Book Review: Metal Swarm and The Ashes of Worlds by Kevin J. Anderson

*Beware of Spoilers*

These are parts 6 and 7 of the Saga of Seven Suns.

The release of Anderson's sequel to the Saga of Seven Suns made me remember that I had actually forgotten to review these two. That is why they're bunched together.

These two books are different from the others. This series could have ended in book 5. Leave Margaret Colicos dead, and move on. Klikiss dead, their robots dead. The Verdani and Wentals happy, the Faeros content, and Rusa'h being just a maniac who thought the sun was his friend.

Boy, am I glad it didn't. Basil Wenceslas and his breakdown is one of the biggest driving forces here, as it has been all series, and it really pays off in The Ashes of Worlds in a giant space-standoff. The Faeros are cool, but are kind of depthless; why are they doing this? Because a random Ildiran tells them to? Nah, they just like killing shit. At least the Hydrogues tried to give motivations.  

But these books aren't really about the elemental beings. They are just a framework for a brilliant story; a human story. The Klikiss arrival, and their subjugation of colony worlds is proof of that; in the end, even they become humanised thanks to Davlin's sacrifice.

The ending is a work of art, pure and simple. Yes, many things are left hanging: Where are the elementals now? Where does this leave Ildira and Earth? There are others, and they do leave me excited for The Dark Between Stars.

Metal Swarm

8/10

The Ashes of Worlds

10/10

This series ends on the highest point it could. No disappointments. Buy this series now, and read them before June 7th. Failing that, read them anyway.

My next book review should (hopefully) be along the way next week with The Dark Between Stars by Kevin J. Anderson. Hope you enjoyed reading!

Review: Of Fire and Night by Kevin J. Anderson

*Beware of Spoilers*

This is part 5 of the Saga of Seven Suns.

Wow.
I could not put this book down. That may seem like a cliche, and it is, but it sums up this book review pretty well. There was no part of this book that I didn't like. From the daring escape of King Peter and Estarra, aided by Cain, a great character, to the immense scale of the final battle with the Hydrogues and Klikiss robots, I felt on the edge of my seat. In fact, the more I think about this book, the more good points I can think of, such as the Mage-Imperator's moral dilemma and the return of Rusa'h and the Faeros.
I urge everyone to buy this book. Even if you haven't read the other books in the saga, even if you're not a fan of sci-fi, you need to read this book.

Of Fire and Night

+ Epic scale
+ Moral dilemmas with Jora'h
+ Great characters

10/10

Review: Horizon Storm and Scattered Suns by Kevin J Anderson

*Beware of spoilers!*
Note: I have not been keeping up with these books, and they've merged together in my mind somewhat. Hence, there will be no full plot review, just a vague one.
Best bits: King Peter's plot, Roamer efforts against the Hydrogues, especially at the end of Scattered Suns, Verdani Treeships

Worst bits: Bits and pieces which never really pay off; a ton of anticipation, and I found myself thinking "when is That going to happen?!"

Horizon Storm

+ King Peter's story continues to delight
+ Hydrogues vs Faeros
+ Other elementals
- Klikiss Robots, get your act together!

8/10

Scattered Suns

+ King Peter's story heats up
+ Roamers vs Hansa

+ Klikiss Robots get their act together!

9/10

Tomorrow, I shall post the review of Fire and Night, part 5 of the Saga of Seven Suns! Amazing book, stay tuned!

Review: Forest of Stars by Kevin J Anderson

*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*
This is the second book in the Saga of Seven Suns.
This was a good book, even if a little repetitive in places. The plot between Jora'h and Cyroc'h was possibly the most intriguing of all of the threads, and one that is actually closed at the end of the novel. Anderson is brutal in this book, brutally murdering characters throughout. The existence of the Verdani, Wentals and Faeros adds more unpredictability in the epic war, especially with the Faeros: it is implied that they are extremely treacherous. We find out what the Klikiss robots are all about; a great agenda, which you could see coming from a mile off. The characters were great, with a lot of changes in the five year gap between this and Hidden Empire. Initially, this gap is daunting; not much seems to have happened in these years, and none of the characters seem to have changed in that time. The EDF's battle against the Hydrogues is starting to get a bit stale by the end of the book; the reader knows that the EDF will be defeated and when it happens over and over, it starts to lose impact. Although, Adar Kori'hn's sacrifice near the end of the novel helped to pave the way for a kamikaze tactic for the EDF to use against the Hydrogues. Unfortunately, the EDF have no idea what the Klikiss Robots have in store for them...
King Peter has an interesting and dangerous plot, which I really enjoyed, especially his contrast to the HANSA Chairman and love for his new arranged wife.

