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)

Interesting ongoing Saga

Where does Scattered Suns rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I am normally not a SIFY fan but I got interested in this Saga after I listened to the 1st book which I go from the library. I was hooked on the story. It is a lot like the Dune Saga. The stories have a lot of twists and turns and there are a number of sub plots going on.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I look forward to reading the 5th installment. I am really engrossed in the characters and the various story lines.

Have you listened to any of David Colacci’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Very good performance brings the characters to life for me.

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

I could have done that but I would rather have it strung out over a period of time

Any additional comments?

Once you get hooked on the story you can't walk away.

David Colacci Definitely Isn't George Guidall!!

I'm curious to know if this Mr Colacci even bothered to listen to any of the previous books read by George Guidall? He mispronounces almost all of the unique Names of People & "Compies". Tāsia's personal computer friend,
"E.A."? He calls her Ēăă! It's E.A.! E.A! People!

Different narrator - still great story

Where does Scattered Suns rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is slightly above mediocre only because I dislike it when a new narrator takes over and botches most of the names. This is still one of my biggest pet peaves about a series. If a narrator changes, why wouldn't they listen to the previous books to understand how the other narrator used names.

Other than that, he does a good job. Love the story still.

What did you like best about this story?

I'm still halfway through. The storyline is fantastic. I enjoy each book and can't wait for the next one.

Would you be willing to try another one of David Colacci’s performances?

Yes but only if he does the "entire" series.

Change of narrators is jarring

This is an excellent story. I've just finished the last book in the series, and I'm overall quite happy with it. It's almost like listening to an epic movie or TV.

The only complaint I have here, is the change in narrators. David does a great job, but it was HARD moving from previous books into this one. After spending so much time listening to the previous narrator (3 LONG books!), the switch in narration was just hard to swallow.

I was immediately put in mind of Safehold, and the absolute travesty that entire series has become in audio book format, with the constant change in narrators.

However, this isn't about the abortion that is Safehold, this is about the Seven Suns.

Thankfully, this is the only narrator change. But it was hard to get used to.

The worst was in pronunciation. Tas-e-ah, vs Tas-i-e-ah, or the pronunciation of the robot name e.g. "K. R." the letters, where as David says "Kay-Ar" or "Goo" instead of "G. U." are good examples.

I really had to try on this one, but I'm glad I stuck it out. By about Book #5 I'd gotten used to it and was able to go back and enjoy the story.

Solid Entry in the Saga

I recently finished listening to Scattered Suns written by Kevin J. Anderson and narrated by David Colacci. This is the fourth book in the Saga of the Seven Suns.

I should note that most series are hard to review without giving some spoilers. If this an issue for you I suggest you skip to the conclusion.

Most series allow for you to jump in somewhere in the middle, assuming you don't mind a few spoilers. This is not such a series. It's so tight knit that your only hope of fully grasping it is to start with the first book Hidden Empire. Now that I have said all of that I will do my best to review the book for those who haven't moved onto the conclusion.

The Ildarin empire faces civil war as a rebel Mage-Imperator rears his head and begins turning Ildarin against Ildarin. Additionally, Jora'h's daughter has finally reached the peak of her mental abilities that may allow her to speak directly to the Hydrogues.

The EDF, turns its military might against it's far flung colonies and the Roamer clans. Chairman Wenceslas sees this as a fight they can win. The chairman is also regretting his decision to not actively aid Theroc.

The various elemental entities wage war on the Hydrogues, mostly a war they are losing.

The Kilkiss robots proceed with their plan to destroy humankind. This will be accomplished partially because the humans borrowed Klikiss design to build soldier robots, unwitting of the dangers of doing so.

Believe it or not, this is really just the start of the book. The book starts off slow and initially made me question if I would continue with the series. It does, however, pick up pace and address the issues it created. Since it did so I will continue with the series.

