Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Ours! It's ours! It's all ours!!!

Or is it?

That's the scenario posited in Kevin J. Anderson's Hidden Empire.



Having colonized other worlds, humans are certain the galaxy is theirs for the taking. But they soon discover the horrifying price of their arrogance when a scientific experiment awakens the wrath of the previously unknown Hydrogues and begins a war.

ARE YOU READING HIDDEN EMPIRE? Shout it out in the discussion thread below, find a book buddy to read along, and tell us what you think as you read. Just remember to be kind and use the spoiler html so you don't ruin the fun for somebody who's not so far along.

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

Yay! I will be reading this. I have seen some people that I follow review it as five stars so I wanted to see what it was about.

I am currently waiting for it to arrive, so I will start it when it does.

Hidden Empire and the rest of the Saga of Seven Suns have great concepts, but there are too many coincidences, contrivances, and characters holding the Idiot Ball for me to recommend them as anything but page-turners. The characters exist almost solely to serve the plot.

The Hydrogues, Ildirans, and forest culture are all spectacular concepts that I remember from this book. Also, that cover art is breathtaking.

Anddddd....yep...this one is also on my kindle. I have an absolute black hole of a backlog.

Brandon wrote: " Also, that cover art is breathtaking.
."

I hope the one I ordered is that cover. I have seen some of the other covers and they're no where as good.

I'll be joining in on this one. Yay, my first official SOF group read :-)

Would I be correct in assuming that when writing in this thread about stuff that happens in the book, we should use spoiler tags?

Yes, please Gaines ... use the spoiler html. That way you can feel free to discuss stuff, but also not worry about spoiling the fun. And if people peek, well, it said spoiler, didn't it? 3:-)

Will do :-)

I'll be reading Hidden Empire this month too. We didn't have a copy at my library so I've got to wait for it on interlibrary loan. :(

I finished reading the entire series last month. The first few books were fine and the series should ideally have ended at book 5. Towards the end, the books started losing coherence and I just had to get over with reading them.

I've got my copy now and will begin reading it tonight. Excited :-)

Are a bunch of people still waiting on copies?

Yeah I am still waiting on mine, but I've been trying to finish another anyway.

I'm enjoying the (view spoiler)[brief, chapter-by-chapter introduction of the main characters so far. I think the last book I read that was done in that style was A Dance with Dragons. For me it's a really good, natural way of switching scenes and perspectives, although in both that novel and this one it's thankfully done without making the book feel too much like a television or movie screenplay (hide spoiler)].

Also, this is the first e-book I'm reading on my brand new ipad, so I'm kinda stoked about that, too :-p Normally I read paper books, so this is a bit of an adventure for me. I like how I can change the background color, and highlight a word to make a dictionary entry pop up that includes its etymology.

Got my copy yesterday. Planning on reading it this weekend.

I love the (view spoiler)[rivers that flow uphill in the capitol on Ildira. I would love to see that (hide spoiler)] :-)

This book was decent but the plot was all over the place. Will probably read the next one. Lots of interesting ideas but when you finally get the hang of a character it goes off in a completely opposite direction.

Fiannawolf wrote: "This book was decent but the plot was all over the place. Will probably read the next one. Lots of interesting ideas but when you finally get the hang of a character it goes off in a completely opp..."

Oh wow, you're finished already! I have a loonnng way to go. I think I'm only about a quarter of the way through, if that.

I read fairly quickly...esp if its a day off. :P

Nice. I only really have time to read at night in bed these days.

Books 2-7 use pretty much exactly the same characters as the first book, for better or worse. It's great for those struggling to keep track of who everyone is at the start, but it is not so good in terms of the plot going in some pretty unbelievable directions to keep the focus on those same characters.

So how many of us are actually reading this for the first time? Seems there are a few commenting who have read the whole series.

So far I'm enjoying the story. Not really having too hard a time keeping track of characters, though when their names start with the same letter, I sometimes do a double take.

I like the (view spoiler)[ Roamers. Looking forward to finding out how their more advanced tech (developed in secret) comes into play. I'm only guessing here, because I'm just under a third the way through Hidden Empire so far, but my bet is that the Ildiran Empire and the Earth forces come into conflict, and the Roamers with be the ones to swoop in and save the day. *shrug* just a guess hehe.

I also like the concept of the world trees that facilitate instantaneous long distance communication. I'd love to see a break down, in terms of physics, of how that works. I have a few ideas. But this novel obviously doesn't worry so much about the how of it all, which is fine. A very enjoyable opera so far :-) (hide spoiler)]

Going to be a while before I finish. How far along is everyone else?

John wrote: "Yeah I am still waiting on mine, but I've been trying to finish another anyway."

Did your copy ever arrive John?

Most of the way through this book. I guess no one else read it / wanted to discuss it. Oh well. It's been fun anyway :-)