Hidden Empire: The Saga Of The Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson
01/09/2002 . Source: Phil Jones 
Pub: Earthlight/Simon and Schuster. 679 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7342-2045-5. Price: £17.99. ISBN: 0-7432 20447 (hardback). Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Check out website: www.earthlight.co.uk
In 2100, humans sent colony spaceships out
from Earth to search the stars and find habitable planets, taking
many generations to reach there goals.
 These
ships are intercepted on their long journeys by the Ildiran race,
the only other known intelligent life-form still in existence. The
Ildirans come to Earth and share their knowledge of stardrives allowing
humans to travel faster than the speed of light.
Two hundred years later, humans have colonised many planets through
the spiral arm and two archaeologists reveal the secrets of a dead
world.
The only things remaining from the insect-like Klikiss race is
their ruined cities and robot servants which were reawakened by
the Ildirans and the humans who discovered them on wide-spread planets
throughout the spiral arm.
The archaeologists piece together Klikiss technology and discover
the Klikiss torch. The humans, in an attempt to show superiority
against the Ildirans, activate the Klikiss torch. It allows gas
giants to be turned into a short-lived sun.
This starts a chain of events, reawakening the past and the reason
why the Klikiss Empire fell.
A lot of people are going to see Kevin J. Anderson and immediately
think of the books he has written for ‘Star Wars’, prequels to ‘Dune’,
‘X-Files’, etc and think he is jumping on the bandwagon. This is
an original space saga.
OK, you could compare events in this book to the universes created
in the books I've just mentioned but I think you could apply that
to any large space saga if you try hard enough. There are a few
problems, the characters are a little under-developed but this could
be put down to the sheer speed of the chapters and perhaps the plotlines
are developed a little too slowly at times.
This is not to say I didn't enjoy the book. There are some very
enjoyable passages: the description of the Klikiss torch experiment
has film like qualities, as does the description of the Ildiran
home world.
There are also some wonderfully original ideas such as the world-forest,
a living organic sentient intelligence that seeks knowledge but
also allows communication across any distance by green priests by
touching the leaves of a tree. Also the skymines - huge structures
that inhabit in upper atmospheres of gas giants collecting ekti,
the fuel needed for stardrives, all add to a very believable universe.
The down-right dirty politics make this book shine as do the dark
underlying themes which I only wish had been developed and utilised
more. There are a few nice surprises but a few more wouldn't have
gone a miss.
This book may be a little lightweight for some, especially those
who enjoy the heavyweights of space sagas but it's an easy and enjoyable
read.
I just hope the stops are pulled out for book two as this could
prove to be a very interesting universe Kevin J. Anderson has set
in motion.
Phil Jones
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