Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 1
by Kevin J. Anderson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kevin J. AndersonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-08
ISBN: 0446528625
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Aspect
Book Reviews of Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 1
Book Review: Old-fashioned Space Opera
Summary: 3 Stars
Hidden Empire (2002) is the first novel in the Saga of Seven Suns series. In it can be seen the dark side of Kevin Anderson; he introduces likable characters and then kills them off and he piles threat upon threat until...The End...To Be Continued.
This novel is definitely not fun, but does have some interesting characters. There are the archaeologists Margaret and Louis Colicos, the green priest Beneto Theron and his sister Esterra, the Young Prince Peter, Prime Designate Jora'h, the merchant Rlinda Kett, the Roamer sweethearts Jess Tamblyn and Cesca Peroni, and the green priest Nira Khali. Then there are the villains: Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League Basil Wenceslas, Theron Ambassador Sarein, and the Mage-Imperator of the Ildiran Empire. In addition, there are the usual supporters, hanger-ons, and stooges, plus the robots, both Terran and Klikiss.
It starts with the Hansa converting a gas-giant planet, Oncier, into a sun with technology discovered by the Colicos team among Klikiss ruins. Unknown to the watchers, the abrupt ignition of Oncier kills millions, and maybe billions, of alien Hydrogues living in the planet. Some survivors escape in their diamond-skinned spherical spaceships and later come back to destroy the science station that had initiated the conversion. Subsequently the Hydrogues destroy a Roamer skymine skimming hydrogen from the gas-giant Golgen and then others at Erphano and elsewhere. They even destroy the skymine at Qronha 3 in the alien Ildiran Empire. Apparently the Hydrogues cannot discriminate between different rock-dwelling polities or species.
The Hansa has no clue about the situation until the Mage-Imperator tells them that the Klikiss Torch had provoked the Hydrogues to war. The Mage-Imperator knows even more about the Hydrogues than he is willing to tell and he has a plan to divert the ire of the gas-planet dwellers from his empire. This plan entails the involuntary involvement of humans and their genetic material.
This novel starts slowly as Anderson introduces the various characters and cultures, but picks up speed just before the break. Some secrets are revealed, but not all; the Hydrogues, for example, are totally incomprehensible. The science is by no means hard; in fact, it is rather soggy. For example, Anderson doesn't understand the high velocities possible to the generation ships using even a low acceleration, but constant boost drive; thus, the novel feels like the pulp fiction of the 1930s in that regard.
Hopefully, the next volume will be more positive than this one. Readers might want to buy this volume now and hold it until the next book is available; might avert some bad dreams. Stay tuned.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Summary of Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 1
The author of the New York Times bestsellers Dune: House Atreides and Star Wars: Darksaber delivers the first book in an all-new epic science fiction adventure trilogy.In our galaxys distant future, humans are one of three known intelligent races. Having had the ability to navigate star travel for only a few centuries, we are considered the new kids on the block in a long- established universe. The second intelligent race is the Ildirans, who are ruled by their Mage-Imperator; and the third race, the Klikiss, seems to have vanished and left behind a world full of artifacts and remarkable technology, which humans are now beginning to find and utilize. One such piece of technology is a device that has the power to turn a gaseous and useless supergiant planet into a small sun, thereby creating a new solar system in which humans can live. But when the device is tried for the first time, it awakens the wrath of a previously unsuspected fourth race, the Hydroguesand a galaxy-spanning war that threatens all life begins.Literature & Fiction Books
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