The Saga of the Seven Suns

It was book one of this series that first caught my eye while browsing the shelves of the Waterstones book store in Bury, a few weeks before Christmas back in 2004. I was in Bury with my Mother, whom I would take out shopping to a local town that had plenty of shops and/or a good outdoor market, on each of the four Friday’s prior to Christmas. Bury was always a favourite for my Mother as it had both shops and a market.

Like the vast majority of the books I have purchased, it was the cover that attracted me first, then once I had read the synopsis I was hooked. The plot is very interesting and basically straightforward, however, the multiple characters, factions, locations and events make it engaging on many different levels. The pacing is good, though even in the slower sections the tension and anticipation still grip you.

The first three books of this series I purchased as paperbacks, then after I emigrated I read the remaining books, plus the prequel, on my Kindle, more or less back to back.

There are a number of fascinating and intriguing ideas presented in these books, so there is plenty to think about to go along with the action.

Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 01

In our galaxy's 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 Hydrogues -- and a galaxy-spanning war that threatens all life begins.

Format

Paperback

Date Acquired

25th December 2004

Retail Cost

£6.99

Number of Pages

704

Year Read

2007

A Forest Of Stars: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 02

It has been five years since humanity's heady expansion among the stars came to an abrupt, and violent, halt.

The emergence of the Hydrogues, an immensely powerful alien race dwelling within gas-giant planets, has placed the scattered colonies of the Terran Hanseatic League in jeopardy. With space travel heavily curtailed, and supplies of fuel dwindling, young King Peter and Chairman Basil Wenceslas, the harsh power behind the throne, have no choice but to impose strict rationing. But the Hydrogues are not the only enemies of humanity. The scheming Mage-Imperator, leader of the ancient Ildiran Empire, attempts to forge tangled alliances among all combatants in order to protect his failing civilization.

The mysterious Klikiss robots, only remnants of an extinct race, continue to work their sinister plans while pretending to be friends and advisors to the Hanseatic League, whose ancient alien weapon accidentally triggered the Hydrogue conflict -- have vanished on the abandoned world of Rheindic Co. Rlinda Kett and Davlin Lotze, sent to investigate the disappearance, soon realise that the Colicos' discoveries may lead to an incredible new way to travel between worlds... or to the awakening of enemies even more fearsome than the Hydrogues. Something of inestimable power must have been required to destroy the Klikiss race. Will humanity be next?

Format

Paperback

Date Acquired

25th December 2007

Retail Cost

£7.99

Number of Pages

742

Year Read

2013

Horizon Storms: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 03

The titanic war between the elemental alien hydrogues and faeros continues to sweep across the Spiral Arm, extinguishing suns and destroying planets. Chairman Wenceslas and King Peter must now unify the human race with iron-fisted policies in a final bid to stand together -- or face total annihilation.

But disparate civilizations are forging new alliances that threaten the old order. The Roamer and Theron clans will not yield their independence, and the new Mage-Imperator Jora'h now faces a threat that no other Ildiran leader has ever seen -- a civil war that could break apart the entire Empire.

Format

Paperback

Date Acquired

25th December 2007

Retail Cost

£7.99

Number of Pages

638

Year Read

2014

Scattered Suns: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 04

The destructive hydrogues continue their war against humans and the fiery entities, the faeros - a struggle that kills planets and extinguishes whole stars. Newly crowned Mage-Imperator Jora'h, the leader of the ancient and vast Ildiran Empire, struggles with new knowledge he has learned: an ancient bargain and long-standing treachery that may finally bring peace with the hydrogues . . . though it could mean the extermination of the human race.

In the Terran Hanseatic League, Chairman Basil Wenceslas continues his red-herring war against the Roamer clans, eager to achieve a decisive victory, even against a supposed enemy that poses no threat. Their homes destroyed, the wandering Roamers scatter into hiding, trying to keep their culture and government intact, even when faced with enemies from all sides.

Cesca Peroni, leader of the Roamers, finds herself stranded on a small icy outpost where miners have uncovered a hibernating army of alien Klikiss robots. Once released, these robots trigger another dark and ancient plot, one that could lead to a massacre across all human-inhabited planets . . .

