This was a recommendation, and I sadly chose to get it on audio – a big mistake. The Hidden Empire is the first in a detailed 
and engaging fantasy series. It has a range of narrators – which is what made it so difficult to listen to rather than read. I kept feeling like I was missing details. But here are the essentials.
Set sometime in the future after humanity has discovered star travel and only one other sentient race – the Ildirans. The Ildirans are advanced, but have lost the thirst for new discovery. The only other race that has been detected are the ruins of a race known as the Klikiss, survived only by their robots who claim to have no knowledge of the past.
The novel begins with humanity testing an ancient Klikiss technology that can turn gas giants into suns – thus creating new worlds to be populated. But after the experiment it become clear that they have disturbed an invisible race which declares war upon them. They mainly focus their attacks on locations that produce ekti, a substance required by humans an Ildirans for space travel.
There are a variety of fascinating characters – a kidnapped boy whose identity is altered in preparation for him to become a figurehead king to the humans, a green priestess who can speak to trees and a variety of other clans and groups.
This will no doubt be epic in scale and probably worth a look in the future. But not on audio! It’s such an incredibly detailed and well-realised fantasy world.
Welloflostplots 