Of Fire and Night (Saga of Seven Suns Series #5) » (Unabridged)

Kevin J. Anderson has written twenty-seven national bestsellers and has over 15 million books in print worldwide. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award.

The extermination of Earth is at hand. With his increasingly irrational leadership Basil Wenceslas, chairman of the Hansa, has driven humanity into a corner. His punitive treatment of the Hansa colonies and the Roamers as well as his refusal to aid an embattled Theroc have made enemies for the people of Earth. Enemies that the Hansa cannot afford. Not when Wenceslas is struggling against revolt by soldier compies, who decimate the military by stealing ships and slaughtering soldiers; and betrayal by the Ildirans, led by Jora’h the Mage-Imperator, who is secretly scheming with the hydrogues to annihilate Earth.

Now disparate factions of humanity must plan for their own salvation. Worldtrees allied with humans on Theroc have rallied hulking, thorny tree battleships. Roamers work with powerful water entities, the wentals, to seed planets everywhere with a growing force to challenge the hydrogues.

But when the final battle with the hydrogues is joined, who will aid the people of Earth?

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Anderson's fabulous fifth volume in his Seven Suns saga (after 2005's Scattered Suns) combines glitzy space-opera flash with witty, character-driven action on a cosmic scale. In retaliation for the destruction of a gas planet's hydrogue inhabitants, the surviving hydrogues join forces with human-hating Klikiss-created robots to exterminate all Terrans, including Hansa colonists, gypsy Roamers and Therons of Theroc, the forested planet that's home to sentient verdani. Vast verdani organic battleships unite with fiery, star-dwelling faeros, Earth Defense Forces and humanoid Ildirans in "elemental synergy" to fight the hydrogues. Expertly juggling a huge cast and multiple story lines, Anderson unleashes major firepower as he sets the scene for the sixth and final chapter in an SF series more entertaining than a 3-D superstar game of outerspace Twister. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.