Format

Kindle Edition

Date Acquired

4th June 2017

Retail Cost

£5.99

Number of Pages

637

Year Read

2017

Of Fire and Night: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 05

After many years of hardship and bravery, the human race faces its greatest challenge. The sweeping war between titanic races -- a conflict that has obliterated planets, extinguished entire stars, exterminated whole races -- is reaching its end game. Allies become betrayers, strangers become fast friends, and enemies clash in a struggle that will rock the galaxy.

For years, the alien Klikiss robots have pretended to be humanity's friends, but their seeming "help" has allowed them to plant an insidious Trojan Horse throughout the Earth Defence Forces, and the sudden rebellion of Earth's own companies leaves millions dead and the Terran Hanseatic League defenceless. In a desperate attempt to save his own race, the Ildiran Mage-Imperator Jora'h is forced into a devil's bargain with the evil hydrogues, which will require him to ambush and destroy what remains of the human race. But the gypsy Roamer clans and the green priests of the towering worldforest -- scattered stepchildren of humanity -- have found innovative ways to fight, as well as strange allies of incomprehensible power.

As the climactic battle is engaged, the Ildiran Solar Navy, the Earth Defence Forces, the Roamers, green priests, Klikiss robots, and hydrogue warglobes collide in a fury that will destroy many and change the landscape of the Spiral Arm forever.

Format

Kindle Edition

Date Acquired

6th August 2017

Retail Cost

£5.99

Number of Pages

609

Year Read

2017

Metal Swarm: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 06

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 gigantic living 'treeships'. The various factions try to recover - but the deep-seated wounds may prove 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 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 Earth battleships. A race of 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.

Format

Kindle Edition

Date Acquired

29th August 2017

Retail Cost

£5.99

Number of Pages

676

Year Read

2017

The Ashes of Worlds: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 07

The allied factions of humanity, along with the waning Ildiran Empire and the powerful water elementals and sentient trees, have defeated the near-invincible alien race of the hydrogues, driving them back into the depths of gas-giant planets. But before peace can heal the wounds between the races, two ancient enemies return: the capricious fiery elementals, the faeros, who mean to burn all those who fought alongside their mortal enemies. And the lost hive race of the Klikiss, who intend to reclaim all the worlds they inhabited 10,000 years earlier, worlds that are now home to many human colonies. Meanwhile, the leader of the Terran Hanseatic League, Chairman Basil Wenceslas, intends to pull all of humanity's unruly stepchildren into his iron grip - even if it means he has to hold the Ildiran Mage-Imperator hostage, risking renewed war with an entire alien civilization.

Format

Kindle Edition

Date Acquired

14th September 2017

Retail Cost

£4.99

Number of Pages

623

Year Read

2017

Veiled Alliances: The Saga of Seven Suns: Prequel

Based on the legendary science-fiction series The Saga Of Seven Suns,Veiled Alliancesis a revelatory prequel, in which long-term fanswill discover the origin of the green priests on Theroc, the first Roamer skymining operations on a gas-giant planet, the discovery of the Klikiss robots entombed in an abandoned alien city, the initial Ildiran expedition to Earth, the rescue of the generation ship Burtonand the tragedy that led to sinister breeding experiments.

In this volume the human race begins its expansion into outer space, only to discover that for centuries a multitude of other races has already been interacting on a cosmic scale. Eleven exploratory ships carrying humans escaping a degenerating Earth are discovered by a more advanced space-faring civilization, the Ildaran Empire. The empire helps the refugees - by now the several-generations-later offspring of the original voyagers - settle suitable planets and sends diplomats with a few of them to Earth to establish trade and diplomatic relations.

Meanwhile, both Terran and Ildaran authorities bring hidden agendas to their first-contact discussions, and asEarth attempts to become a player in this new arena, its ambassadors are thrust into a foreign world of alien life forms, backstabbing politics, bitter feuds, and a deadly struggle to become the supreme force in the universe.

Format

Kindle Edition

Date Acquired

7th October 2017

Retail Cost

£4.99

Number of Pages

316

Year Read

2017