The Ashes of Worlds by Kevin J Anderson

This is space opera at its best. This is the concluding chapter in Kevin J Anderson’s Saga of the Seven Suns. It is a doozy and it doesn’t disappoint. I read this in two day long sessions. I was that hooked.

The Saga of the Seven Suns is a 7 book cycle that deals with the ramifications of Earth’s arrogance when the Earthlings test an ancient weapon by a long dead insect-like race. This weapon takes any gas planet and turns it into a star, allowing the planet’s moons to become available for terraforming and colonization. Unfortunately for Earth, there are aliens living inside gas giants called Hydrouges. Aghast at the holocaust that the Earthlings have unwittingly perpetrated, the Hydrouges go to war.

Unfortunately the humans on Earth aren’t the only humans in the galaxy. Earth sent out generation ships long ago, and now the descendants of those ships are also being attacked by Hydrogues.  One group is the planet of Green Priests, who have green skin full of chlorophyll, and who are telepathically linked to colossal sentient trees called the Verdani. Another group of humans are the Roamers. These humans no longer live on planets but live mostly in space, either in ships, asteroids, or barren moons. Roamers are wanderers and handymen, anything they put their minds on they can achieve. There is another race in the universe and they are the Ildirans who share a hive mind. They are as ancient as the Hydrogues themselves, but have grown weak over time because of the lack of any sort of ingenuity.

Eventually the war draws out other ancient races, such as the Wentals and the Fareos. Along with the Hydrogues and the Verdani, the Wental and Faeros are elemental races, and they represent Air, Earth, Water, and Fire respectively. These forces have warred with each other off and on for all of time. And this latest war may mean the end for all of humanity.

I would recommend these books for anyone in 9th grade and up. People who really enjoy Star Wars, Star Trek, the Dune series, and space operas will love these books. They are quick and easy reads. They also have short chapters that give the books a movie-like quality because the story keeps jumping from character to character.  This continues the suspense, but also makes it easy to take breaks, so these may work for reluctant readers, or readers who are moving up in their reading level.

The complete series in order is:

1. Hidden Empire
2. A Forest of Stars
3. Horizon Storms
4. Scattered Suns
5. Of Fire and Night
6. Metal Swarm
7. Ashes of Worlds

Posted under a librarian reads, review