The Dark Between the Stars (Saga of Shadows)
*Starred Review* Here’s the backstory: Anderson’s Saga of Seven Suns is a seven-part series (published in the early and mid-2000s) in which humanity, with the assistance of a much older alien race, the Ildirans, had moved into the stars, colonizing various worlds around the galaxy—and accidentally triggering a war that threatened to destroy both races. The series delivers space opera in the grand tradition, and Anderson’s new trilogy, set in the same universe, promises to be similarly epic in scope. As the first installment of this new saga begins, humans and Ildirans are working to repair their relationship (which was strained to its limits over the course of the previous series). A joint exploratory mission to the edge of the galaxy is meant to represent a first step in the long process, but when an alien presence is discovered, one so powerful that it could conceivably wipe out all life in the galaxy, the two races must come together a lot quicker than planned. Anderson hits it out of the galaxy again: space opera doesn’t get much more exciting, or much more richly populated with alien races, technologies, and cultures, than it does in this sprawling, engrossing epic. --David Pitt