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Title: The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns)
ISBN: 0316007579
Author:
Kevin J. Anderson
Publicate Date: 2008-07-01
Publish: 2008-07-01
List Price: $25.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $14.03
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $13.93
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.15
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| Customer Review: |
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1: No loose ends or endless number of volumes here: Anderson delivers a pleasing close to the Saga
"The Ashes of Worlds" offers a big, satisfying finish to a seven-book series that, at worst, was always perfectly entertaining, and at best was often much more than that. My personal favorite plotline throughout the series was the constant power struggle between Chairman Wenceslas and King Peter over who would hold the reins of the human government, and that was one of many plotlines entertainingly resolved here.
In a style that reminded me of the close to the film "Return of the Jedi", the last quarter of the book nicely jumped between several different battles and confrontations, with all the separate strands finally pulling together to contribute to the big finish. There are also a few quiet, graceful final chapters that nicely show us the aftermath of that big finish, and what many of the characters will now be doing with their lives (something "Return of the Jedi" could have used).
Was seven books a little long for Kevin Anderson's space opera? Maybe. But in a world where there's ten (so far) "Wheel of Time" books with no scheduled resolution (a situation further hampered by the recent passing of the books' author, Robert Jordan) and an ever-growing (but still very good, admittedly) "Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy series by George R. R. Martin, it was refreshing to read a series that announced it was going to be seven books, delivered seven books (doing so fairly regularly one after the other), and- most importantly- provided a complete, satisfying story.
If you enjoyed Kevin Anderson's "Saga of Seven Suns" series, you might also like the single-volume epic, "The Last Days of Krypton", which is Mr. Anderson's imaginative take on the events leading up to the destruction of the planet Krypton and the launch of the infant Kal-El to Earth, where he'd eventually grow up to be Superman. Incidentally, I read both "The Last Days of Krypton" and "The Ashes of Worlds" on my Amazon Kindle reading device, and both read beautifully on the Kindle's eye-pleasing screen.
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2: Too many "look behind you!" moments
I love this series. It has great characters and story. However, in this last episode, there are too many unbelievable events. Many of the characters do stupids things - making you want to shout "Look behind you!" like in a pantomime. When someone could be killed by visiting Earth why do they keep going there? Why don't the Roamers and Confederation protect themselves enough from the HANSA? And so on... After a while it got so tiring that I skipped to the end to see what happened - I almost never do this with books.
Another annoying story trait was that s**t always seems to be happening to the point where you keep asking "what now... groan". At some point the bad people have to get there just rewards and something good needs to happen to the nice people - but it takes so damn long.
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3: Great Final Chapter
'The Ashes of Worlds' is a great final chapter in the Seven Suns saga and a wonderful book by Kevin Anderson. With a 'final' book in a saga you want to have your whistle wet and be happy with a finale and this book delivers.
**** RECOMMENDED
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4: Well worth it!
The whole series is great. I was taken in from the first book to the last. I found the books very hard to put down once I started reading them. The characters, plots and sub-plots and just the whole ball of wax. The is a must read for anyone who is looking for something on the same level as Dune. Kevin Anderson's writting is brilliant.
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5: The Final Chapter
Ashes of Worlds (2008) is the seventh SF novel in the Saga of Seven Suns series, following Metal Swarm. In the previous novel, the hydrogues were defeated in a great battle in the Sol System and then bottled up in their gas giant planets. The EDF and Idiran navies were greatly depleted in the final battle.
King Peter and Queen Estarra escaped from Earth during the battle and fled to Theroc. There they declared a new unified government for humanity: the Confederation. With the Therons, the Roamer clans and orphaned Hansa colonies joining the Confederation, the Terran Hanseatic League became even more isolated.
Rusa'h -- the Faeros Incarnate -- attacked certain green priests through their telink/thism pathways and converted them to carriers of the faeros. The flaming green priest set the world forests on fire. Soon, the verdani treeships were under attack.
Chairman Basil Wenceslas had Admiral Deinte intercept Mage-Imperator Jora'h in midspace and escort his ships to Luna. Jora'h and his retinue were placed in suites within the moonbase. Basil visited Jora'h on the moon and declared him to be a "guest" of the Hansa.
In this novel, Admiral Sheila Willis takes her ships to Theroc to turn them over to the Confederation. Approaching the planet, she notices pandemonium among the ships in orbit. Apparently the planet is under attack, but by whom?
Admiral Willis soon sets up relays of her smaller ships to dump water on the flames. The faeros fight back and the water dumps are performed from higher attitudes. The treeships pull up the fully engulfed trees and dump them into a black hole. Finally, the fires die out, but large expanses of land have been reduced to ashes.
General Laymon raids the Roamer skymines at Golgen. They are totally unprepared and the EDF captures enough ekti to keep their ships operating for months. They also plant pingers on the escaping cargo escorts.
Chairman Wenceslas has been withdrawing within himself, blaming other people for his troubles. If they would only do exactly what he tells them to do, everything would be just fine. When they fail him, Basil arranges various degrees of punishment.
The Mage-Imperator is growing more desperate as the faeros kill his people. He tries talking to the Hansa Chairman, but Basil has some conditions. Jora'h must repudiate King Peter and the Confederacy or the EDF will not allow him to return to Ildira.
In this story, Chairman Wenceslas is approached by Sirix's compies offering to trade repaired EDF ships for newly constructed Klikiss robots. Basil makes a deal with Sirix, but asks for certain other repairs. Naturally, both parties expect to betray the other.
The Chairman is having problems with the Archfather of Unison. The supreme pontiff of the Hansa state religion has been growing more reluctant to give speeches approving of the Klikiss robots. When he complains to the Chairman, Basil allows him to prepare a speech of his own devising. Then the Archfather is blown apart by a bolt of energy out of the sky in full view of the video audience.
General Laymon is also having problems. When he raids the Osquivel shipyards, the Roamer ships give his ships a warm reception. Then Admiral Willis brings her ships out against his and Laymon flees back to Earth.
The Klikiss are swarming and warring against each other. They are also retaking their former planets and killing off many human colonists. The swarm on Llaro, however, is infused with the personality of Devlan, who tries to protect the humans.
The Roamers are changing their strategy toward the Hansa. They are beginning to develop warships of their own and using them against EDF raiders. They are also developing weapons to use against the faeros and the Klikiss.
This tale is the final volume in the series. It is just as crowded with characters, places and events as the previous six books. Even more characters are terminated in this novel. The conclusion is rather pat, but fits into the ambiance of this series.
Recommended for Anderson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of epic space opera, alien societies, and human folly.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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