I have read much of his work in the Star Wars universe, and - in general - I enjoy his writing. Having said that, though, I had never read his original work, so this book was beyond the scope of my knowledge, and I wasn't sure I wanted to own it.

    Now that I have read it, the short version is that while I am glad that I read it, I am also glad that I did not purchase it.

    Let me reiterate that I am glad that I read it. To go along with that, I intend to continue reading the series (I have already requested the second book from the library). A lot of this is delightfully original, with the worldforest and the green priests and the hidden histories that have yet to be revealed (if they ever will be, which makes the universe a pleasantly real place). The characters are (mostly) compelling, and the propensity with which Mr. Anderson slays his characters is even more compelling. (Usually, the only signal that a character will die soon is their own admission that everything seems to be going well.)

    I also appreciated his treatment of religion. While I don't agree with the suggested route religion takes in Mr. Anderson's universe (that is to say, I don't think it will happen that way), he is also fair to religious folks in his representation of them. While religions are officially "unified," Anderson admits that they are united under a meaningless figurehead; there are also still adherents to the original religions present on many worlds. This is far more accurate than the typical treatment of religion in science fiction, which is constituted of the erroneous belief that common space travel will disabuse us primitives of our silly religious sensibilities. (Ergo, I appreciate Mr. Anderson's work in this regard.)

    There are reasons, however, that I do not feel urged to own this book. First and foremost, and the only real showstopper in this regard, is the sexual content. While there is nothing explicit or graphic, there is still frank discussion of sexual activity. Provided it keeps away from pornographic content (which this book does, or I would not be continuing in the series), I have no problem reading that myself, but if we're talking about a book I want to keep around the house, and around my family, then it's going to have to be one hell of a book besides that.

    And for all its pleasantness, this wasn't "one hell of a book." There are several science fiction tropes, such as alien benefactors bringing humanity into the rest of the galaxy, extinct predecessors leaving behind odd clues, machines that may or may not have any memories of the past, space gypsies, and an unfathomable enemy bent on genocide (another more recent source of all of these tropes is the video game Mass Effect, for example). These ideas have cropped up before, and they will crop up again (and, I readily admit, some of them are in my own writing). This use of tropes is not "unoriginal," or at least, not in a bad way. It's familiar, and it makes the universe easier to grasp (and with how many original ideas Mr. Anderson does include, any help grasping the universe is welcome). Even so, this use makes it "genre fiction," not "incredible fiction." Which is fine.

    Long story short, it's a good, solid book. I look forward to reading the next one. You may love it enough to own it, especially without my reservations.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I couldn't get past the first 30 or so pages. One cliche after another.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A very average space opera with a story that takes ages to develop. Some of the threads I felt like skipping and it turned out that they didn't contribute anything (at least by the end of the first book).I can't comment on the plot much because for most of the book nothing significant is going on. Nevertheless, the premise is ok and there is some promise of twists and revelations to come. The book ends more or less mid-sentence. I understand that this is part of a series, but other authors have managed to write a good, self-contained (to a degree) part one to a trilogy or longer series. This one feels more like a 600 page introduction with a teaser for the next book.The writing is nothing extraordinary but ok nonetheless. I did find the very small chapters distracting since I was constantly switched between characters, planets, etc. At least the number of characters was within reason and I didn't feel lost.I am thinking of trying the second one, but if it continues like this I will end the series there.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Having never read any epic scfi series I decided to borrow Hidden Empire from my local library on the strengh of the reviews on the cover. Well of course this is just asking for trouble. Lets face it, it's not good for business for a publisher to put the bad reviews on is it!One of the biggest problems is that Anderson spends far too long introducing new characters without developing a stong narrative alongside. Instead he seems to leave most of the story telling to the last section of the book by which time i have to admit I was too bored to care! This, coupled with his adequate, although rather pedestrian writing style made it hard to read Hidden Empire through to the end. Another problem that I had with the book was the lacklustre characters who never really developed into anything more than scifi stereotypes.Hidden Empire while not a terrible book is far from brilliant and probably wasn't the best introduction to the scifi epic genre for me. