In this second book, Anderson solves a few of the cliffhangers of the last book, while adding many more mysteries. The tale picks up five years later, and things have not improved for the different peoples. The hydrogues have prevented them from harvesting the fuel they desperately need to keep their interstellar craft going, and the Roamers, especially, are hurt by this, and are trying to develop replacements. We also find that the humans are all secondary to whats really going on... true, the hydrogues want every single one of them dead, but this is a drama that has been played out before, between the hydrogues and the worldforest, a sentient network of trees that humans have been using as communication towers, but are really so much more. Soon, other aliens make their presence known, the faeros, which are reminiscent of fire elementals, and their watery counterparts the wentals. It is impossible to know the true agenda of these new creatures, even when they seem to be helping the protagonists.
Of course, the other story lines progress a great deal... we see King Peter become more and more a (careful) pain in the rear to Basil, so much so that Basil decides it's time to find a new heir, even as Basil cements his plants to gain control of all the humans in the galaxy. His moves force the Roamers to fight even harder for their freedom, to the point where Cesca decides to accept Reynold's marriage alliance proposal. Jess, understanding the need for this decision, decides he'd be better off as far from his beloved as possible, and so discovers the wentals. Prime Designate Jora-h still doesn't know the fate of his beloved Nira, and to keep him from finding out the Mage-Imperator takes some drastic steps. Nira, we've discovered, is being held in a breeding camp, where the Ildirans are trying to breed a baby with telepathic powers... powers that may allow them to communicate with the hydrogues. If things werent bad enough, the Klikiss robots who are helping the Earth's government to develop an army to fight the war have developed their own ideas of what they want to do.
These are just a few of the continuing story lines that weave together to form the whole of this truly sweeping and gripping adventure. The first book, I concentrated on the characters for the review, mostly because that was the underlying point of the book, I think. To be honest, while I liked the first book a lot, it took me awhile to get used to things. By the time I picked up this book, I'd hit my stride. Anderson is genius at crafting all these variables together, making the switch in characters something incredibly important to the story... because it is this huge, evolving thing. You need to see it from all these diverse angles to fully understand and appreciate how dreadful this situation is. It adds a fullness to the reality, making the story feel complete and fully realized. It is a true immersive experience in some ways, because we dont just see the actions, this happens and then this happens... we see the effect of all these actions, and how what this person who we happen to like over here does that totally changes the situation for this other person we like over there. Its really nifty to see how all these different people interact.
The only bad thing is this whole book is the flyleaf... when it says that we won't get to see what happens next until Summer 2004.
A Forest of Stars
Kevin J. Anderson
