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)

i listen to all 7 in a month and im sad there over

Im writing this after the fact that i have listen to them all!!! wow just a great story, a fun story, a story with character and depth, the worst part is when you listen to them all is finding the next book you want to listen to, good books like these dont come along that often i think im gonna listen to the whole series again.

The story continues, but the narrator is horrid

Any additional comments?

As others have mentioned, the story continues to progress through the series. Anderson does well maintaining the huge story arc he started with the first book. The narrator though is horrid. I'm contemplating moving from audiobook to paperback. It's simply that bad..

Switching narrators hurts a solid story

It's always hard when a series changes narrators. However, when the names of major characters also have the pronunciation of their names drastically changed it makes the transition particularly difficult. The narrator also had some rather unconventional pronunciations of common English words

A solid continuation of the series that would have been much better with the original or at least a different narrator.

Great story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes this is a very entertaining story

What about David Colacci’s performance did you like?

Very clear and easy to hear and understand most of the time. As a truck driver with a lot of cab noise some performers are harder than others to listen to. The only exception in this case is when he uses effects on his voice. I wish they wouldn't do that, it is not necessary and makes parts hard to hear when rolling down the road.

Corruption and Compassion

If you could sum up Scattered Suns in three words, what would they be?

Knee Jerk Reactions

What did you like best about this story?

The characters and their interactions are life like and engaging. The characters make you feel like you are part of the book.

Which scene was your favorite?

When B. Bob helps the stranded girl and older man. There was a palpable feeling of pain in the girl and a complete sense of compassion from B. Bob.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I like listening in chunks of time because I get angry that these tough, bright people allow themselves to be guided by the Chairman without any sort of ethical dilemma.

Any additional comments?

My main criticism of this series of books is characters are brought in and taken out (just as quickly) without letting the reader understand why they are there (and why they are killed off just as quickly).

Please bring back George Guidall!

The switch from Guidall to Colacci is jarring and infuriating. The eloquent and mature narration of Guidall is replaced by someone better suited for Scooby do.

The story runs along at its usual fast pace only dropping into melodrama for short periods now and again.

The cringe worthy narration killed it for me. I have to gear up for the next installment of over pronounced H's and cartoon characterization. I might have to buy the ebook.

Still a strong series.

As this is a large series, and this the fourth book, the author wrote a primer in the front section to keep everyone up to speed. There is always a chance that someone may read to the book before and have to take a break for some reason. That is why I appreciated the consideration here. Thank you. As I have been consuming these works in the audio format please forgive me if I misspell any of the characters.

The myriad storylines are continuing as strong as ever. King Peter is still a royal hostage of the ruthless Hansa chairman Basil. Deedee, a companion compy of Margaret Colicos is still being dragged around the galaxy by the Klickas robots. Mage Imperator Jor Rah is still longing for the green priest Meara who was sequestered away by his unethical Brother Edru. Designate Roushad has incited a rebellion using a drug called Sheing to take possession of Ilderans from the fism. These and other lines are still going on all the planets the Author has built into his story.

I thought that some of these stories would begin to get tired as the series progressed and I’m glad that hasn’t occurred. My favorite so far is Devlin Lutz, specialist in obscure details or super high level operator. This character reminds me of several futuristic spy stories I have read including All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman. This is an excellent series, well written and narrated. It makes my commuting-chore-walking time something to look forward to. Four out of five points are hereby awarded.

Just a Fantastic Story

I read all the reviews before I listened to the book. Yes I admit that I did enjoy the narrator of the first three books much better. I am not one for sound effects when a book is read, for me that is a bit of a draw back. I agree with one reviewer that felt he should have listened to the first three books so that there was some continuity from one narrator to another. That being said, we know it will not be re-done, so I moved on and loved the story as I did the first three books.

LOVED the New Narrator!

I just DO NOT give "5's" Lightly!!!! Been with Audible OVER 10 Years, and have HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of Books in my Library as a Platinum Member (And DO NOT put a "Buy Extra Credits at this special Price" offer in front of me unless you mean it, because I'll Punch THAT ad button as many times as it's put in front of me!) Point being, My Wife and I Listen to books ALMOST CONSTANTLY! We KNOW what we like (and what we DON'T)...

Now, I know I won't get many "Helpful Votes" for this review, because for some reason it seems many people REALLY have strong feelings about the new Narrator... I don't like it when a new Narrator jumps into an established book (We're talking, what, investing OVER 150 Hours of your life to listen to this ENTIRE Series???)... HOWEVER, everyone seems to agree that THIS is the way to "Write a New Universe" and to tell the story of the MANY various people and cultures!!! The STORY is what is so great about this series!

I LIKE the "New" narrator (David Colacci) who took over narration when the author changed publishers! While I liked the original Narrator (George Guidall, Who does a FANTASTIC JOB in the first few books!), once I got used to Colacci doing the reading, I started REALLY liking his style, and the New accents he introduces! I find that it became MUCH easier to tell one Race (or even each "Person") apart from the others, just by the WAY each race (or person) speaks, with racial accents, the way one race adds different inflections to words, etc... It just seemed TO ME that it became easier to keep up with "who is who" without having to back up every 30 minutes because I'd missed a character change (or even a change is Races) and didn't realize it. This is the FIRST book I can think of off the top of my head where "Changing established narrators once the Series is pretty far along, actually ended up being a little BETTER overall"... Good enough that I started giving "5 stars for all three Categories ("Overall", "Performance", and "Story"), straight across the board"!

Anyway... I know others disagree, but give the new narrator a fair chance, and get on with listening to THE STORY! IT - IS - HUGE! It encompasses the entire "Spiral Arm" during a time of turmoil, and THIS series is "It's saga"!

great book

I just wish the reader would have listened to the other 3 books so he could have pronounced many of the names and words the same as the old reader. I can understand why to switch readers but this new guy did not pronounce many of names and places anywhere close to the old reader of books 1 2 and 3. kinda bugged me alot while listening to this book. overall though, I love this series so far and will continue to listen regardless