The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns Series #7)

What good space opera is all about

Last of a seven-book series, this is space opera on a grand scale. Galactic empires clash, and elemental beings wipe out entire star systems.

The Klikiss are an insectoid, hive-mind race who were thought to have been extinct for the past several thousand years. Well, they're not extinct, and they want their old colony planets back. The Klikiss are the sort of beings who don't take No for an answer. They are also in the middle of a major "civil war" to see which hive, or breedex, will dominate. With a death toll in the tens of thousands, new genetic material is needed to replenish the ranks, like from slaughtered human colonists on one planet .

Basil Wenceslas is Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League (Emperor of Earth). He is increasingly isolated and psychotic. King Peter and Queen Estarra are able to flee Earth for the planet Theroc, where they set up a rival Confederation. Many human colony planets switch their allegiance to the Confederation, so Wenceslas sends the Earth Defense Forces to make an example of several colonies. The Ildiran Empire (another humanoid race) establishes an alliance with the Confederation, reducing the number of the Chairman's allies to near zero. The Chairman kidnaps the Ildiran Mage-Imperator, the Ildiran leader, and takes him to an EDF base on Earth's moon until he reconsiders the alliance. Ildirans have a sort of telepathic connection between all members of the race. If any Ildiran is cut off from that connection for any length of time, permanent insanity is a major concern.

Chairman Wenceslas comes up with the idea for an alliance with the Klikiss. He sends one of his senior Generals to negotiate a treaty. The General does not go out of loyalty; he goes because the Chairman does not think twice about holding hostage family members of his senior officers. The general discovers, to his horror, that the Klikiss have no interest in an alliance with anyone. Later, a Klikiss battle group shows up in Earth orbit, with enough firepower to turn Earth into a burned-out cinder. They want to talk to the Chairman, in person, now. He still thinks that he can get whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

This is what good space opera is all about. There is a helpful summary of the rest of the series, so the reader does not have to read it all to understand this book. But it's a very good idea, because the writing is that good. Separately or together, this is very much recommended.

Thrilling ending

This is very good at wrapping up the series. We find out what happens to each character. Very exciting read even though you have to skip paragraphs that are repetitious

9 books in one

Kevin J. Anderson is very strong on building unique worlds and keeping them consistent. He also can be depended on to present an intriguing, engaging overall plot for a story. However, the reader really does need to read this series from the beginning- it really is several novels in one, with many many "cliff-hanger" plotlines running at once with several sets of antagonists / protagonists across a galaxy. Isn't part of the fun of a series going from beginning to end anyway? There are few things so melancholy as reading the last line of an engrossing series, so why start at the tail (tale?) end with this 7th in the series entry (and this is why I chose the paperback versions).

Many of the main characters are not complex- Mr. Anderson's strength is in plot and concepts, not following the individual's spiritual path, etc. Evil characters mainly stay evil, good ones stay the same level of good, at least as I read this.

This particular series is mainly sci-fi, but often the concepts trip over into the fantasy and comic book superhero genres. Teraforming worlds, creating a sun out of a gas giant, mining asteroids is all good solid sci-fi territory. Communicating across light years via plants is not, nor is having the ruler of the world somehow communicate mentally/emotionally with his people simultaneously, or having a human transform into a water creature. But again, Mr. Anderson is great at setting up the rules for his worlds, be they sci-fi, fantasy or otherwise, so the reader is able to "escape" for hours at a time without effort into these many worlds portrayed.

I may also pick up the graphic novel based on this world as well, if I can find again that is.

Because the plot and worlds are so well-conceived, I do recommend this series- but if you like deep reflections on the human condition, you may want to look elsewhere in the sci-fi world.

The Ashes of Worlds by Kevin J. Anderson

The Saga of Seven Suns is far from over... wait, that's Dune. Still, Kevin J. Anderson leaves open the possibility of making additions to the series/saga. It's not really possible to write a review without giving away tons of information, so I'll just comment on the book. It concluded many adventures, had many twists and turns (some predictable, others not), and was everything I thought the final book should be. I'm glad my personal library includes the entire series. This saga definitely belongs on my bookshelves, right where it is.

A good ending for the series, though not without some flaws

Overall, this book was a good ending to a long series. This is especially good news in a genre where oftentimes series overstay their welcome or fail to end. KJA wraps up almost every plot thread, however, he wasted a chapter creating a new thread that was never resolved (the staging of a satelite weapon). In addition, the tidbit about the shana rei from book 6 was not developed. Also, the second quarter of the book was fairly boring, depressing and dragged out, reminiscent of the middle third of the final Harry Potter book. In the third quarter of this book, things kick into overdrive and plotlines new and old are methodically resolved. The tone of these endings was often uneven, with some ending with a bang and others a barely noticeble whimper. The final quarter was akin to the ending of Return of the King with a drawn out goodbye to all the characters. Also, much of the book required a greater suspension of disbelief as the author continued the past trend of having every notable character in the series meet each other at least once. I am happy the series is over but it was definitely not a waste of time to have followed it these past 6 years. Be warned though, the ending definitely leaves the universe open to a sequel.

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