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 A solid if unspectacular end to the series November 21, 2008
So, everything is wrapped up nicely in the Spiral Arm. But perhaps a little too nicely.
The dialogue is still clunkingly awful in places, with characters spouting terribly earnest, even pompous lines. The action and invention that compensated for this in previous novels is still there, but it feels diminished, the enemies vanquished a little too easily in the end.
I guess an inevitable consequence of having so many characters is that there will be those that are interesting (Basil, Syrix, Davlin) and those who feel pointless or only half drawn (Celli, Cain, most of the Ildirans), and a final volume inevitably has to dwell on everyone, diluting my interest somewhat.
 A fitting end November 6, 2008
A fitting end to a series that seemed like a never ending struggle to fill 7 books.
The characters where and kept being as flat as a pancake.
Most plots totally transparent.
Science dorky and old fashioned.
The end left too many lose ends, too many easy exits.
I got the last book in this series just because i already have the other 6, which, to be honest, i bought on the pretty cover and some reasonably good reviews of the first book.
I am going back to reading I.M. Banks and Dan Simmons, and i will never ever buy a book of Anderson again.
Should be zero stars September 9, 2008
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
The author's ideas startec out well in the first couple of books, but there are just so many inconsistencies and so little science in these books that they lose any credibility and become fantasy rather than science fiction. Dwarves, elves and orcs in space you might say. Just hwo fast is this stardtrive? The main players travel vast distances in such a short space of time, how do trees get into space, and what drives them? Is earth populated by dimwits with no investigative journalism? The chairman (of earth - what a daft concept) is a Stalin type figure who seems to have no opposition at all, the Klikiss insect has fabulous technology, but you never hear of or get to meet an intelligent one, and worst of all, if such a being as a faero existed (that lived in the heart of a sun), then there is no way any flesh being could come anywhere near it and survive. There was no explanation of why the 4 elementals started fighting , and why on earth did the klikiss build the robots in the first place, with all those drone workers about?
The roamer clans have their space facilities destroyed time after time, yet seem to be able to have everything back to normal by thursday lunchtime! Just totally unbelievable and inconsistent.
 A brilliant ending to KJA's Magnum Opus (Of career so far) September 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns 7)
This book is a brilliant conclusion to a fantastic epic. I really enjoyed this series, I especially like how each chapter follows a specific character, very cleverly done.
If you've read the previous six you'll know the story so far, if you haven't the brilliant and detailed story sof far and glossary fill in all the holes.
This final chapter leads into a final confrontation which is well written and planned out from start to finish.
I would recommend this to any fan of science fiction as Kevin J Anderson's work is a brilliant epic which hasn't really been done before.
Finished - and thats about it September 1, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Whilst this book resolves all plot lines and manages to bring to an end a complex story with multiple interwoven plot lines, it does so at the cost of style and flair, with the books written structure becoming a vehicle for presenting plot lines rather than a structure that was in any way enjoyable to read.
Other than to finish reading the series I cannot recommend this book. Indeed on balance after the first 3 or 4 of the series, the books become tedious and onerous to read, therefore I would not recommend starting it.
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