Scattered Suns - Kevin J Anderson

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2007 (2005).
Book Four 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'.

By now I'm guessing you know there are spoilers for earlier in the series.

About halfway through this book I took a break from the story and had a look at a section in the back called 'meet the author'. Within it Kevin J Anderson admits that originally this book and book 3, the previous installment, were intended to be one entry in the series. However, as he was writing the draft the story grew enough that he ended up splitting it in two, which also allowed him to explore a few extra plotlines he would have otherwise trimmed. This extra information helped me to make sense of the pacing of this book, as well as Horizon Storms before it. Basically, it feels as though this is the second part of the earlier book, especially when plotlines that became in book three are wrapped up in this book - namely the rebellion on Hyrillka and Sarein being sent to Theroc. We also get a little more of the Wenceslas/Peter plotline, which I felt had been lacking in Horizon Storms.

Otherwise, this is still more of the same. The Klikiss robot uprising is in full swing now - even if some areas of the galaxy are still not yet aware of it - and Jess Tamblyn, now a conduit for the elemental wentals, is seeking to spread these new allies to as many locations as possible. In this book we also finally get the hint of some practical ways to attack the hydrogues, with the Roamer inventor Kotto Okiah developing a technique he hopes will help the war. 

The series continues to grip me even while certain aspects are a little annoying. In particular, I'm finding it hard to keep track of how much time is passing in each chapter. At one point a character meeting another character states that it has been 'years' since they last met. Has it?? Meanwhile one particularly slow subplot follows a group of ever-dwindling survivors crossing a planet. Yeah, that would take take a while... but how long has it taken? How much air did they have? And have all the other plot-lines that are going on taken the same amount of time consistently as this planet-crossing one has had?

I don't mean to complain. I still like the world Anderson has created. And I'll still read some more soon. 

Probably once Elise and I are out of Covid isolation.

Completed 1 May 2022.

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