FOREST OF STARS

+Continued great characters
+The new players in the war
+Most of the plot threads are intriguing and great
-Repetitive in places regarding the EDF
-Predictable plot with the Klikiss

6/10

Thanks for reading! The next review will be the third book in the Saga of Seven Suns, Horizon Storm. I just finished that, and I can tell you, it was great. Expect the review at the weekend.

Review: Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson

*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*
This is the first book in the Saga of Seven Suns.
 This was a great book. From the start, the pacing is brilliant and all of the plot elements are put into place. The "strange" spheres that emerge from Oncier  at the very beginning of the novel sets up for the fearsome and terrifying reaction of the Hydrogues. There are a lot of different plot threads and a lot of characters. The characters are all unique and none of them get blurred at all, unlike in some other novels. The plot is great, even if some characters arcs get a little predictable about half-way through the novel, especially the Colicos's predicament with the Klikiss robots. While I never expected them to die, I did suspect that the Klikiss robots knew a lot more about their past than they let on, and that they would stop the Colicos couple from finding out whatever they had done.
Unfortunately, while the death of Ross Tamblyn was a huge catalyst of the novel, I felt absolutely no emotion at that point.
The Ildirans are mysterious throughout, and the Worldtrees of the Therons moreso, although these mysteries are pretty much revealed throughout the second novel. Pretty much every relationship is changed throughout, most rather dramatically, especially Raymond Aguerra, a young street-urchin-type, whose family is murdered and he ends up becoming King of the Terran Hanseatic League.
But the Hydrogues and their ruthless attacks on Humans and Ildirans alike are the best parts of the novel. Anderson really captures the desperation and helplessness of the situations that the Hydrogues create. This is made even worse by the manner of their introduction; they destroy four moons when they first appear properly, and the foreshadowing there was great at building the tension when the Hydrogue Warglobes (great name!) finally make their full appearance, sacking human colonies.

HIDDEN EMPIRE

+Fantastic characters
+The Hydrogues are great
+Mysteries, mysteries everywhere
+Develpoment of character and relationships
-Ross Tamblyn's death

9/10

Thanks for reading! The next review will be the second book in the Saga of Seven Suns, A Forest of Stars. I just finished that, and I can tell you, it was great. Expect the review at the weekend.

Review: Ultimatum by Simon Kernick

*This review will not be as in-depth as the previous reviews*
*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*

"Ultimatum" is the sequel to Kernick's previous novel, "Siege", both of which are pretty great. Although it can function as a stand-alone novel, it is best read after reading "Siege". Else you may be asking questions such as "Why is Tina back on the force?" and "Who the hell is Fox?". These things are explained briefly, but it may leave a reader dissatisfied with the explanations, especially if they've read any other of Simon's books with Tina Boyd in them. Speaking of Tina, I felt her character was toned down somewhat, even from her appearance in "Siege". I'm not sure why this was, and I'm not complaining; it made her, to me at least, more compelling and likeable rather than some super-cop who won't follow the rules. There is still an element of that in there, but it is very much subdued. The villains of the book are pretty great and can be legitimately terrifying at times.
However, there are a couple of negatives. The name of the super-secret "evil organisation" was the oh-so cliched "The Brotherhood". This literally made me cringe, and I couldn't take it seriously without imagining either Marvel's "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" or DC's "The Legion of Doom". Also, the target of the terrorist attack was pretty obvious, due to the constant references to the Shard. While this can be disappointing, it does build tension really well. And the fallout of this disaster is amazing, with a section devoted to the destruction of part of the Shard and the damage control.
Overall, this is a pretty good book.

