Forest of Stars, by Kevin J Anderson

Forest of Stars continues the Saga of Seven Suns, started in Hidden Empire.

The second book in the series is pretty much the same as the first. The war with the hydrogues is heating up, and other ancient alien races are discovered as they enter the war on various sides. Humans are still struggling to survive and flourish when they cannot mine starship fuel from gas giants. We see the various characters continue to grow and evolve.

I do have a minor nit with this book, though, like the first one. The first book ended with a number of cliffhangers, but the second book starts, "Five years later..." In fact, one of the biggest cliffhangers of the first book is not resolved at all in the second book. I'm holding out hope that we'll find out more in the third book.

If you enjoyed the first book, you'll enjoy this one, too.