Rating: 
Summary: Saga of the seven suns
Review: Absolutely fantastic. If you like fast paced space opera, wham bang action and a great detailed background story than this is the book for you. Since Hamilton's 'Nights Dawn' trilogy this is certainly one of the best space operas I have read. The only negative point is, that now I have to wait for the next book in the series to come out, so please Mr Anderson, write fast!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good start to a promising series
Review: I came. I bought. I read.I had been looking forward to this series ever since I saw Anderson mention it during an interview that revolved around the Dune trilogies he has been working on with Brian Herbert. Being a fan of epic fantasy, the idea of a new sci-fi saga really interested me. Now that I have finished the first volume, I am eagerly anticipating the next: A Forest of Stars. This first volume really sets the stage for what is shaping up to be a large scale, interstellar war between multiple alien races. Anderson put in some of my favorite sci-fi concepts making this series a blend of Star Wars, Dune, Stargate, and Starship Troopers all rolled into one. Short chapters with a now popular point of view style make it hard to put the book down. It's a fun, smooth read.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising but not perfect
Review: Kevin Anderson has produced a conceptually interesting universe and plot but his unfortunate writing style and some internal consistency problems keep this from being an excellent read. That said, the book is enjoyable and story is interesting. As one might expect, the book has many characters and plot threads and some of these are better than others. Unfortuately, some of the intersting characters are shuffled to the background and the stereotypical characters take the foreground. My biggest criticism is that it takes a half the book to get the characters introduced and the plot underway and then another quarter of the book goes by before the plot is really moving. Additionally, KA seems to find it necessary to constantly remind the reader of certain facts about his characters. C'mon, I was paying attention. Honest! This just draws out the book and highlights the clumsy composition. All in all, I enjoyed the book and will probably invest the time in reading the sequel(s) but I certainly hoped for a little more. I'm looking forward to the writer that can produce a futureverse with the same depth and interest that George R. R. Martin has done for fantasy worlds. Unfortunatley, KA is not that author but has done a respectable job with this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Clunky writing mars fascinating universe
Review: Humanity has reached the stars--not through their own efforts, but largely through the gift of an alien race. The ancient Ildiran Empire has dominated the stars alone for thousands of years. They have willingly shared their technology with the humans, but are now increasingly concerned about the human urge to expand, and the risks that humans are willing to take. When the humans take one risk too many, creating a new star out of a gas giant, both humans and Ildirans must pay the price. The gas giants are inhabited--and don't take kindly to the genocide of their people. Author Kevin J. Anderson delivers an impressive display of world-building. The divisions of humans into mercantile Hanse, mystic Theroc, and entrepreneurial Roamers, the all-knowing Priest-King of the Ildiran, and the enigmatic robots of long-extinct Klikiss make for a fascinating background. Unfortunately, Anderson's clunky writing, constant repetition, and the illogical actions of many of his characters mar an otherwise interesting story. The humans have an ultimate weapon at their fingertips--the tool that created a star from a planet that set off the war in the first place, yet neither they, nor the inhabitants of the gas giants seem to recognize the power that this gives them--or the danger that it offers to the gas dwellers. With careful editing, this cuold have been a fine novel. Perhaps Anderson will deliver in the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: powerful futuristic epic
Review: By the middle of the twenty-fifth century, humanity has proven its adaptability by accepting that we are not alone and in fact are the third sentient space travelers in our galaxy. The Ildirans have explored space for centuries finding the abandoned ruins of the Klikiss back in the mid twentieth century earth time. The Ildirans have shared science and technology speeding up humanity's journey in the galaxy. In 2427, xeno-archaeologists Margaret and Louis Colicos know how to use a Klikiss device to convert a gas giant planet into a sun. They choose a hydrogen giant five times the size of Jupiter with numerous moons to create a new solar system for commercial venture. However, the implosion arouses a fourth intelligent race previously unknown to humanity and the Ildirans, the even more advanced Hydrogues, dwellers of the gas giants and now the victims of unintentional genocide making war imminent. Science fiction fans need to set aside plenty of time as the first book of The Saga of Seven Suns: Hidden Empire is a one sitting reading though well over four hundred pages. The tale grabs the audience from the start as Kevin J. Anderson does not just introduce the several races and the orbs, but blends the players and worlds into the thrilling plot. Thus, the audience does not receive an extended prologue as often seen in first novels. Instead readers obtain a powerful futuristic epic that contains a robust stand-alone story line yet provides a puissant cliffhanger that will keep the audience wanting to continue non-stop with Book Two, Veiled Alliance. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining and pleasant reading
Review: This is a welcome addition to Science Fiction literature. The author is highly competent in attracting and maintaining the interest of the reader and the story line is very dynamic. Nevertheless, although innovative, many elements of the plot are very resemblant to those in the Dune series. There are some very obvious similarities between the two epics, and although this is possibly disturbing this book constitutes very entertaining reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Unique Experience
Review: Hidden Empires seems to be, at it's best, a novel not about technological advances, war or economy, but about universal concepts. We see the ingenuity of mankind, the wrath of the Hydrogues, and the desperation of the Iidrians. I recommend this book to all those who have the patience and dedication to digest such a book. It is not nessecarily a simple one to understand, nor to want to understand, but at the end, a feeling of warmth flows over you as you see the universal concepts of hope, love, survival and vengence be put to the test.
