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Aetherial Tales #3
Grail of the Summer Stars
The climactic concluding novel in the spellbinding magical contemporary fantasy Aetherial Tales trilogy. A painting, depicting haunting scenes of a ruined palace and a scarlet-haired goddess in front of a fiery city, arrives unheralded in an art gallery with a cryptic note saying, “The world needs to see this.” The painting begins to change the lives of the woman who is the gallery's curator and that of an ancient man of the fey Aetherial folk who has mysteriously risen from the depths of the ocean. Neither human nor fairy knows how they are connected, but when the painting is stolen, both are compelled to discover the meaning behind the painting and the key it holds to their future. In Grail of the Summer Stars, a haunting, powerful tale of two worlds and those caught between, Freda Warrington weaves an exciting story of suspense, adventure and danger that fulfils the promise of the Aetherial Tales as only she can.
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First published April 16, 2013
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About the author
Freda Warrington
52 books326 followersFreda Warrington is an award-winning British author, known for her epic fantasy, vampire and supernatural novels.
“The Blood Wine books are addictive, thrilling reads that are impossible to put down and they definitely deserve more attention” – Worldhopping.net
Her earliest novels, the Blackbird series, were written and published in the 1980s. In the intervening years she has seen numerous novels of epic fantasy, supernatural and contemporary fantasy, vampires, dark romance, horror and alternative history published.
Her novel ELFLAND won the Romantic Times BEST FANTASY NOVEL Award in 2009, while her 1997 Dracula sequel DRACULA THE UNDEAD won the Dracula Society's BEST GOTHIC NOVEL Award.
Four of her novels (Dark Cathedral, Pagan Moon, Dracula the Undead, and The Amber Citadel) have been nominated or shortlisted for the British Fantasy Society's Best Novel award. The American Library Association placed MIDSUMMER NIGHT in its Top Ten for 2010.
Recently Titan Book reissued her popular romantic-gothic Blood Wine vampire series set in the 1920s - A Taste of Blood Wine, A Dance in Blood Velvet and The Dark Blood of Poppies - along with a brand new novel, The Dark Arts of Blood. In 2017, Telos Publishing will publish her first short story collection, NIGHTS OF BLOOD WINE, featuring fifteen lush dark tales - ten set in her Blood Wine world, and five others of gothic weirdness.
In 2003, Simon & Schuster published The Court of the Midnight King, an alternative history/ fantasy retelling of the story of King Richard III. To celebrate all the events surrounding the discovery of Richard III's remains in Leicester, The Court of the Midnight King is now available on Kindle and in paperback format. Most of her backlist titles, including the Blackbird series, Dracula the Undead, Dark Cathedral and Pagan Moon, can already be found on Kindle or will be available in the next few months.
Warrington has also seen numerous short stories published in anthologies and magazines. For further information, visit her website Freda Warrington
Born in Leicester, Warrington grew up in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. After completing high school, she trained at Loughborough College of Art and Design and worked in medical illustration and graphic design for some years. She eventually moved to full-time writing, and also still enjoys design, photography, art, jewellery-making and other crafts, travelling and conventions.
Series:
* Jewelfire
* Dark Cathedral
* Aetherial Tales
* Blackbird
“The Blood Wine books are addictive, thrilling reads that are impossible to put down and they definitely deserve more attention” – Worldhopping.net
Her earliest novels, the Blackbird series, were written and published in the 1980s. In the intervening years she has seen numerous novels of epic fantasy, supernatural and contemporary fantasy, vampires, dark romance, horror and alternative history published.
Her novel ELFLAND won the Romantic Times BEST FANTASY NOVEL Award in 2009, while her 1997 Dracula sequel DRACULA THE UNDEAD won the Dracula Society's BEST GOTHIC NOVEL Award.
