Veiled Alliances

The Saga of Seven Suns #0.1

by Kevin J. Anderson

Based on the legendary science-fiction series The Saga Of Seven Suns,Veiled Alliancesis a revelatory prequel, in which long-term fanswill discover the origin of the green priests on Theroc, the first Roamer skymining operations on a gas-giant planet, the discovery of the Klikiss robots entombed in an abandoned alien city, the initial Ildiran expedition to Earth, the rescue of the generation ship Burtonand the tragedy that led to sinister breeding experiments.

In this volume the human race begins its expansion into outer space, only to discover that for centuries a multitude of other races has already been interacting on a cosmic scale. Eleven exploratory ships carrying humans escaping a degenerating Earth are discovered by a more advanced space-faring civilization, the Ildaran Empire. The empire helps the refugees - by now the several-generations-later offspring of the original voyagers - settle suitable planets and sends diplomats with a few of them to Earth to establish trade and diplomatic relations.

Meanwhile, both Terran and Ildaran authorities bring hidden agendas to their first-contact discussions, and asEarth attempts to become a player in this new arena, its ambassadors are thrust into a foreign world of alien life forms, backstabbing politics, bitter feuds, and a deadly struggle to become the supreme force in the universe.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Audiobook

215 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.

I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.

Reviews

[Frances]

Fast paced, good development of radically different locations, clear if quick character development.

That said, around the time a protagonist starts being cheerful because the aliens she's going to have rape an antagonist are ugly and that just makes it perfect, I took this off my ereader.

[Myles Elliot · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor prequel

Nowhere near as enticing or worth the read like the others in the series. I do recommend the entire saga of the seven suns however

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking forward to diving into this series for some time. Now I’m going for it, and I enjoyed this prequel. Now on to the main event!

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't, in all honesty, see any reason at all for this book to exist. And I'm someone who genuinely loves 'The Saga of Seven Suns'.

This book needed a plot, even if it was a small macguffin or something. I know the main point is to visit a fictional universe before 'things hit the fan'. I was able to breeze through this, because I love the universe. But it can't JUST be that.

This book has nothing. It is literally just descriptions of things I already know happened. There was potential in seeing a different Hansa chairman and see how their actions might have shaped things that happened. Unfortunately, Stannis is just a carbon copy of Wenceslas, and instead we revisit a relationship that we have already seen.

Perhaps the point lies in the original comic: 'oo look, I get actual pictures of stuff what I knows about!'

There's also a bizarre and disturbing moment in the story when gang rape of the antagonist is not only commanded by the protagonist of the scene, but it is something the reader is supposed to find funny. I mean, the antagonist was an arrogant POS, and some kind of comeuppance was due, but the author made a grave error with this one. Gang rape funny? I don't think I need to say more.

[Aidan Hamill · Rating 3 out of 5]

152 pages proved insufficient to explain as much as I'd have liked from a prequel.
Picks up with Ildarans finding the generation ships, whereas I'd have liked some story around their launch.
Reasonable explanation of the start of the whole Dobro thing though.
Chairman Stannis is pretty much the same as Basil, without the later madness. King Ben was just a simple and convenient explanation for some of the political aspects later on.
The start of the Green Priests was weak and their discoveries of the abilities they gained was disappointing.
Roamers' skymining beginnings were too easy but did serve to prove their ingenuity and willingness to stick together.
Klikiss robots not completely linked up to the first book but exciting discovery, brief as it was.
Not much said about the Ildarans, but they played to the title of the book.

[NullusAnxietus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this while pre-ordering the upcoming Saga of Shadows. I had read the graphic novel in the past & I was really interested to read it in prose form

Veiled Alliances lays the groundwork for the Saga of the Seven Suns, a vast sci-fi epic of which I'm very fond. Being a novella AND a adaption of a graphic novel, it is a little short, but a fantastic read all the same


Highly recommended!

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along with The Dark Between the Stars, this has prompted me to the very unusual step (for me) of actually considering embarking on a seven-book space opera series.

[Jason Malkoske · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh ok wiring but terrible science fiction. Stick to writing star wars books.