Of Fire and Night is the fifth book in Kevin J. Anderson’s monumental Saga of the Seven Suns. After four equally dense volumes, one might expect Anderson’s imagination to wain, his plot to trip over its own entanglements, but that it not the case. In fact, Of Fire and Night is the best book since the series started in Hidden Empire.
I dare not give away too much of the plot, since following the twists and turns of galactic politics and warfare, and discovering the fates of numerous characters, remains one of the most compelling aspects of the story. On earth, King Peter and Queen Estarra continue to struggle against Chairman Basil Wenceslas. The Chairman is growing desperate, and perhaps psychologically unstable, in his efforts to maintain control of the Hansiatic League. Readers who have awaited Peter’s grasp for real power will not be disappointed. The roamers begin to recover from EDF attacks by setting up an blackmarket trade network on abandoned Hansa colonies. Mage-Imperator Jora’h of the Ildirans struggles to repair his empire after the Hyrillkan rebellion and outwit the hydrogues, who have demanded that the Ildirans aid in destroying humanity. We also learn much more about the ancient relationships (and origins) of all four elemental races, as well as some tantalizing (and downright terrifying) tidbits about the Klikiss and their traitorous robots.
Of Fire and Night is not perfect. While not as disorienting as, say, Horizon Storms or Scattered Suns, the timeline in Of Fire and Night moves rapidly and can be difficult to grasp (I was surprised to learn that the Rob Brindle and the other human prisoners in the hydrogue city sphere had been heal captive for three years and that at least a year has passed since the hydrogues ravaged Theroc). Anderson is a gifted writer with a talent for portraying the plights of individuals and nations, but he somehow fails in describing a key battle between fifty elite silver berets and thousands of rampaging solder compies. The scene is set up well, but when it comes right down to the action I can paraphrase it as “the scientists walked into the factory with fifty soldiers. Forty-seven of the soldiers dies on the way to the control room” without removing much of Anderson’s prose.
But to complain about this book requires nit-picking. With Of Fire and Night, Anderson succeeds in creating yet another brilliant novel which blends the best of sci-fi and fantasy. He even succeeds in trouncing one enemy to humanity (and the Ildirans), while introducing several others in a believable manner. And never, in all the previous books, have an old woman and a compy been such effective harbingers of doom as they are on the last page of this volume.