Ultimatum

+Great characters and relationships between them
+Plot twists everywhere
+ Everything you expect from a Simon Kernick book
- "The Brotherhood"
- Obvious target

8/10

Thanks for reading, and apologies for this shorter review; it has nothing to do with the book, just my  current workload. The next book review will not be, as said before Prador Moon by Neal Asher, but Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson.

Review: Hellhole Trilogy So Far by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert

*This review combines "Hellhole" and "Hellhole Awakened" by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert.*
*This review will not contain a review of Hellhole Inferno, as it has not yet been released at the time of writing*
BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

These novels tell the tale of General Tiber Adolphus and his battle to gain independence from the oppressive Constellation and it's ruler, Diadem Michella.
These books are brilliant. In my mind, there are very few negatives, and I can't understand why these books are criticised as much as they are. Characters are fully formed, with a strong sense of morality, even if they are different from the norm. I have not, at the time of writing, read any other of the authors' collaberative work, so there will be no comparison to their other works.

Hellhole begins with the final battle of Adolphus's first rebellion with Percival Hallholme, who uses a dishonourable tactic to defeat the General. Diadem Michella, after Adolphus's surrender, exiles him to a planet in the Deep Zone, dubbed "Hellhole".
Ten years later, and Adolphus has a thriving colony and network with other DZ worlds, much to Michella's surprise, who thought he would die out there. Soon, colonists stumble upon Slickwater, which contains the "souls" of the ancient Xayans, who were wiped out by an asteroid strike, aside from four who survived in a reinforced vault. Meanwhile, Antonia arrives on Hellhole, trying to escape her old life. When she arrives, she forms a relationship with Devon. Soon after, they immerse themselves in the Slickwater and become true lovers.
Meanwhile, the Diadem's assistant, Ishop Heer discovers that he is descended from a noble family who was disgraced 700 years previously. He goes on to take revenge on the families who disgraced his family. This sets a chain of events which results in the Diadem's daughter, Keana, ends up on Hellhole, and ends up in the Slickwater and becomes a "Shadow-Xayan", along with hundreds of others. Adolphus enforces the network between the DZ worlds, allowing independence from the Constellation. This pisses off Michella and she wants to wage war on Hellhole to get them back. Hence, Adolphus sends a Xayan and a small team of Shadow-Xayans to Sonjeera, the capital of the Constellation, to treat with Michella. She kills them all to stop this "alien disease".
 This ends in a cliffhanger, which was annoying; I hate cliffhangers when the next book isn't immediately unavailable.

Luckily, Hellhole Awakened picked up on this in an amazing way.

Percival's son, Escobar, is sent to battle Adolphus. Unfortunately for them, Adolphus carries out a plan which leaves them stranded in space with no way to get to Hellhole, seemingly. Adolphus is pretty pleased with that, until the Black Lord Riomini devastates the world, Theser, before moving on Hellhole. Adolphus persuades the Xayans and Shadow-Xayans to use their Telemancy abilities to stop Riomini's fleet and cripple the Constellation. Meanwhile, Escobar's crew are malnourished and dying. Many have to be killed for others to survive, and some revolt and are killed. The large burst of telemancy used to stop Riomini attracts "unwanted attention" and two asteroids head for Candela, which must be evacuated using Adolphus's military haulers. Unfortunately, at this time, Escobar's fleet finally arrive at Hellhole. However, his crew are dying of famine, so they surrender in return for supplies. Escobar refuses to surrender, and he and his crew put a virus on the ships Adolphus has captured which renders them useless. While Adolphus accepts their "surrender", Escobar's associate, Gail Carrington, kills Antonia. Devon kills Gail with his telemancy. He takes Antonia to the Slickwater to try and heal her, but they both drown in it. However, Percival Hallholme has been sent to Hellhole in light of his son's failure and he arrives shortly after Escobar's surrender and Adolphus's ships are being screwed over by the virus Escobar put on them. Luckily, Adolphus has a trump card; the telemancy from the Shadow-Xayans destroys the weapon on Percival's ships, forcing him to flee. The asteroids destroy Candela, which I personally expected to be diverted by the Xayans into Percivals ships, but oh well. When the Xayans are questioned about the asteroids and how they seemed deliberate, they reveal the existence of the Ro-Xayans, who wish to kill the other Xayans to stop their bid for Ala'ru, their one goal in life. There's more going on back with Ishop and Michella, including an assassination attempt on the Diadem by one of the noble families and Ishop's bid to revive his family name, which goes horribly wrong.

