Scattered Suns

The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 4

By: Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

The war between the alien hydrogues and the faeros rages, reducing suns to blackened shells - including one of the fabled seven suns of the Ildiran Empire. Instead of protecting themselves, the Ildirans engage in bloody civil war and the many factions of humanity are bitterly divided. Can mankind and Ildirans overcome their own internal fighting to face a deadly new enemy that is ready to annihilate them?

Newly ascended to the Ildiran throne, Mage-Imperator Jora'h must quash the rebellion launched by his mad brother before the hydrogues destroy what is left of the empire. Assailed from all sides, Jora'h turns to his beloved half-human daughter, dispatching her on a desperate mission to make peace with the hydrogues.

Hope for humanity now rests with Jess Tamblyn, who continues to seed worlds with the watery wentals, the mortal enemies of the hydrogues. And on the ravaged planet of Theroc, home to a telepathic worldforest, a dead man is resurrected to prepare for the arrival of mysterious new allies in the fight.

But Chairman Basil Wenceslas's vendetta against the free-spirited Roamers has blinded him to danger closer to home - the soldier machines that make up the backbone of the Hansa fighting force. King Peter has long suspected that the compies, built with the help of the ancient Klikiss robots, cannot be trusted. Now the shocking proof comes when the Klikiss launch their long-planned extermination of all things flesh and blood. And in the ensuing battle, humans and Ildirans alike will face their darkest choices yet.

The saga continues: listen to more of Kevin J. Anderson's Seven Suns series.

©2005 WordFire, Inc. (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"More on-the-edge-of-your-seat SF thrills....Anderson handles a huge cast and complicated plot with élan." ( Publishers Weekly)
"David Colacci's youthful, mildly expressive voice is a plus....Lots of action here, and a fully realized universe." ( AudioFile)

Poor Performance

The story dragged and was made worse by the reader. The sound effects were annoying. I continued only because I want to get through this series.

The narrator changed for the worse.

In changing the narrator for this and the following books in the series, a mistake was made. It seems as though there was no effort put into ensuring that the correct pronunciation of words and names. The narrator changes the way many names are said in a way that makes some of them intolerable. The story is fine, even bordering on good, but the overall series is great. I'm trying to get past the poor narration, but it's a huge issue. If you can find the final 4 books in the series narrated by someone else who tries to keep things proper, then I'd suggest that.

disappointed with the narrator

I loved the first three books, and found the narrator engaging. This one is read by someone else, and I do not enjoy his style. Also, as mentioned by another reviewer, he pronounces many of the names differently. I actually didn't listen to the whole thing, I went and bought the book itself.

Step in the wrong direction

Definitely a step in the wrong direction. Mainly, the weakness is the result of the new narrator, who (although talented), appears to have not listened to any of the previous books.
The new narrator is also inconsistent is his performance. Sometimes he calls the Compies by the hyphenated alphabet (K.R. is K. - R. ), other times he does not (G.U. is Gooo).
The narrator performs like a ham-actor who is trying his utmost to steal the scene. The result is very annoying. It's like that time on Seinfeld when George slams the girl with the chopsticks in her hair for talking about her Paap- i- eh Mache hats; it's pretentious.
Again, I blame the publisher. Do they have no responsibility for their product? The narrator is talented; he just needed someone to tell him to:"Knock it off!"
Moving on to book 4 with lowered expectations.

Still worth a listen

Although David Colacci replaces George Guidall and it takes some getting accustomed to, it is still worth a listen. If Colacci had read the series from the beginning and touched base with Kevin J. Anderson about pronounciations, there would not be a controversy. David Colacci is a fine narrator.

The most prevalent issue I have are the occasions when I suppose people are supposedly speaking over a radio, and the production uses voices that sound like they are coming from a squeaky megaphone. It is God awful! And it happens far too often. In the far future, anyone serious think that radio conversations will sound like they are omitted from a 1930's AM radio?

Great book - Horrible narration

This great story is unfortunately really spoiled by the new narrator, David Colacci. I'm actually considering skipping the rest of the audiobooks and sticking to the kindle version. How a narrator can so completely ignore the previous narrator in the series, and totally mangle the pronunciation of the characters names is beyond my understanding. How a publisher could accept this travesty is even more unbelievable. The people behind this production should really be ashamed of themselves.

Still Shining Brightly!

Sometimes a series starts to burn out after the 3rd book, but not Scattered Suns. It shines a brightly as the 7 Ildiran suns.

First 3 books EA was Ee Ay not Ee uh

Narrator should have listened to prior pronunciations instead of renaming major characters. BTW Tasia (Tas cee uh not Taz ee uh).

Continuity issues -

What three words best describe David Colacci’s performance?

Listen to the 3 previous books performed by George Guidall, note how names and objects are pronounced, then re-record. Other than that great job, but the departure on how things are pronounced is overly distracting after hearing the first 3.

Another amazing chapter to the saga.

The story is amazing. Not sure when the Ildirans became British and the Roamers Southerners. Perhaps the new performer should review the previous performances and not change the pronunciation of so many characters names. it was jarring.