Book two of the Saga of the Seven Suns worked well to continue the story of the numerous characters featured in book 1. Speaking on that point, there are almost too many POV characters to keep track of and really care for. Any lesser author than Kevin J. Anderson and it would have failed miserably.
What I did like about this book was that it went further in depth of the ancient war that is being renewed. He brings about all of the four races, though some are still very shrouded in mystery. I would like more information released about the Klikiss, though too.
Another problem with the numerous POV characters, is the fact that there is so much repetition. I counted at least 12 at one point, though some die off, some are not featured as often, and then of course some are very important. Since it moves between them so often, it can be six or more chapters down before coming back to the same character. Then Anderson has to repeat (loosely for the benefit of the reader) what happened last time the character was featured.
Overall, I liked the book. I will definitely read the third in the series when I can get my hands on it. Lucky for me, they are already released so I can get straight to it, though due to it's problems I won't rush. ( )

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This is the sequel to Hidden Empire. I listened to it as an audiobook. It has to be better as an audiobook, because if I had to read this in text, I would have dropped it long ago. It's repetitive (good if you want to listen in the car and have to stop frequently). There are about 12 different point of view characters, but none of them have a really strong "voice," so Anderson spends way too much time every time he switches PoV in recapping what happened last time he wrote that character's storyline. And once he's done recapping the storyline, he then goes on to tell what happens without showing it. Not a single relationship in the entire novel is described-- he just flatly tells you "they had fallen in love." However, Anderson is a big fan of battle scenes, and those are told in loving detail, both tactically as well as from the flash and bang perspective. There are points where he uses the word "indescribably" as a cop-out to avoid actually describing something, be it a beautiful palace or the destruction of a forest. This is part of a series, but I'm not sure I can hang on through the next one in the series. ( )