A Forest of Stars

Kevin J Anderson returns with the second book in his acclaimed Saga of the Seven Suns series with A Forest of Stars. Picking up the narrative five years after the Klikiss Torch experiment at Oncier went dramatically wrong, destroying an unknown world of alien hydrogues, he returns to the galaxy-wide space opera of the spiral arm and the worlds within it that are now in crisis. After the Klikiss torch exploded, skymining of stardrive fuel has been banned by King Peter and Chairman Basil Wenceslas, the real power behind the throne on Earth, making space travel difficult at best. This leads the rebel Roamers to develop new methods of harvesting fuel, amongst daring mission against the hydrogues. Meanwhile, to save his failing realm the Mage-Imperator of the Ildiran Empire seeks to form alliances with other worlds and species, particularly Theroc, home of the green priests who speak to each other across worlds through the trees of the worldforest. On Earth, Basil Wenceslas sends the merchant woman Rlinda Klett and spy Davlin Lotze to the planet Rheindic Co, in an attempt to trace the whereabouts of the archaeologists Margaret and Louis Colicos, who have mysteriously disappeared. They soon uncover Margaret and Louis's discovery - a way to travel between worlds that will make stardrive fuel redundant. In the meantime, the Terran Hanseatic League on Earth accepts the help of the ancient race of Klikiss Robots against the hydrogues, failing to see the Klikiss' sinister motives. As the hydrogues start to attack planets, seemingly without motive and at random, the war within the spiral arm sets apace. In this impressive follow-up to Hidden Empire, Anderson weaves his tale of immense proportions easily, leaving us with a brilliantly real, exciting and well-constructed novel of galactic conflict. He deftly balances a multitude of well-drawn characters, worlds and plots without confusion, leaving us poised for the next chapter in the series, Horizon Storms. (Kirkus UK)