Veiled Alliances (Saga of the Seven Suns)

by Kevin J. Anderson

Windstorm/DC Comics, January, 2004.
Graphic Novel, 96 pages.
ISBN: 1563899019

Veiled Alliances (Saga of the Seven Suns) by Kevin J. Anderson In a publishing first, bestselling novelist Kevin J. Anderson presents readers with a beautifully illustrated graphic novel, as the next entry in his hardcover Saga of the Seven Suns series which began with Hidden Empire (Warner Books) and A Forest of Stars (Warner Books). Veiled Alliances is a prequel to those two books. In the year 2100, humanity is ready to reach for the stars and sends out slow-moving generational ships. Benevolent advanced aliens, the Ildirans, discover the ships and share faster than light travel with the humans. But not all the generational ships are so lucky. Humanity finds that the universe is inhabited by alien races both benevolent and evil, and those interactions set the stage for the cosmos-spanning epic SF series which begins with Hidden Empire.

Robert Teranishi has outdone himself with the drawing for Veiled Alliances. The first Green Priest on the forest planet of Theroc, the puppet government headed by the figurehead King Ben on old Earth, the hardy pioneers who take over gas giant mining operations from the Ildirans, the beautiful architecture of the Ildirans and the mysterious Klikiss robots are all drawn with energy and force. Wendy Fouts-Broome does a fantastic job with the colors, from the rich, lush greens of Theroc to the reds, rusts and ochres of the gas giant being mined for ekti. Steven Youll provides truly vibrant and beautiful cover art.

The Saga of the Seven Suns is an SF epic with the scope and ingenuity of Dune; condensing the storyline into a length suitable for a graphic novel had to have been a difficult task. But Kevin Anderson is well up to the challenge, providing a fast-moving and exciting plot which nicely explains the origins of the relationships and worlds described in the first two books in the series. This exciting prequel is an extra treat for fans of the books. Those who aren't familiar with the books will be intrigued enough to grab a copy of Hidden Empire.

--Claire E. White

Veiled Alliances (Saga of the Seven Suns) is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the January-February, 2004 of The Internet Writing Journal.

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