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Horizon Storms (The Saga Of The Seven Suns Book 3) by Kevin J. Anderson
01/05/2006 . Source: Phil Jones 
pub: Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster. 659 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-3067-0. Buy Horizon Storms in the USA - or Buy Horizon Storms in the UK  check out website: www.simonsays.co.uk
Well, onto the third book of this huge monolithic space saga. If you've never read or seen these books, the underlying conflict is that of the Hydrogues, an alien race who lives on gas giant planets, have been warring for millennia with Faeros, that inhabit the internal world of stars.
Throw into the mix the humans have spilt into two primary groups, the Hansa and the Roamers. Living totally differing life styles, ways of ruling and belief system. The Roamers are a relatively free form group of clans who collect star fuel from gas giants - the same gas giants the Hydrogues inhabit. They have an uneasy relationship with the Hansa which further breaks down in this book.
The Hansa, on the other hand, based from Earth have a tyrannical rule on their own people and would like to control the rest of the universe in the same way. They have a puppet leader in the form of King Peter. The control of the Hansa Empire is from the cold-nosed chairman Basil Wenceslas. The two become more diametrical in viewpoint and beliefs and King Peter has to further his careful manoeuvring if he wants to survive.
On Theroc, the home world of the WorldForest, a sentient interconnected life-form, the human green priests tend the devastated trees after the demoralising attack by the Hydrogues. Basil Wenceslas, Chairman of Hansa, wants to supplant his own leader on to Theroc. His mistress, Sarein, who he can control allowing him to extend his domination and power over a larger area.
The IIdrians are a humanoid race who have a well, fragile alliances with humans have their own problems as tensions build. They all share a telepathic or almost spiritual link, the thism with their Mage-Imperator Jora'h. Recently ascended as their leader, Joa'h believes his human lover Nira to be dead. Covered up and hid by Jora'h brother, she lives and their child might be the only true hope of communication with the Hydrogues as she possesses well above normal telepathic abilities. Jora'h brother hiding his plans and thoughts from the thism stages his own palace coup.
The threat comes from the Klikiss robots. The Kilkiss were an ancient race which was at war with the Hydrogues but was mysteriously wiped out leaving only archaeological ruins and the Klikiss stargates which allow instant travel between Klikiss previously inhabited planets. Through one of these poorly understood gates, a scientist stumbles on an ancient secret.
So, you space saga fans, what's happened in this big wide universe of fun and generally one alien race trying to exterminate another. Well, err...not a great deal really. So we've gotten Wentals in the mix. Friends of the WorldForest but we know little about them in the grand scheme of things. Enemies of the Hydrogues but then again, who isn't? They seem to have generally p***ed off everyone into wanting to destroy the Hydrogues gas giant homes and, of course, eradicating them all from the universe. Jess now resurrected by the Wentals and generally returning to the Roamers looking all wet and sparkly has so much juice running through him it puts a dampner on his love life with Cesca Peroni, the leader of the Roamers, who have problems from both sides. Losing sky harvesters to the Hydrogues and star fuel pirated by the tyrannical behaviour of the Terran empire, they cut ties with the Empire refusing to supply fuel until justice is served on the perpetrators.
We do get to find out a bit more about the Klikiss robots and their tenuous alliance with the IIdrians to help them in the fight with the Hydrogues as they are the only ones who can directly communicate with them. We get the general gist that they are evil as they awaken an army of robots and cause more chaos on a human colony leaving only a single girl, Orli, alive. We kind of suspected this behaviour from the previous book and it's not really anything new. I think that is really the problem with the book as a whole. There are not really enough new elements to get your teeth into. It just expands from themes from the pervious books.
The writing altogether is good. Each chapter from the viewpoint of one character in the ever expanding collages of threads. The Wentals and their effects on Jess are interesting as is the possibilities of the girl Orli, both of which I feel will be expanded on in the next book. We do get to know a bit more of the culture and psyche of the IIdrians and their historical links with the Kilkiss robots. There just doesn't feel enough expansion in this book. It's not cooking on gas but just simmering nicely. It does have the feeling of a middle book. Not quite padding but a vehicle to put in place plot elements for when the stories do crank up a notch.
I think it's worth reading as some of the characters are developed further in an enjoyable manor, but it could have been a bit better paced, especially a book of this length.
Phil Jones
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