In the Ruins (Crown of Stars, Vol. 6)

In the Ruins (2005) is the sixth Fantasy novel of the Crown of Stars series, following The Gathering Storm. In the previous volume, the Seven Sleepers raised the enchantment to thrust away the land of the Aoi, but three crowns were disrupted; yet Anne compensated for the setback. Then Liath guided the molten streams of lava up through the central crown, killing Anne and her retinue and the enchantment failed.

Prince Sanglant and Zuangua killed the diamone within Henry and the freed Regnant named Sanglant as his heir. Both armies then acclaimed him as their ruler.

Dragonback Ridge shattered and released the dragon. Alain and the dragon faced each other momentarily, but then the dragon flew away. A wave washed over Alain and then carried him back toward the sea; but the cart caught on the rocks and his chains held him back. His foster father Henri and the dogs found Alain lying amidst the ruins, released him from the chains, and took him home.

In this novel, the land of the Ashioi rejoins the Earth at the same time as the current Feather Cloak, Secha, gives birth to twins. The restoral also has unforeseen consequences among those left on Earth. The violence of the unfolding spell raises volcanoes, generates tsunamis in the Middle Sea, causes rivers to run backward, and buries villages under mudslides. Great windstorms tear down trees and scatter the ever present ashes. Huge waves wash over the shore and sweep far inland. Then the widespread ashes and dust obscure the sun.

King Sanglant has inherited the remains of two armies; both are at half strength after the fighting and the effects of the Cataclysm. After the virtual destruction of Estriana by tidal waves, Sanglant refuses to look further for Queen Adelheid. Nor does he send a party to look for Liath. Taking his survivors, Sanglant marches north toward Wendar.

The hot windstorm blows down the tents of King Geza and Lady Eudokia. The Eagle Hanna wanders among the survivors, witnessing Geza's divorce of Princess Sapientia and his hurried departure to Ungria, but she is captured by Eudokia's soldiers and taken away in chains as they depart. Sister Rosvita waits for her return, but is forced to leave without her before the coming of twilight. Finding Sapientia as they exit the camp, Sister Rosvita takes her with them.

Liath struggles across the devastation that she has created, coming to a ruined watchtower. There she finds Eldest Uncle with a skin of water. He takes her to the river to wash away the grime and ashes. Then she falls sleep, waking once with the arrival of two masked warriors, but falls asleep again for many days.

Waking once more, she dresses herself in an ancient tunic and her mantle, then climbs the watchtower. From there she sees an army of refugees coming. When they arrive, Eldest Uncle and a younger version of himself embrace in joy; they are twins who have been separated in time. Unfortunately, Kansi is with the refugees and turns them against Liath. She flees, but Kansi sends sorcery after her. As she falls, a golden griffin catches her and flies away.

This novel recounts the destruction from the Cataclysm and the subsequent violence among the various human factions and between the Ashioi and the humans. The Ashioi who walked the shadows still remember the war with the humans and horse people; they outnumber the Lost Ones who traveled with their land through the aether and are eager to resume the conflict. The self-deluded humans, however, mostly consider the Ashioi as a sideshow to their own righteous killings. And the country folk and townspeople die mostly unregarded by the nobility.

Highly recommended for Elliott fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, noble thinking and magical weapons.

-Arthur W. Jordin

It has been a long time since I read The Gathering Storm by Kate Elliott and the author gives us her apology at the beginning. The last novel is so long it has been split into books six and seven. Luckily this should mean the last is out soon, not giving much chance for the story of Sanglant and Liath the chance to fade from memory before we end this epic.

And an epic it has become, threatening to spill over into Jordan-esque longevity but without quite the intricate descriptions of mundane life.

So, Liath has unleashed a cataclysm on the world, killed Anne, freed the Aishoi back to eradicate humanity and ended up carried naked by griffins back to Sanglant who leads a bedraggled army back to Wendar.

Much of the next five hundred pages is taken up with the aftermath of the cataclysm as our groups straggle and struggle back to whence they came and try to restore order against the swathe of destruction. As such, Sanglant confirms his becoming regnant of Wendar and Darre though he and Liath are fighting hard against Mother Scholastica's vicious attempts to nullify their marriage. Blessing finds herself throwing more and more tantrums as she escapes a crown with Berthold and others, eventually being captured by the beautifully evil Hugh of Austra and being used as a pawn in the nefarious alliance with the Aishoi. Throughout a host of other supporting characters wheel and deal to establish a foothold in the new world order whilst the Aishoi prepare to invade, the most prominent of these being the alliance between Aheleid and the new power out of destroyed Arethousa, General Alexandros.

Much of this sixth novel, as Elliott warns us in her note, deals with post cataclysmic upheaval. The real action can be condensed into a hundred key pages as we follow Hugh in those final hundred as he makes his move once Elliott has moved her pieces into position for the final book.

The beauty of it is the fact that the one character who has become an ever deepening mystery is Alain. The opening character of the series, he ghosts in and out in a manner that is infuriating to the reader but used as a brilliant hook by Elliott to keep us moving forward ever faster to get our next glimpse. You can't help hope that the real climax of the books is going to arrive in Alain and that it won't disappoint. His destiny seems inexorable and he calmly accepts it whilst Liath dithers in powerful confusion, frustrating in her prevarication.

Elliott's barely disguised early-medieval world that draws heavily on that social, geographical and religious structure is delightful drawn, excellently characterized and possessing of a heavily built plot in a Jordan-esque fashion. Effortlessly building suspense and engendering real empathy in her characters with Hugh, Alain and Liath the stand-out people, the author has created a fantasy world that resides in the top echelons of the genre.

