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A Forest of Stars
(The Saga of Seven Suns #2)
by
Five years have passed since humans set fire to the gas-giant planets, unwittingly committing genocide of the Hydrogues--an infinitely powerful species of aliens--and igniting a war of epic proportions. Meanwhile, as humans struggle to fight against increasing hostilities from the Hydrogues, they learn from the Worldforest that they have awakened an ancient, fearsome, and
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Hardcover, 496 pages
Published
July 17th 2003
by Aspect
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Showing 1-30

Start your review of A Forest of Stars (The Saga of Seven Suns, #2)

Did you ever read a book where you wanted to know what happened in the overall story, but frequently got bored reading the book? Well, that's exactly how I felt about A Forest of Stars, and the first Saga of Seven Suns book, Hidden Empire. There are WAY too many characters, and at least a thousand too many unimportant plot threads in the first two books. It got to the point where I was relieved to have finished this book so that I wouldn't have to read about some of the truly despicable characte
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3.5 stars.
This epic space opera definitely reads more like fantasy than hard SF. Science in the series is presented in at best broad strokes. But the story is lots of fun, a big cast of complex characters many of whom get their own POV chapters and a complex world made this quite an enjoyable read. With the world now basically established, though there are definitely complications and expansions in this entry, there is more room for action in the second book of the series. Found it interesting t ...more
This epic space opera definitely reads more like fantasy than hard SF. Science in the series is presented in at best broad strokes. But the story is lots of fun, a big cast of complex characters many of whom get their own POV chapters and a complex world made this quite an enjoyable read. With the world now basically established, though there are definitely complications and expansions in this entry, there is more room for action in the second book of the series. Found it interesting t ...more

Fans of Kevin J Anderson who finished the very famous and equally controversial) book one would have gone straight onto book two. I must admit that i did, but I found myself more than a little worried about how the book was shaping up. The first half was very slow, very, very political, and not very actiony. Nor was it very science-y.
But kept the faith, i did, and I kept reading. And as soon as i reached the half way mark of A FOREST OF STARS, the action picked up, the chapter ending cliff hang ...more
But kept the faith, i did, and I kept reading. And as soon as i reached the half way mark of A FOREST OF STARS, the action picked up, the chapter ending cliff hang ...more

Yawn. I made it through the first, but...
I brought the second with me on a trans-pacific flight for entertainment during the 15 hours in the air. I was so uninterested in the story and characters that I gave up on it after a few hours. I haven't touched the book since and will donate this to the local library.
Kevin J. Anderson seems to be a fantasy writer in a scifi world and doesn't know how to make an interesting story (by this, I refer to the seeming inability of fantasy writers to write wit ...more
I brought the second with me on a trans-pacific flight for entertainment during the 15 hours in the air. I was so uninterested in the story and characters that I gave up on it after a few hours. I haven't touched the book since and will donate this to the local library.
Kevin J. Anderson seems to be a fantasy writer in a scifi world and doesn't know how to make an interesting story (by this, I refer to the seeming inability of fantasy writers to write wit ...more

Again a pretty good book. The story continues to advance, though the political machinations are getting more convoluted also. The more "alien" of the aliens humans have come in contact with are lining up in a war where humans mostly need to keep their heads down...and human traits, the ones we've always had, are still there.
The book/story seems to be bogging down a bit in this volume but not excessively so. The ending, opening new "lines of inquiry" and not really giving a final answer to any o ...more
The book/story seems to be bogging down a bit in this volume but not excessively so. The ending, opening new "lines of inquiry" and not really giving a final answer to any o ...more

Fans of Kevin J Anderson who finished the very famous and equally controversial) book one would have gone straight onto book two. I must admit that i did, but I found myself more than a little worried about how the book was shaping up. The first half was very slow, very, very political, and not very actiony. Nor was it very science-y.
But kept the faith, i did, and I kept reading. And as soon as i reached the half way mark of A FOREST OF STARS, the action picked up, the chapter ending cliff hang ...more
But kept the faith, i did, and I kept reading. And as soon as i reached the half way mark of A FOREST OF STARS, the action picked up, the chapter ending cliff hang ...more

