The Dark Between the Stars (The Saga of Shadows #1) by Kevin J. Anderson

Science Fiction

What Goodreads says:

Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness. The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy.

Galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against each other. Heroes rise and enemies make their last stands in the climax of an epic tale seven years in the making.

Saying I was thrilled to go back to the Universe Kevin Anderson created in The Saga of the Seven Suns would be an understatement.  I loved the Seven Suns and the Saga of Shadows promises to be just as great.  It has everything good Science Fiction should have.  There is danger, strange characters, aliens, tension, interesting world-building, a threat, and even a little romance.

It was great to find out what had happened to some of the characters from the Seven Suns.  It was even greater to meet the new characters and the new threat.  But wait!  I did meet one threat but there is another and there are just hints about what scares that threat we have met.  It seems everyone may be in trouble.

The writing in The Dark Between the Stars follows the same pattern seen in Seven Stars.  The chapters are short and each usually goes to a different location and different characters.  They don’t seem to be connected but as I read I could see how they were all beginning to weave together..  Don’t look for any conclusions in The Dark Between the Stars.  All of the characters and stories set the stage for the next book.

I do recommend reading the Saga of the Seven Suns first.  Since I knew the back-story of both the characters and the events I had no trouble knowing what was going on.  I think without that knowledge it would be much harder to get into the story.

I visited Anderson’s blog and saw where he had finished Blood of the Cosmos, the second book in the trilogy.  There was not publication date but hopefully it will be out soon.

Tor published The DarkBetween the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson in 2014.