I admit that this series is quite a work of fantasy. I was sucked in immediately by the story told in the first three volumes. At volume 4 though, it started dragging. This, the 6th book, was a terrible disappoinment to me. After reading it, I wish I could of had a friend recant the story for me over a cup (just one cup) of coffee. Rarely do I feel this way about any books I read, but I feel that I wasted my time and money reading it.

Nonetheless, I will read book 7. I remain hopeful that this obviously talented author will find a way to skillfully resolve all of the conflicts she's created and not gloss over anything or leave the reader hanging.

I really got into the first 4 books, and could hardly put them down. It seemed like the author was just trying to get the most out of her series though after the 4th book and it really should have ended at book 5. The last few books in the series were so hard to read and keep up with I found myself drifting more often than not, but I am one of those people that cannot stand to leave a book unfinished. I was actually relived when the series ended and I finally could get started on another book. I am a speed reader, and the last three books took me a month and a half to read alone...it has NEVER taken me that long to get through 3 books!

This was a tough read. Describing the aftermath of a cataclysm is a tall order and Elliot does a thorough job of it here. Thorough is great, but it doesn't necessarily make for "entertaining" or "highly enjoyable" reading. Kindof like Matrix Revolutions was a grind to get through.

Elliot does a real good job of giving her world depth. The world machinery is never explained, only described. Of course characters offer piecemeal explanations but their knowledge is imperfect.

Theoretically I love this. That's how I like to approach my RPG'ing as a DM. But you know what? It just doesn't read that well. It's kind of a slog to get through. There's no strong central arc, it's basically a chronicle of events. The different threads don't have much motive power to get you to turn pages. (Well, depends on the reader.)

This book made me dislike Sanglant and Liath. There's so much going on, they don't get many scenes--and when they do they're always fighting and talking about how inconvenient their relationship is. Gee, there's a real simple solution to that--leave. Just quit complaining.

I got kindof irritated at all the "beautiful" men in the book. I mean, okay, men can be "beautiful". But surely their beauty can be communicated in more diverse ways that just saying "incomparable beauty" or "angelic beauty" or having characters (male or female, hetero- or homo-) get all hot and bothered at the incomparable beauty of these beautiful men.

Anyway, still 3 stars for effort. Keeping the complex world and plot under control (which they are) is a real achievement. Not much in the way of action here. The next one does pick it up. This is probably the nadir of the series (like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), but it's still okay.

I really and truly enjoyed the first couple volumes of "Crown of Stars." However, as the series moved along, I found myself less and less able to relate to even the main characters. Elliott writes glittering descriptions that allow a reader to completely immerse themselves in her world. Unfortunately, she commits the unspeakable sin of creating characters who are unlikable. Liath, the half-daimone woman who most of the books revolve around, is cold and unfeeling much of the time, even to her supposed true love, Sanglant. Said true love then goes on to be unfaithful to Liath, while whining about how SHE doesn't love HIM. Then we have Alain, the best of the bunch, who wanders around lost, never throwing his obvious talents in to one side, for good or ill. I simply had trouble backing such a wishy-washy cast, and I truly hope Elliott goes on to explain why they have become so by the last volume.

Love this series. Book is well written and lots of fun

(This review is of the Crown of Stars series, not the individual books, but is attached to each one so that potential readers know what they’re getting into. It is imperative to begin with “King’s Dragon,” of course, and once involved, the difference in quality and focus of each of the seven volumes is far less important than the impact of the series as a whole.)

Crown of Stars is a sprawling, sometimes confusing, seven volumes of epic medieval fantasy that is worth the investment of time and energy to track its multitude of characters through complex plots and subplots as they battle their way through 4,000 pages of magic, catastrophe and of course, eventual redemption.

But first it has to be said that Kate Elliott doesn’t bring every one of her characters all the way home, as more than a few are killed relatively early in the series, and some that seem destined for an early demise just keep hanging on. This kind of uncertainty, and some unexpected plot twists, keep the pages turning, and makes this long series an entertaining and worthwhile ride.

The setup is a thinly disguised medieval Europe (think 9th century) a few generations after the death of Charlemagne (called Taillefer in the book). The echoes of the Dariyan (read “Roman”) Empire still linger, but the political side of the book is concerned with the dynastic maneuverings of Central European dukes and kings, which are complex to begin with and get even more so as the books roll on.

The fantasy aspect combines powerful magic wielded by a minority of humans, plus some non-human races (though the Eika are the Vikings) and cosmology that resembles the ancient Greek theories about the spheres of existence that surround Earth.

And then of course there are the human interactions, ranging from obsession (both love and hate), religious fervor, lust for power, and revenge, all played out through a cast of what seems like thousands. (Keeping track isn’t all that easy, and when Elliott wraps everything up, it’s not a simple task to sort everything, and everyone, out on just one reading.)

Though there are many point-of-view characters, probably the two most important are Liath, a young woman who has spent her life running away from something her father greatly fears, and Alain, a young farm boy who draws the attention of powerful humans and spirits.

But almost equally important are Sanglant, a bastard son of King Henry whose mother is a mysterious Aoi (perhaps human, perhaps just slightly different); Rosvita, a nun and advisor to King Henry; Ivar, a young nobleman; and Stronghand, a young Eika warrior.

There are plenty of villains, fully fleshed out minor characters, a magical catastrophe, and most important in works as long and complex as this one, a satisfying ending.

The Crown of Stars, all in all, is an excellent medieval fantasy, though not quite up to Miles Cameron’s Traitor Son Cycle (which was written after this) and perhaps a little too complicated for its own good. And naturally, some of the seven volumes are better than others, but if “King’s Dragon” grabs your interest, then go ahead and buy the other six – you’ll have thousands of pages of enjoyment ahead, and the luxury of knowing that you have months of good reading on the way.

Kate Elliott is a great writer. Just started this episode and it's hard to put it down.

Read them all and loved them and will be reading them again soon