Set five years after Hidden Empire, A Forest of Stars continues the Saga of Seven Suns with the hydrogues raising the stakes for the whole Spiral Arm. Gas giants are declared off limits to humans and Ildrians, which leaves both civilizations with a dangerously low supply of stardrive fuel. Desperate for any advantage, the Terran Hanseatic League blindly grasps for any alliance. Through their blind faith, they have accepted a terrible threat to all humans into the Earth Defense Forces.
The plot is ...more
The plot is ...more

This book is pretty good. Anderson begins to really focus in on his characters here, even adding a few new ones. Yet he thickens the plot by changing some of the main characters in a unique yet for-seable way. The first two books could probably have been condensed down to one, but if it were, I feel that the characters wouldn't be as strong. So far, this is one of the best examples of character development I've seen in a while. The tense seems to shift ever so slightly, but it's not hard to adju
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Feb 25, 2013
Aidan Hamill
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fictional-science,
soapy-space
Fantastic. Background story is more massive than I'd thought from Hidden Empire. Still after another entire book there's so much left to find out about the history never mind what's to come.
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With this book, I am doing something that I have never before done (at least not for a work of fiction): I'm reviewing it without finishing it.
With that caveat in mind, let me begin by saying that I actually had no particular problems with this book. I did not leave it unfinished because I hated it, or because it had detestable writing, or because it was poorly formulated or characterized--it was none of those things. Rather, I did not finish reading it because it did not excite me.
Part of the p ...more
With that caveat in mind, let me begin by saying that I actually had no particular problems with this book. I did not leave it unfinished because I hated it, or because it had detestable writing, or because it was poorly formulated or characterized--it was none of those things. Rather, I did not finish reading it because it did not excite me.
Part of the p ...more

Disclaimer: still at 80%
First, the good: the book has enough intrigue to keep me interested, and it has a few memorable chapters.
The not good: criticism in most other reviews is accurate. The constant retelling is wearisome to the extreme. This is the first time that I can remember that I feel no qualms about skipping liberally, honing on dialogue. It usually goes like this: read the beginning of a paragraph, realize it's re-exposition, skip to the next and verify I have missed nothing new.
Next ...more
First, the good: the book has enough intrigue to keep me interested, and it has a few memorable chapters.
The not good: criticism in most other reviews is accurate. The constant retelling is wearisome to the extreme. This is the first time that I can remember that I feel no qualms about skipping liberally, honing on dialogue. It usually goes like this: read the beginning of a paragraph, realize it's re-exposition, skip to the next and verify I have missed nothing new.
Next ...more

Five years after the first volume and things are going pretty much as we expect. The Hansa still think they can beat the Hydrogues if they can find a bigger stick, the Ildirans continue to plot and keep the Empire running, and the Roamers are trying new techniques to harvest the critical ekti.
Anderson built the "world" in "Hidden Empire" and this book continues the plot threads started there. We get more details about the initial conflict with the hydrogues from 10000 years ago and discover the ...more
Anderson built the "world" in "Hidden Empire" and this book continues the plot threads started there. We get more details about the initial conflict with the hydrogues from 10000 years ago and discover the ...more

I have heard a lot of glowing reviews for Mr. Anderson's works, and figured I would start with the Saga of Seven Suns anthology since the premise was right up my SciFi alley. I was severely disappointed. While the basis of the stories was interesting and held great promise, the excruciating details of people, conversations and relationships turned me off. When there was action to be had, it was limited to very little writings, and had none of the depth as in the rest of the book. I 'read' this a
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The plot certainly moves a lot faster in A Forest of Stars than it does in its predecessor, but the story suffers for the same reasons - two-dimensional characters and constant retelling of information. In a series where worldbuilding and plot are the main selling points I can understand the writer wanting to really drive in the exposition, but I've heard about the hardiness of Roamers that many times that it's starting to feel like filler.
There's nice development of the plot and many things goi ...more
There's nice development of the plot and many things goi ...more

The Forest of Stars is the second book of the Saga of the Seven Suns series. Taking place after 5 years, the writer has thrown us into a world where the humans are struggling for survival trying to fight a war that is more than just about the decimation of their gaseous planet. Now this has exploded events into that of an elemental war were beings of fire, water and earth are fighting the Hydrogues, beings of ice and lighting. That’s just amazing...
Full Review here:
https://cynsworkshop.wordpress ...more
Full Review here:
https://cynsworkshop.wordpress ...more