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a while to get into this book. There are a lot of characters and many settings and factions to digest, and much of the book is like setting out pieces on a playing board and reading the instructions before playing a board game. Necessary to play the game, but not the fun part. Hopefully the rest of the series will be the fun part, playing the game now that everything is in motion.The basics of the story are that you have the humans, divided into the majority Terran Hanseatic League, the gypsy-like roamers, and the green priests (humans who have bonded with sentient trees and can communicate instantaneously across any distance so long as their are worldtrees on either end), and the Ildirans, who are aliens that helped the humans into space. There is also an extinct race of aliens called the Klikiss, and their robots, who are left over but have no memory of how their masters became extinct. Finally, you have the Hidden Empire of aliens who live inside gas giant planets (no spoiler if you have read the back cover of the book). The humans anger the Hidden Empire and everyone has to deal with the consequences.There are some cliched ideas in here, and you have to suspend your disbelief that the characters do not put two and two together about several plot points for a long time, sometimes only figuring things out or being told something several hundred pages after the reader already guessed at it (like why the gas giant aliens are angry). However, I went into this book looking for an epic space fantasy, and it promises to deliver. By the end of the book, I was turning the pages faster and looking forward to the next volume.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a rather mediocre sci-fi 'epic'. Humanity has reached the stars with the help of the Ildirans, who have a functioning FTL drive that relies on an 'allotrope of hydrogen' that somehow reduces the distance between points to near zero. Humanity is ruled by the Hanseatic League with a completely figurehead king. There are also independent human 'Roamers' and tree worshipping humans on planet Theroc. Humans accidentally start a war with the hydrogues, who live in gas giant planets and were completely unknown until the humans destroy one of their planets. There is way too much suspension of disbelief required in this book. This is either a homage to old time space opera (jazers? really?) or just a dumbed down modern scifi without any science. The format is also annoying, with each of the many characters getting a 3 or 4 page chapter before focus shifts to someone else. The general plot, with the 3 sided conflict of humans, Ildirans and hydrogues is somewhat interesting, though not terribly original. Doc Smith, this isn't, even if it pretends to be.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The book begins well, as a gas giant is ignited to form a small star, using wormhole technology developed by an extinct alien race and rediscovered by xenoarchaeologists, and a curious side-effect is witnessed by a couple of spectators. I can't fault it for technological invention or basic scenario and plot line. The main alien race is interesting; the settings are attractive and would potentially be awe-inspiring in the hands of a decent artist. For the most part, even the characters are well conceived, though the reader has to work hard at the outset, as each chapter is focused on a different person and the first fifteen chapters introduce thirteen separate character threads. It's the execution that lets it down: the writing style is too often thuddingly old-fashioned. I have been spoilt by reading the allusive and sophisticated narratives of grown-up authors such as Iain M. Banks, and was not prepared for a recent SF author to be writing in a manner so close to that of the old-school pulp writers, or the less accomplished breed of fantasy novelist. It first struck me on about the second page, as "Chairman Basil Wenceslas" is introduced, then in the next line called "the powerful Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League". The development of the plot is well enough done, with the reader left to figure out what various mysteries and enigmas might mean. Character and motive, however, are always totally explicit: the narrator leaves nothing to the reader's imagination when setting up the personalities and their drives and conflicts, though there is occasional confusion between the character's viewpoint and the narrator's provision of neutral information. Aspects of the scenario are also made explicit: if the narrator does not tell the reader (sometimes more than once), then the characters tell each other, often explaining things to someone who, one would have thought, could not conceivably be so ignorant as to need them explaining. "I would prefer Theroc had more formalized business dealings with the Hansa", says the Chairman, casually encountering a native of Theroc at a reception and aware that the author needs to set up the political situation for the reader leaning over his shoulder. (After nearly two centuries of cultural contact, too, it should not be a surprise to an educated human that the Mage-Imperator of the Ildirans is ritually castrated at his accession, though it is enough of a surprise to the author that he tells us several times in different ways.) The description of the scenery is also ineptly dealt with, playing second fiddle to more or less humdrum plot developments. For example, the extraordinary geography and architecture of the Roamer settlement on the ice-planet of Plumas is introduced only as a kind of interruption to a rather uninspiring narrative of a funeral, and the description suddenly switches back to the action in a way I can only describe as clunky.There are one or two logical holes too. The narrator introduces a name for a previously unknown alien race (hydrogues), presenting it as a name given by the human characters. For the Ildirans to have prior knowledge of this alien race (which some human characters explicitly remark upon) is reasonable, but for them independently to use exactly the same name for them is highly implausible. Familiar with his own material, the author has perhaps lost his grip on which of his characters should know what. He should also avoid describing a character's eyes as resembling both topaz and star-sapphire.In conclusion, I am interested enough in the plot that I might go and look for the second volume of the series in a library, but I won't be buying it unless it's quite cheap.MB 21-viii-2010