Four of her novels (Dark Cathedral, Pagan Moon, Dracula the Undead, and The Amber Citadel) have been nominated or shortlisted for the British Fantasy Society's Best Novel award. The American Library Association placed MIDSUMMER NIGHT in its Top Ten for 2010.
Recently Titan Book reissued her popular romantic-gothic Blood Wine vampire series set in the 1920s - A Taste of Blood Wine, A Dance in Blood Velvet and The Dark Blood of Poppies - along with a brand new novel, The Dark Arts of Blood. In 2017, Telos Publishing will publish her first short story collection, NIGHTS OF BLOOD WINE, featuring fifteen lush dark tales - ten set in her Blood Wine world, and five others of gothic weirdness.
In 2003, Simon & Schuster published The Court of the Midnight King, an alternative history/ fantasy retelling of the story of King Richard III. To celebrate all the events surrounding the discovery of Richard III's remains in Leicester, The Court of the Midnight King is now available on Kindle and in paperback format. Most of her backlist titles, including the Blackbird series, Dracula the Undead, Dark Cathedral and Pagan Moon, can already be found on Kindle or will be available in the next few months.
Warrington has also seen numerous short stories published in anthologies and magazines. For further information, visit her website Freda Warrington
Born in Leicester, Warrington grew up in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. After completing high school, she trained at Loughborough College of Art and Design and worked in medical illustration and graphic design for some years. She eventually moved to full-time writing, and also still enjoys design, photography, art, jewellery-making and other crafts, travelling and conventions.
Series:
* Jewelfire
* Dark Cathedral
* Aetherial Tales
* Blackbird
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 7, 2013
(4.5 stars)
(Hey, everybody, we're giving away a copy of this book over here!)
Grail of the Summer Stars is the third in Freda Warrington's Aetherial Tales series, following Elfland and Midsummer Night. Each novel can stand alone, though they have some overlapping plotlines and characters, such that each novel will be more meaningful and resonant if you've read the others. Grail of the Summer Stars has more overlapping elements than either of the two previous books and is connected more strongly to each of them than they are to each other.
Warrington introduces us to Stevie Silverwood, a metalworking artist and museum curator who has always been a little odd, seeing things no one else could see -- and whose past before age 15 is a mystery even to herself. Her quiet life is disrupted when her old college sweetheart, Daniel, sends her a triptych of fantastic paintings along with a cryptic note, and goes missing. Her path soon crosses with that of Mistangamesh, an Aetherial man whom we met in Midsummer Night. He is hunting for his brother, Rufus, intending to kill him. Their subsequent search for Daniel and for the paintings' meaning draws them into a millennia-old mystery involving Mist's family and a megalomaniacal plot that could destroy both the Earth and the Spiral.
Like the previous Aetherial Tales novels, Grail of the Summer Stars features beautiful prose and themes of finding and being true to oneself, of love, of troubled family relationships, of art as a manifestation of magic and as a form of magic in itself. Warrington expands on another corner of her Aetherial world here, and it's hard to imagine that there's any end to her treasure trove of ideas. The pace is faster this time out; while there is an epic, sweeping past behind this novel's plot, there is a race-against-time feel to the modern-day action, and the book is the shortest of the series (so far).
Warrington's plotting is tight and nothing is wasted. One is continually surprised, while reading Grail of the Summer Stars, as what seemed like throwaway details come back to make total sense and to tie in with the central plot. This is true both of elements introduced in this novel and of threads from the previous two; as mentioned above, material from the earlier books is woven into this one, often in surprising ways.
I highly recommend the entire series to anyone looking for an inventive fantasy world that intersects with our own, for intricate plotting, and for characters you will feel for and feel like you know personally. Warrington could theoretically stop here and have a satisfying trilogy, but I hope she has many more Aetherial Tales to tell. Her universe is certainly rich enough to contain them.
(Hey, everybody, we're giving away a copy of this book over here!)