Spoilers Ahead
Short Summary: Trees want to grow, Roamers want to trade, Hydrogues want to kill everything and Faeros just want to set the world on fire. And if your plan to survive an apocalypse depends on breeding a five year old super psychic you are probably boned.
For this review most of it will be contained in the list of characters, once you see the list you will see why. Also part of my review is copied from my review of the previous installment. If the author can do it then I can as well. ...more
Short Summary: Trees want to grow, Roamers want to trade, Hydrogues want to kill everything and Faeros just want to set the world on fire. And if your plan to survive an apocalypse depends on breeding a five year old super psychic you are probably boned.
For this review most of it will be contained in the list of characters, once you see the list you will see why. Also part of my review is copied from my review of the previous installment. If the author can do it then I can as well. ...more

Okay so this was the second read of the second novel for me (Read originally maybe ten or more years ago). It showed how poor my memory is, I remembered small details but my memory on what happened to certain characters is poor. This lead for a pleasant experience with all of the major shocks towards the end of the read giving me the surprise intended by the author! This included my favourite character meeting his end.
As a lot of reviews have covered, the first half is fairly political, focussin ...more
As a lot of reviews have covered, the first half is fairly political, focussin ...more

The second book in the series is still entertaining, but it gets pretty dark. It feels darker than the first book, even though both are about a galactic war. (view spoiler)
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I picked up this book again and have finished it in a couple of days. My previous comments relating g to the first in the saga still apply. I cannot understand how the Idrians became a space faring culture when their home world is lit by 7 suns and it never gets dark. How did they discover there was a whole galaxy out there? I can't buy the fact that Terrans have, centuries on have returned to a monarchical society. The ancient races, the Hydrogues, the Wentles and the Faeries are unbelievable t
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Audio Book
Uff. Each character repeats the same things endlessly. You can start the book in chapter 50 and you will not miss a beat. All explanation will be repeated two, three, five, eight or eleven times. The plot advances and it is interesting (some things are just illogical/ nonsense and some characters behave like st...... well, illogically) but, all in all, the plot has interesting turns.
But it is slow. And the book hammers you once, and again , and again with the same explanations.
And ag ...more
Uff. Each character repeats the same things endlessly. You can start the book in chapter 50 and you will not miss a beat. All explanation will be repeated two, three, five, eight or eleven times. The plot advances and it is interesting (some things are just illogical/ nonsense and some characters behave like st...... well, illogically) but, all in all, the plot has interesting turns.
But it is slow. And the book hammers you once, and again , and again with the same explanations.
And ag ...more

Set five years after the first book, A Forest of Stars continues in much a similar fashion. We revisit some characters from last book, meet some new ones & continue to see how alliances, beliefs and societies shift and change in times of war. Of particular favourite is that of Adar Kori'nh and his fascination with Earth History which is the least spoilerish thing I can say about this book. Honestly I really enjoyed it - there's a bit more momentum than last book and it's easier to follow the c
...more

Wow, after my four stars for the first installment I saw some of the disparaging remarks regarding that same book, and had a rethink, but no, I stick by my review, this is a saga, hence the name, of course there needs to be some character development and many characters, worlds, entities, backgrounds and politics
And the rewards are bountiful in this second story, many plot twists and turns and some interesting new developments in this epic tale
And the rewards are bountiful in this second story, many plot twists and turns and some interesting new developments in this epic tale

A very hard time obtaining a paperback, it seems it is out of print. The story continues seamlessly from Part 1. I really like the set-up of world building with a lot of characters in a lot of places adding layers to the saga. After 640 pages or so I wanted to keep on reading, so there is definitely something there, at least for me. On to Part 3. Highly recommended space opera.

A lot of repetition of things I already knew from the previous book and even from previous chapters, including the overuse of the word corpulent again. Despite this, the action was gripping, and the politics intriguing (and often infuriating, I'm looking at you Basil) and I will be continuing with the series
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This was much better than the first book as tangents resolved themselves into story arcs. the first book opened and "closed" stories with no hint to importance or further development. I am interested to see what develops further in the conflicts.
...more

Feb 04, 2020
Nicholas
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobooks,
science-fiction
While the plot is pretty good, the writing is poor. The science is weak or just bad. The characters are unrealistic, as is the way politics are played. I keep thinking, "Why wouldn't he just do x?" But somehow, I still need to know what is going to happen.
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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 Pear
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