The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows, Book One

My wife and I both liked the Original "Saga Of The Seven Suns" Series, so I grabbed this book the moment it became available... It picks up about 20-25 years after the last book in the Original Series.

MANY of the same Characters, same villains and threats, with new threats and plot twists thrown in... That may sound like "more of the same", and while I guess it is, it's not really... If you wanted MORE after the original series (which WE DID!), here it is, Cranking it all up again!

I like that there's not a LOT of "Set Up" since the Author seems to assume readers have read the Original Series... He just gets right into "The Continuing Saga". The threats from the Original Series that were just hinted at, turn into REAL nightmares, even as old nightmares return to Haunt Humanity (and every other Race) AGAIN!

Anderson is GREAT at juggling a LOT of Characters and Events, all at the same time, while "Keeping Things Moving Along At A Good Clip". Every time I think "NO WAY is he going to be able to keep on throwing in NEW problems, and NEW threats, and be able to control the whole story", but he DOES!

Narration was VERY good!

I just REALLY wish the "Compi-Companions" had a slot to plug in extra memory capacity, and a way to back-up their older memories and such so they don't have to delete their Memories if they need to load up instructions to learn to operate a new space craft, etc... Kinda breaks my heart for them to have to delete their Memories of an Owner's Childhood to make room for loading up a new skill-set.

Show me, Don't tell me.
It is a little amusing, not long ago I read the last book in The Saga of The Seven Suns and at that time, I wondered, what if Anderson would work a little on character development? Maybe that is what he was trying to do in this book, I don't know. With real characters and no silly Elementals this might be good? Like John C of Dakota, I could only make it a little over two hours. This is the seventeenth book of Anderson's that I have read, so I knew what to expect. I did not need to waste 20 more hours of my life. Usually Anderson does not have time to develop characters, as he is in a rush to add more elements to the story. So, when he writes a book in which nothing happens for two hours, it is almost criminal. I feel he stole from me. Anderson talks too much, explains too much, does not show. Of those books only three could I recommend to others, that is a high percentage of failures.

I am not sure what keeps me buying these failures, but I will show more restraint in the future.

Good bye Mr. Anderson

Andersen's The Dark Between the Stars begins 20 years after the finale of the Seven Suns Saga. Many of the major characters from the last saga are back with a whole host of new participants. This saga is done in the same style as the previous with each chapter focused on a specific major character (which totals to several dozen at least). While the intervening 20 years has been somewhat peaceful and idyllic, dark forces are gathering with the Illdyran boogeyman, the ShanaRa appearing as a manifestation of fundamental physics, but fearful of an even greater, more powerful, but unknown threat along with a new mysterious alien race.

The sci-fi elements are pretty much in line with the last saga, although the new variations of intelligent lifeforms are even more exotic than the prior earth, air, fire, and water manifestations. Andersen is a master of the space opera, but of a more workingman's / blue collar variety. His characters are both endearing and quite engaging. Prior familiarity with the last saga is most useful for adequate background for the carry-overs. While there is a tremendous degree of plot development, book 1 ends abruptly with multiple irons in the fire.

The last saga used two different narrators (both excellent), but this time out, a 3rd narrator is utilized. The narration is well done with a great range of voices, both male and female. The mood and pacing are expertly rendered which provides a steady even flow to an above average audiobook length.

Reminded me of a soap opera with too many characters with personal problems. It was not what I expected after reading the .... Saga of Seven Suns. Its almost like the editor wrote this one, or could have. I understand that there is a certain amount of set up that is necessary, but this was a bit much. I do like Mr. Boyett.

Having never read the Element Wars novels, this serves as a great series primer. Cheers.

I am so happy to be back in this universe! Saga was an amazing series. To have some of the same loved characters here and then be introduced to new ones is awesome. The threat they now face is inventive. KJA is just fantastic at development. I can listen to his books over and over. Definitely pick this up!

I love the way Mark Boyett takes a great story and brings it to life. He's definitely one of my favorite Narrators.

A very good start to what I imagine will be a fine new series of books in the sequel to the saga of seven suns. I wanted to rate this as a five star work, but found portions of the work, in some chapters, too repititious or redundant regarding some of the histories of certain characters, mildly annoyying, as if the listener/reader is unable to retain information.

There are many new and interesting developments in the storyline and a few predictable plot manipulations, so all in all this was a good listen and worth the purchase.

Good story to listen to while working, not cheesy and campy; nor highly detailed and weighted down with extreme long winded explanations. Highly recommended if you have read Kevin J. Anderson other series, Seven Suns.

I liked the way Anderson introduced the characters, then circled back around and kept bringing us up to date. The cycle of characters repeats throughout the book. This adds a lot of continuity to the story. My problem was that the story never seemed to end, and even when it was supposed to be terribly tragic, the story just felt melodramatic. I do not know if that was the story (suspect this was the case) or the narrator. Actually, I felt the narrator did an adequate job, but you could not tell from his voice if someone was about to die or go swimming. This story had the epic feel of a James Michener novel, and it felt like it would never end, but then it finally did end, leaving everybody in limbo until the sequel. I do not like books that do that, so it is unlikely I will buy the sequel.