 And it's left on that cliffhanger, meaning I have to wait until September for it to be resolved.

Hellhole

+ Brilliant characters, with a sense of their own morality and values
+ The Xayans are pretty awesome, and contain huge elements of mystery
+ Devon and Antonia's relationship is a nice change of atmosphere from the dystopia around them
+ Ishop's quest
- Lack of focus on other DZ worlds, although they are very important to the plot

8/10

Hellhole Awakening

+ Brilliance of Hellhole continued
+ The Ro-Xayans and possibility of a new threat
+ Escobar's desperate situation
+ Tension building is masterful
- Less focus on certain characters (Keana for example)

9/10

Trilogy so far: 9/10

Thank you for reading, the next book review will be a departure from sci-fi and will be on Ultimatum by Simon Kernick. The next Sci-fi book review will be Prador Moon by Neal Asher.

Review: Neal Asher's "The Owner" Trilogy

*This review combines "The Departure", "Zero Point" and "Jupiter War" by Neal Asher.*
BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

This trilogy, in a nutshell, tells the tale of how Alan Saul, dubbed "The Owner", tries to escape the bounds of Earth and its dystopian society and oppressive rulers, the Committee.
For the most part, it is fantastic, especially "Zero Point", of which I can find barely any problems with; in my opinion, this is the perfect realisation of Asher's work and his writing prowess. "The Departure", for me anyway, started out confusing which made me not want to read on at first. However, when you realise what's going on, and that Saul has completely lost his memory, it really is worth it. From here, we see Saul trying to piece his previous life back together as he fights against the Committee and the brutal Inspectorate, trying to find his torturer, Political Director Smith. This brings him into contact with Hannah, a character who struggles to accept what he has become. Nonetheless, she helps him and the rogue AI, Janus. Unfortunately, Janus dies midway through the novel, which was disappointing but necessary.
As Saul hunts for Smith, his journey takes him to Argus station, a giant space station at the centre of a vast satellite network, and resolves in a series of beautiful combat and strategic scenes, which are some of the best Asher has written. The intensity and emotions of the characters are captured truly and seeing Saul kill his torturer was quick, yet oh-so satisfying. From there, Saul captures the surviving members of the Committee, including Chairman Mesina (more on that later), and drops most of the Argus Network onto Committee bases on Earth, effectively crippling the government.
Meanwhile on Mars, the area the cover depicts is in trouble. And this is the aspect of the book I dislike; Var Delex. I hated this character. Not because she is boring, as she certainly is not, of for the events around her, although they do go on for a bit longer than necessary, but just her attitude and changing personalities. Later on in the trilogy, it is revealed that she is Saul's sister, so this may explain the personality defects; Saul too was emotionally crippled. However, I am leaving my criticism of the Mars plot firmly in "The Departure", mainly because it was much better in "Zero Point", as was the character.

