Book Review: Horizon Storms

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

[5 stars]

Horizon Storms Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Kevin J. Anderson
Class/Genre: Science Fiction Space Opera
Series: Saga of Seven Suns # 3
Aspect, August 2004, $24.95, 469 pp.

The Terran Hanseatic League led by Chairman Basil Wencelas used the Kliss Torch device to ignite a giant gas giant thus creating a small sun. The plan was to terraform the gas giant’s moons into new colonies but unbeknownst to anyone, the planet was inhabited by an unknown alien species the hydrogues. The Hanseatic’s action destroyed a populated world. The hydrogues unwilling to let this genocide go unpunished declares war on the Hansea, cutting off the fuel supply needed for space exploration.

The Hansea is allied with the Ildira but they are carrying out a breeding program that will hopefully allow one of the group to communicate with the hydrogues. A civil war is brewing among the Ildira and depending on which side wins, The Hansea may be alone in its fight against the hydrogue. The roamers, independent spacers who supply fuel to the Hansea have broken their ties with the league after an act of treachery leaving the ruler of the Hansea with the need to obtain another way of finding worlds for the people to colonize. Also in league with the hydrogues are the evil sentient Kliss robots who have the same goal as the hydrogues: the Hansea’s destruction.

Book three in the Saga of the Seven sons is space opera at its best. Fans of Star Wars will want to see this series made into a movie because it is epic in scope. Considering how many action scenes there are in HORIZON STORMS, Kevin Anderson does a terrific job in character development. There are so many different other races in this saga, not all of them humanoid, that the readers find themselves looking at the tale as an anthropological study.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

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