Island in a Sea of Stars

The Saga of Shadows #1.0

by Kevin J. Anderson

An adventure from Kevin J. Anderson's The Saga of Shadows: The Dark Between the Stars

This is a slightly edited extract from the first quarter of The Dark Between the Stars, corresponding to chapters 1-2, 6-7, 11-12, 17-19, 22-23, 27-28, 37.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Novella, Short Stories

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2014

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

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns series, so I was pretty interested to see something show up on Tor.com that looked an awful lot like a new story in the series. Sure enough, he has a new book coming out in June 2014 that's the first in a trilogy set twenty years after the end of the last series. This story appears to be a prequel to the new series, but it's called "an adventure from The Saga of Shadows: The Dark Between the Stars," (that's the title of the new book) so I can't swear that it isn't actually an excerpt from the book or when the events take place. It isn't really a complete novella, it's definitely an introduction designed to snag you and pull you in and make you want to read more. But I think it does a pretty good job of doing that. I have a really bad memory. I remember that I liked the original series a lot, but very little about what it was about, but this helped jog a few memories loose, and reminded me that I like Anderson's style of writing. I'm looking forward to finding out where things go in the book. I hope there are a lot of surprises. You can read the story for yourself on Tor.com.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, well written. Being so short, it can only deal in direct cause and effect, but Anderson manages to introduce enough subtly that the inevitable climax still has punch.

A good read.

[Vickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Saga of Seven Suns and read this short intro to the sequel trilogy Saga of Shadows to see if I wanted to continue. It's a quick adventure with some cool scenes in it, but the characters are stereotypical caricatures. This was okay as a standalone short story, and it did get me to start the first book of the Saga of Shadows trilogy, but I did not enjoy or finish that book.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit short but interesting

This is a classic tale of a Whistleblower who goes to extremes when he’s ignored. The wife he thought understood and loved him is incredibly antagonistic against him.
The book ends with an obvious cliffhanger, so I hope there’s a follow up!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An adventure from The Saga of Shadows: The Dark Between the Stars Kevin Anderson’s new trilogy out this June. Island in a Sea of Stars is a prequel to the new trilogy set in the same universe and 20 years after the conclusion of his seven book series Saga of the Seven Suns.

I loved the Saga of the Seven Suns and purchased each book as soon as it was released. I was thrilled to see that Anderson was returning with a new trilogy set in the same universe. Island in a Sea of Stars is a prequel to that new series. I read it free on the Tor website and after I finished I can’t wait to read The Dark Between the Stars, the first book in the new trilogy.

Island in a Sea of Stars tells the story of Garrison Reeves, his wife Elisa Reeves and Lee Iswander. Reeves predicts a big disaster at Ilwander’s facility, Elias and Iswander ignore his warning so he takes his son and leaves. Everything unfolds from there. Elisa chases Garrison, the disaster happens and a new discovery set the stage for the series. All in all a great introduction.

[Dakeyras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short story.

A mixture of familiar characters & new characters (mostly new).

It basically comes down to an entrepreneur cutting corners in order to make money and be more successful. As expected, the cost savings lead to a dangerous situation that quickly escalates & pretty soon all hell breaks loose. There is a lot of action, a surprising amount of character development (mainly Garrison and Iswander).

I look forward to delving back into the Seven Suns universe again and this short story reminded me of how much fun the original 7 book series was.

[Chris]

Contrary to the title and its place in the series, this is not anything other than an excerpt from book 1. This short story takes place in the beginning of the overall story and sets up the Iswander/Reeves storyline. It is a good taste of what the book is about, but those looking for extra story will need to pick up the second book, Blood of the Cosmos.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I'm hooked. Where is the rest of the book?

[Greg Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and enjoyable story. Makes me even more eager for the release of Dark Between the Stars.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What lengths would you go to in order to protect your son from the planet's collapse?

[Eric Frankland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little appetizer for the main event which I will be reading next.

[Kellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a lot of fun, but this one felt really long to me.