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A review by taberiusrex
Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson
2.0
I write this review in full recognizance of the fact that I have neither finished the entire series, nor do I plan to.
Minor spoilers to follow.
Kevin Anderson has done good work in the past, and I'm thrilled at his work on an original IP instead of doing franchise work. That said, I agree with a lot of the flak he's gotten saying that this story doesn't need to be stretched out to a full seven books. It could probably fit comfortably in a trilogy or tetralogy; or, if he really wanted to keep the number theme going, he could have done a better job confining each book to just a couple of characters, making their stories more significant and their development coherent.
I'll give an example, but it comes from a later book, I think. Also, it having been so long since I read it, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.
The story of Tasia Tamblyn is a very interesting one: she's a Roamer, an outsider in the Terran Hanseatic League, who joined up with the military out of a sense of vengeance and duty. She joins the flight school, fights her way to the top of her class, and graduates with honors. She makes friends and enemies alike, both for her heritage and her flippant attitude.
It's an intriguing and wonderful story, a bit common but with plenty of room for originality and character growth. It could easily fill a book. Anderson took care of it with a few chapters, most of it being taken care of "off-screen," so to speak.
Overall it's still an enjoyable series. I lied earlier, I'll probably finish some day. But it smacks of wasted opportunity: given the amount of space the story takes up, Anderson could have shortened it without losing substance, or beefed up its significance by narrowing his focus to just a few individuals.
Worth your time if you're a big SF fan, otherwise not a great place to start.
Minor spoilers to follow.
Kevin Anderson has done good work in the past, and I'm thrilled at his work on an original IP instead of doing franchise work. That said, I agree with a lot of the flak he's gotten saying that this story doesn't need to be stretched out to a full seven books. It could probably fit comfortably in a trilogy or tetralogy; or, if he really wanted to keep the number theme going, he could have done a better job confining each book to just a couple of characters, making their stories more significant and their development coherent.
I'll give an example, but it comes from a later book, I think. Also, it having been so long since I read it, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.
The story of Tasia Tamblyn is a very interesting one: she's a Roamer, an outsider in the Terran Hanseatic League, who joined up with the military out of a sense of vengeance and duty. She joins the flight school, fights her way to the top of her class, and graduates with honors. She makes friends and enemies alike, both for her heritage and her flippant attitude.
It's an intriguing and wonderful story, a bit common but with plenty of room for originality and character growth. It could easily fill a book. Anderson took care of it with a few chapters, most of it being taken care of "off-screen," so to speak.
Overall it's still an enjoyable series. I lied earlier, I'll probably finish some day. But it smacks of wasted opportunity: given the amount of space the story takes up, Anderson could have shortened it without losing substance, or beefed up its significance by narrowing his focus to just a few individuals.
Worth your time if you're a big SF fan, otherwise not a great place to start.