Moving on to "Zero Point", we see a new character enter; Serene Galahad. Easily the best character in this book (not so much in "Jupiter War"), she has a power complex and she is prepared to do anything to get it. Using her custom-made virus, the Scour, she wipes out huge portions of the human population, and blames it all on Alan Saul. This alone would not be enough to make me enjoy her character more than that of Saul or Professor Rhine; it is her fascination with nature and restoring Earth to what it once was. To do this, she needs the Gene Bank which is, you guessed it, aboard the Argus Station. Sending her faithful bodyguard, Clay Ruger, and a team of soldiers to Argus, she orders them to kill Saul and get the Bank.
Meanwhile, Argus isn't faring so well. Saul collapses into a mini-coma whilst trying to expand his mind beyond human capacity, which lowers morale across the Station. Hannah is fretting over near enough everything as it falls apart. But, before Saul slipped into his mini-coma, Professor Rhine gives Saul plans for a "Rhine Drive", which makes space exploration travel possible due to moving faster than light. Commissioning this to be made, the machines Saul commands quickly get this underway. However, going around the station are the two clones of Chairman Mesina. These are great characters, and I enjoyed them throughout, especially Alex, so I was glad that he survived.
This all resolves itself nicely. Saul wakes up before Clay arrives in The Scourge. Clay tries to board Argus, but it doesn't quite work out that way. Clay reveals to the captain of the ship, Scotonis, that Galahad is responsible for the Scour, but not before Saul is able to hack into the implants that contain the plague and set them off, killing most of the crew. The Scourge returns to Earth, mission to kill Saul failed, but Saul did transfer the Gene Bank to The Scourge as a bargaining chip. After that, Saul gets a call from Var, revealing that they are siblings and that she is in trouble. Saul goes to Mars to save her before her oxygen runs out, leaving Argus in the hands of Hannah.  

Finally, we move on to "Jupiter War". This was a brilliant book aside from Var's character. After Saul saves everyone on Mars, he moves them to Argus and scavenges what he can from the base there. Alex, the Mesina clone is captured, but Saul lets him go under a measure of faith. Alex soon infiltrates a group of Mesina-loyalists who wish to assassinate Saul. Hannah and the other doctors get to work on a "human backup" project, which worked with Saul's mind before he went comatose in "Zero Point"; this essentially grants eternal life. This makes for some interesting drama, especially when Saul reveals his big plan: to leave the Solar System and begin a new life among the stars. Some crew members aren't too pleased with this, understandably, but Saul offers them a choice; they are free to return to Earth. Commanding his machines, Saul recreates Argus into a form a Spacecraft and gets as far as Jupiter before things start going wrong.
Serene Galahad is pretty pissed; Clay failed his mission. So she recreates a Rhine Drive and sends three warships with a "vortex missile" to engage Saul. Meanwhile, Scotonis is planning a suicide run on Galahad, wishing to crash The Scourge into her base, detoning all of the nuclear warheads on board. Clay doesn't want that, because it means that thousands, maybe millions will die. Instead, he arranges for a meeting with Galahad to discuss the Gene Bank, where he should be able to tell the world the truth about the Scour. It doesn't work, and he is soon carted off to a torture cell, but not before he could tell the truth. In the end, her new bodyguard burns her alive and that's pretty much that.
The three ships eventually catch up with Saul, and as Argus sustains pretty heavy damage, it crashes on one of Jupiter's moons. Luckily, by that point only one of the three ships is left. After sacrificing the Rhine Drive in a sneaky, yet brilliant, tactic, he defeats all three of Galahad's troops. Fixing the Rhine Drive, and creating another, better drive, he finally leaves the solar system. But, while all this is happening, Alex stops an assassination attempt on Saul, but the rebels kill Var before Saul kills all of them. Var is a constant pain through this book, and is always undermining Saul which throws Argus into jeopardy all too many times. But, while Saul believes himself to be free of emotions, just before the entire crew of Argus are cryogenically frozen for the long journey, his subconscious controls the machines to rechristen the Argus as the VarDelex. A lovely ending for a brutal series.

The Departure
+Solid plot
+Brilliant action sequences
+Saul, Smith and Hannah are great characters
-Var Delex and the Mars plot
-Difficult to get in to

7/10

 Zero Point
+Great plot
+Serene Galahad
+Var is better this time around...
- But I still hated her

9/10

Jupiter War
+Brilliant plot
+Lovely ending
+Serene Galahad gets what she deserves
-Var Delex; I cannot stress how much she annoys me in this book, more so than in the other two

8/10

Series Whole

8/10

A cracking read, would definitely recommend for fans of Sci-Fi

The next review will be for Hellhole and Hellhole Awakened by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert; they're pretty good.