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Why was this book not better, perhaps is the question we should ask ourselves. It should be better. It has a seven book sequence, so that may indeed be the first clue. With seven books to go, does the author need to grab us and rope us into his world and make us feel the sense of urgency that a war in the spiral arm is going to need?Part then is that the pacing is slow. More than six hundred pages and it is slow, and we have six more books. Then the second problem with the book is the giant cast of characters, all of whom are being treated as primary characters. Who do we identify with. There is someone for everyone. Sometimes there have been so many characters that as you begin a new chapter, you have to take a moment and collect your thoughts and think, which one is this, and where were they when we last left off.Last we have the size of the chapters. there are 115 chapters in those 600 pages. These chapters were short, more like parts of scenes then chapters. You might need a few small scenes to give the scope that the universe is descending into war, but little vignettes always might be overdoing it.When you put it all together, the sense is that it fails where others have told stories about galactic wide wars. Cut, cut, cut, is what this story needed, for at the end of the book, when you have read it all, there is a story emerging, but it has taken so long and been so fragmented that you know it could have been so much better. Then you find that the author had been working and thinking about his epic for so long and did so much better elsewhere, you are left with a feeling that he has gone horribly astray and left you disappointed that his skill has gone missing.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This far future space opera weaves a tale between human cultures and a humanoid alien civilisation that maintain cordial relationships across interstellar space.Using knowledge gleaned from the archaeological remains of a mysterious, extinct alien civilisation, humanity constructs and activates an immensely powerful device which turns gas giant planets into stars.The subsequent cataclysmic attacks by hitherto unknown aliens from within gas giant planets launches a new and unexpected crisis of threat and war drawing in all of humanity and their alien allies.The story introduces a large number of protaganists from amongst various human and alien factions and thereby lays a base for several extensive and interwoven story lines. This makes it clear almost from the outset of this book that it is intended to serve primarily as an introduction to a series.The number of characters and independent story lines make entry into this book difficult, although an attempt to mitigate this is made through the use of extremely short chapters, often of three pages or less. However, the short chapters increased my confusion as each one moves to a different character and allowed me little time to settle into one story arc.The characters initially suffer from a lack of depth and some cliches, but over the course of the book work is done on several of the main characters to build them up. In any case this book appears to be primarily focussed on narrative. Unfortunately character dialogue is at times quite stilted and unconvincing, which distracted me from the characterisation and narrative. Another failing is the repetitive exposition of key story points from one chapter to another in an apparent attempt to remind the reader of what has come before. In the context of the short length of the book, these felt more like the result of the chapters being written quite independently and cobbled together later.Several aspects of the writing style, in particular the poor dialogue and the needlessly repetitious exposition, unfortunately reminded me of the dire Return to Dune books Anderson co-wrote with Brian Herbert. I had assumed the worst excesses of those aberrations were Herbert's fault but now I'm not so sure.Several of the base ideas and themes in the book appeared familiar to me from other writings although there is plenty of legitimate cross pollination and common themes found throughout science fiction. However, the ideas and the narrative did progress well and with enough originality that the book is worth reading despite some failings. By its end the book had caught my interest sufficiently that I will continue on to read at least the next installment in the series.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Book one of the Saga of the Seven Suns. In this book, the Saga is characterized as a tome so vast that no one could possibly assimilate it in a single life time. With I think 7 books in the series, this could actually be true.I've always like Keven Anderson's work on the post-Frank Dune books. This book appears to be his attempt at an epic story along the lines of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series. For a number of reasons, though, it just didn't click with me. For starters, he introduced way too many characters, which in of itself wouldn't have been so bad if most of them didn't die before the end of this book. Setting up the story took an excruciatingly long time -- I listened to the audio book version and actually had to restart it because I was so lost. Most of the action happened near the end, at which point the few characters I cam to care about were eliminated. The overall main plot involving the prime antagonist is familiar to anyone who played the original Starflight computer game. One of the things I found bizarre is that for a tale set in the future, so many elements of the past were employed: the human empire was ruled by a monarchy, and trade was handled by the Hanseatic League. Why we would devolve into 15-16th century institutions is beyond me.When I next have need for an audio book, I might get the next one in the series, just to see if it grows on me. It did start getting better at the end.