Rating:
Summary: The first book in an incredibly exciting epic sci fi series
Review: Kevin J. Anderson's Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns Book 1 requires a certain level of commitment from the reader, but one's patience and focus is well rewarded by a thrilling, almost intoxicating reading experience. The Saga of Seven Suns is a true space epic in every sense of the word, encompassing several alien races, all manner of strikingly different planets, and a huge number of important characters. Just this first book alone is rather lengthy, and the opening two hundred pages can be a bit of a test. While each chapter is relatively short, Anderson constantly switches the point of view from one character to another. I initially had a hard time remembering who certain characters were and how they fit into the overall picture, etc. I imagine that some readers might be tempted to lay this book aside during this crucial and lengthy introductory phase, but those who do so will miss out on an incredibly gripping story that represents all of the best things about science fiction. To his credit, Anderson does include an appendix featuring a chronology of events and pertinent rulers as well as a glossary of important terms and people. About a third of the way through Hidden Empire, everything started to click for me; all of these very different characters who had remained elusive in my imagination began to really emerge in my consciousness. My doubts now fully allayed, I found myself completely fascinated and personally involved as dire events began to play out before my very eyes. On more than one occasion, I uttered an audible "Oh no" when a sudden plot twist hit me like a linebacker blindsiding an unprotected quarterback. Any plot summary I write cannot possibly do justice to this epic, but I will try to state a few overarching features of the novel. In the early twenty-third century, Earth began colonizing its corner of the galaxy, and one such colonization ship was eventually discovered by the Ildiran Empire, the only other known major civilization in the Spiral Arm of the galaxy. Ildiran is eternally lit by seven suns, and this ancient civilization's history is recorded in the massive Book of Seven Suns, a continuously growing saga that the most fervent student could never possibly read in the space of one lifetime. Earth and her colonies form the Terran Hanseatic League, and they seek to expand while their mysterious Ildiran allies care more about the past than the future. Ildiran is led by a Mage-Imperator who, through the mysterious force of thism, can see inside the minds of all his people; the Hansa League is represented by a king, but true power lies in the shadows behind the throne. A few disparate groups do seek to maintain their independence. The Roamers live a nomadic life, thriving economically by supplying the precious stardrive fuel the two major civilizations require for space travel. Then there are the Therons; theirs is a civilization devoted to the care of the vast and semi-sentient worldforest, the ultimate organic collective of universal knowledge. The green priests of Theroc take on a crucial role in this story, as they can communicate instantly across vast distances of space through the worldtrees they raise and tend to on other planets. The most mysterious people of all are the extinct Klikiss race. Almost nothing is known of this long-gone alien superpower, but the discovery of some of their technology basically sets the events of this story in motion. Using a Klikiss Torch, the Hansa League turns a gas giant planet into a star, thereby making distant moons of the new sun capable of sustaining human colonies. Unfortunately, an unknown race of mysterious and mind-bogglingly deadly aliens live in the pressurized depths of gas giants and do not take kindly to having one of their worlds destroyed. They don't ask questions; they just start sending up ships to destroy anything and everything around their home planets. Suddenly, the galaxy is at war, and Hidden Empire becomes much too exciting to even dream of putting down. Neither the Hansa League nor the Ildiran Empire is exactly what it seems, and this makes for some startling revelations as the book winds toward its conclusion. With the action definitely heated up, all manner of familiar characters caught up in events they can barely come to terms with, and the dark and mysterious game plans of different characters offering one dire surprise after another, this novel that seemed so long in the early chapters suddenly becomes tantalizingly short. Casual science fiction fans may not have the patience to stick with this panoramic epic long enough to get hooked, but those who love space epics of the grandest style will find much to jump up and down about in this first entry in the Book of Seven Suns series.
Rating:
Summary: Song of Ice and Fire meets Lost in Space
Review: I will probably read the sequal out of curiosity but I will not read it a secound time. The setup was great I liked the charecters, the action was moving along at a fast clip than BANG something happened(i'm not sure what) I do know what killed this book(at least for me) 1. In spite of all the great setup and the charecters that the authors had obviously put a lot of thought into we never really got to know them. They whized by very fast and their chapters were over almost as soon as they had begun. I had a hard time remembering who these guys were and what they were doing. 2. The obvious attempt to leave an open ended cliff hanger so people will buy a sequal. While I liked the story well enough that is not the point, people are supposed to LIKE a book well enough that they buy the sequal. If you perposfully leave out half of the story(when you could have wrapped it all up with no trouble) I don't know it smacks of something wrong in your overall approach to being an author. Overall-I'm cautiously interiged, but I will not pay for another book in this serise.
Rating: 
Summary: Way to go Kevin...
Review: I began reading Hidden Empire (Book 1) wondering how Kevin Anderson was going to top the Dune prequels. I was pleasantly surprised to discover HOW GOOD and yet NOT LIKE the Dune prequels the first two books in the Saga of the Seven Suns are. Book 1 is packed with characters --almost all of whom you actually begin to care about ...and are likable. (So many characters in sci-fi are warped --even the heroes.) Strong female characters abound (something new in science fiction?). Forget the complainers of "too many characters." Book 2 (Forest of Stars) thickens their plot lines and starts to intersect them in unexpected ways. KJ does a good job at reminding the reader about each character's 'story so far.' Oh yeah, Book 1 and 2 are action packed too. (...) Can't wait for Book 3. -NM
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