Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19276 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

Synopsis
The alien hydrogues have been defeated, driven back into the cores of their gas-giant planets by an alliance of the Earth Defence Forces, the ancient Ildiran Empire, the gypsy-like Roamer clans and fantasic water elemental beings as well as gigantic living 'treeships'. But as the various factions try to pick up the pieces and recover, the deep-seated wounds may be fatal. The Hansa's brutal Chairman Basil Wenceslas struggles to crush any resistance even as King Peter breaks away to form his own new Confederation among the green priests on Theroc, the Roamer clans and an ever-growing number of breakaway colonies who have declared their independence. Like jackals smelling wounded prey, swarms of ancient black robots built by the lost insectoid Klikiss race continue their depredations on helpless worlds with stolen and heavily armed Earth battleships. A race of capricious and terrifying fiery elementals, the faeros, has joined with an Ildiran madman to declare war against all life. And the original, voracious Klikiss race - long thought to be extinct - have returned, intent on conquering their former worlds and willing to annihilate anyone who happens to be in the way.

Customer Reviews

good
i enjoyed the book, but i dont think it was as good as the others. i dont know why but the others i could not put down, but this one i could.

but if you have read 1 to 5 then you just have to carry on i guess.

Hope! Dashed hope... then more hope! Oh, dashed again.
Why, I wonder does Kevin Anderson build a whole plot-line for some characters then kill them off seemingly at random? In this volume of the SofSS, he does it several times. The death of the character(s) becomes a frustration instead a tragedy, leaving the reader confused and wondering "What was the point of that thread ever starting?". It's like deciding characters will say "We have a great idea, we'll go and do this!" followed by "And at that moment a Piano fell on them all.". Why bother with stating the existence of the idea? It did nothing.

For me, this complaint sums up what is wrong with the entire book. Hopes are simply dashed repeatedly, to the extent that by the halfway mark, we know that any character who is doing something that could rescue someone, advance the fight or solve a problem is going to die before they actually get a chance to act. What's the point of reading the build-up when our minds are cynically predicting disaster already?

Oh dear. I do hope the final 900 chapters (sarcasm now, you see how upset I am?) have a point when they're published. I'll buy the book, because I need to have an ending. I'll be battling to keep an open mind while the plot re-convinces me that hopes are not always dashed in the Saga.

Enjoyable space opera
To get the best out of this novel you should read the previous volumes of the saga first. Nevertheless, the author does provide a quick catch up on the plot so far and the history of the main characters. This is not, and presumably was never intended to be, a saga that stretches the mind. There are no deep or challenging ideas. Yet it is an enjoyable relaxing read. In science fiction there is a place for stories like this just as in mainstream fiction westerns (cowboys, etc.) may juxtapose with the perceptive writing of Jane Austen.