A Forest of Stars - Kevin J Anderson

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group: New York, NY, 2007 (2003).
Book Two of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: 'Hidden Empire'; 'A Forest of Stars'; 'Horizon Storms'; 'Scattered Suns'; 'Of Fire and Night'; 'Metal Swarm'; 'The Ashes of Worlds'.

Spoilers for parts of Hidden Empire will follow.

The second installment of The Saga of Seven Suns picks up five years after Hidden Empire ended. Both the human race and the Ildirans are under attack from the deadly and mysterious hydrogues, aliens that living in the centre of gas giant planets. The antagonists are able to survive at immense pressures un-survivable to their enemies, and their superior technology is making the ongoing conflict less of a war and more of an extermination. Humanity, broken into three distinct factions, are doing their best to survive the conflict however they can, but the main empire - the Hansatic league, led by Chairman Basil Wencelas and with the token figurehead royal King Peter on the throne - are attempting to draw one group (the Therons) into their empire, while maybe destroying the other group (the Roamers).

King Peter, who has now learned that Basil was responsible for the death of his parents, is seeking to assert his own independence and authority, and this subplot is full of a lot of political manipulation and power-plays that are well-written and engaging. I didn't know at any given point whether Peter would end up executed, or overthrow Basil. I enjoy reading something unpredictable.

Once again, numerous plots and subplots abound, and once again Anderson makes sure we as the reader can follow each thread. We get to see the perspectives of so many characters, knowing far more than any one of them, and thus we can sympathise with Jess Tamblyn and his love (and head of the Roamers) Cesca Peroni who keep wanting to be together but keep getting pulled apart by circumstance, hoping they'll make the right decisions but knowing in advance the barriers that will get in the way. We hope that Nira, the green priestess who has been enslaved by the Ildirans in their sinister breeding program, will be rescued by her Ildiran love Jora'h before Jora'h's father can have her executed. We want to warn King Peter that, yes, the Klikiss robots are planning something sinister, even if we don't yet know exactly what!

And so on.

Yeah, I'm invested in this series.

Once again, the book is a slow-burn with occasional bursts of action. And once again, I want to know what happens next.

Bring it on.

Completed 19 August 2021.

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