The narrator David Colacci is a fairly solid workaday narrator. Had they left his narration alone it might have been merely pleasantly forgettable. They did not leave his narration alone, I'm sad to say. They often apply a whole hosts of filters to his voice trying to imply he is a suit com, speaking as a robot, etc. While not a breaking point for me, I do consider the narration on this book subpar as a result.

Conclusion: This is a solid entry in the Saga of the Seven Suns. If you are interested in the series and haven't started with the Hidden Empire, I suggest you do so rather than jumping in here. It's a fairly solid Sci-fi novel, good but not great. A must for those who are reading the Saga of the Seven Suns.

New narrator who botches pronunciation

This new narrator does not pronounce a lot of the names in the series in a way that any sane person would. Very distracting and disappointing.

Like nails on a chalkboard...

I initially felt like the last reviewer, thinking that this narrator would've probably been acceptable (even given the ridiculous accents) if I hadn't already listened to 60 hours of the previous, excellent narrator, and that I would hopefully get used to him eventually. The different name pronunciations were distracting, but not deal-breakers. UNTIL NOW! I just reached the part of the book where Tasia's compie "EA" comes into the story again. Amazingly, the narrator even manages to mispronounce this two letter name, saying "ee-aah", despite the fact that it states clearly in an earlier book that compies are referred to by the first two letters of their designation, and there are copious examples already mentioned ("U-R", "D-D", etc... I'm now worried to hear how these other compie names will be butchered by the narrator when they come up in the story again: "er" and "duh-duh" perhaps?) Although I'm only partway through Scattered Suns, everytime I hear "ee-aah" now, it is like nails on a chalkboard.

In the event that a change in narrator must take place in a series, it would take so little work by the production company to just have a flunkie listen to the first three volumes and make a list of pronunciations for the new narrator to increase consistency and to prevent embarrassing errors like this "ee-ahh" fiasco. They will end up with much happier consumers, and probably with a happier author as well.

Anderson delivers again. Colacci will too.

If you have listened to the first three books of the series, let me say that it is tough to get used to a master like George Guidall and have a new narrator thrown at you on book four. After listening to book four, I am convinced that if David Colacci had narrated the first three, I would have loved them just the same. He simply has a different style. The change is hard to handle this late in the game, but stick with it. The book is worth the listen and we have David Colacci for the last four books, so might as well get used to it.

That said; Book Four was another fun romp through the Seven Suns Saga. At times I find myself wondering if some characters are really as prejudiced, dim-witted, and narrow minded as their actions would dictate, or is it Anderson using a writing style to illicit negative emotion toward certain characters. If it is the latter, then it works, and it is brilliant. Every few chapters I run into a situation where I want to slap a character silly and say "What are you thinking?" Anderson certainly keeps me involved with the characters. I will certainly read the rest of the books just to see if these numbskulls get what they deserve in the end.

In the Sci-fi side of things, most of the core concepts of the series were introduced in the first two books, but the end of this one provides some really interesting twists. I find that Anderson does not go deep into the technology or descriptions of some of the concepts he introduces, but that is fine with me. I let my imagination take over. In Sci-fi, for me this is often the case and it seems as if the truly mind-blowing concepts cannot be explained using words anyway. Yet Anderson continues to throw in something new at the end of these books to keep us wanting more. Like "cliff-hanger Friday."

Final note on the narration, give David Colacci a chance. By the time you get to Book Five, you'll be much more comfortable with him.

Narrator not that bad

Any additional comments?

There are a few reviews that say the new narrator has ruined the audio book, well I disagree. He is different and some of the pronunciations are different, but he I found he took nothing away from the saga.

I took about three months off between books 3 and 4, I think that made it easier to take.

Love the book; dislike the narration

I know, I know, there are a lot of reviews talking about the narrator, but he's just making me crazy. I love the series so far, but the narrator change has been very painful. I dislike his use of accents and poor pronunciation of compy names. That said, I'm still glad I have more of the series to look forward to. Apparently Kevin J. Anderson explains the change of narrator somewhere, and maybe if I can find that it will make it easier to listen to the rest of the books.