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Anderson is a hack, a shit writer writing for a genre that only begets shit writing. Perhaps the man just likes to write like some people like to act, no matter the level of the outcome. Since Anderson is so prolific(he's been a cohort in several Star Wars and Dune novels), a certain percentage of his output logically has to be crap.Hidden Empire is the first of seven books, and like most multi-volume canons, acts as an introduction to characters and plot points and conflicts. And like a certain other first chapter, not a whole lot happens.Two hundred-odd years in the future, the human race has colonized bits of space, but still needs to show off their ambition to their patron alien benefactors, the Ildirans. They accomplish this by igniting a local gas giant planet into a miniature sun with the use of a mysterious alien artifact. Unfortunately, the gas giants are the homes of another alien race, the hydrogues, who interpret this as an act of war, and proceed to systematically exterminate every human they find.Ignoring Anderson's Piers Anthony-style of writing, this is classic sci-fi pulp. Corruption abounds in both Earth and alien governments, the human fleets are ragtag and woefully inadequate, and the hydrogues are faceless, pitiless, and methodical. If only there was more of that, instead of the incredibly dull interludes with the green priests, humans who have bonded with a telepathic forest. It's as if the book is constantly interrupted with passages from Ken Kesey.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An enjoyable start to what promises to be an exciting space opera. The characters and storyline are promising, which makes up for some of the lack of sophistication in the story telling. It's a fun read if you enjoy epic space battles, romance, and adventure.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This is turgid stuff. And the more you read it the worse it seems to get. Anderson has written a science fiction that is more like a 1960s space opera than the true science fiction works of Asimov, Clark and Heinlein. In this world the English speaking interbreeding aliens sometimes have some special force integrating them, but not always. The writing is dreadful and monotonous and character development is so inconsequential that I now, mere months after reading this book, cannot think of any important character name, nor anything worth bothering about them. I simply lacked any involvement in this work. How this should be spun out to 7 books, I do not know. I think the author should concentrate on one good book before attempting such a long series.This is a book to make you embarrassed to read science fiction. Needless to say I will not be bothering with the sequels (despite the shameless way this book stops mid story in an attempt to force you on).
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I made an attempt to read this book but got no where fast. I gave up after maybe 25 pages, because I could not keep track of the characters and the plot never continued for more than a page and a half before a new one started. I don't understand how this author keeps getting published. The writing is horrible. The concept could be great, if he narrowed his point of view to one or two characters. The reader does not need all that information.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This novel is way too descriptive and doesn't have nearly enough action. The concepts are interesting, but there's not much engagement with the story or the characters - i.e. a space station blows up and everyone dies, but you won't really "feel" anything about this event because it was only described to you, it didn't engage you. I made it halfway through when I realized I didn't give a hoot about any of the characters, or what happened next. Life's too short and there are too many books out there to waste any more time with this. (And, besides, I hear that this first book in the series stops very abruptly because you're expected to read the next book in the series to find out what happens.)So, what happened?... I donated my copy and moved on to something that might stimulate me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is an epic space opera of the old school. While it doesn't have the razor edge feel of top class science fiction it is nonetheless an enjoyable and entertaining read, with many different interesting characters and worlds.I would rate this as a good holiday read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first novel in Anderson's new original series is well done, with an intriguing premise. Mankind has gone to the stars, but we may not be ready for what awaits us there. Hidden within a gas giant planet is a race of powerful and destructive beings. When we inadvertently awaken a sleeping dragon, a war that will consume the galaxy erupts and we must trust in allied who have their own agendas. The story is very good, however the writing style takes some getting used to. The Saga of Seven Suns is written in an alternating narrator method. A chapter or two is told by one person, then the next chapter or two is told by another. Sometimes they are views of the same events, sometimes events that are taking place concurrently but across the galaxy. This can be jarring at first as a reader gets involved with one character and is abruptly jerked to a new one. I still don't like the style as much as standard third person point of view, or even first person, but it does lend itself to this plot.