Grail of the Summer Stars is the third in Freda Warrington's Aetherial Tales series, following Elfland and Midsummer Night. Each novel can stand alone, though they have some overlapping plotlines and characters, such that each novel will be more meaningful and resonant if you've read the others. Grail of the Summer Stars has more overlapping elements than either of the two previous books and is connected more strongly to each of them than they are to each other.
Warrington introduces us to Stevie Silverwood, a metalworking artist and museum curator who has always been a little odd, seeing things no one else could see -- and whose past before age 15 is a mystery even to herself. Her quiet life is disrupted when her old college sweetheart, Daniel, sends her a triptych of fantastic paintings along with a cryptic note, and goes missing. Her path soon crosses with that of Mistangamesh, an Aetherial man whom we met in Midsummer Night. He is hunting for his brother, Rufus, intending to kill him. Their subsequent search for Daniel and for the paintings' meaning draws them into a millennia-old mystery involving Mist's family and a megalomaniacal plot that could destroy both the Earth and the Spiral.
Like the previous Aetherial Tales novels, Grail of the Summer Stars features beautiful prose and themes of finding and being true to oneself, of love, of troubled family relationships, of art as a manifestation of magic and as a form of magic in itself. Warrington expands on another corner of her Aetherial world here, and it's hard to imagine that there's any end to her treasure trove of ideas. The pace is faster this time out; while there is an epic, sweeping past behind this novel's plot, there is a race-against-time feel to the modern-day action, and the book is the shortest of the series (so far).
Warrington's plotting is tight and nothing is wasted. One is continually surprised, while reading Grail of the Summer Stars, as what seemed like throwaway details come back to make total sense and to tie in with the central plot. This is true both of elements introduced in this novel and of threads from the previous two; as mentioned above, material from the earlier books is woven into this one, often in surprising ways.
I highly recommend the entire series to anyone looking for an inventive fantasy world that intersects with our own, for intricate plotting, and for characters you will feel for and feel like you know personally. Warrington could theoretically stop here and have a satisfying trilogy, but I hope she has many more Aetherial Tales to tell. Her universe is certainly rich enough to contain them.
May 27, 2013
I had a great time reading Elfland, and also enjoyed Midsummer Night, so was looking forward to this one. But despite a promising beginning, this book soon lost me and became a drag to finish.
Grail of the Summer Stars is a more direct sequel to both Elfland and Midsummer Night than the latter is to the former, although it could still be understood in isolation. It introduces a new protagonist, Stevie, who begins the book as curator of a metalwork museum, and returns to Mistangamesh from Midsummer Night. I was initially drawn into Stevie's story and intrigued by the mysteries that confront her. Around halfway through, though, it becomes a save-the-world sort of fantasy novel, and falls increasingly into cliché.
Whether you like this installment may depend on what you liked about the previous ones. For me the heart of the earlier books was the interpersonal relationships, and the fantasy aspect added some fun spice. This book is very heavy on the fantasy elements, and I found the characters hard to believe in or care about, perhaps because those fantasy elements define the key characters’ psychologies. Mist was a particular problem for me--he’s such a generic love interest (of the hot 30,000-year-old reincarnated dude variety) that I never believed in him or found him interesting, and thus had no investment in his romance with Stevie. Meanwhile, many of the characters’ crucial choices make little sense (“okay, I’ll help you destroy the world if you let my friends go”.... that makes sense how? If the world is destroyed, your friends still die). Warrington can write normal human life and relationships well, but perhaps because of the enormity of what’s at stake here, much of the book fell into clunkiness and cliché, and the more I read, the less invested I was.
Many of Warrington’s quirks from previous books also return here, and annoyed me more than they had in the past: the sexualized or just plain sexual sibling relationships ; the recurring idea that people who commit crimes ought to just be forgiven and anyone who tries to bring them to justice is at best misguided; the tendency of characters to wear their hearts on their sleeves even when that’s not supposed to be their personality.
But, while this book was definitely not what I was hoping for, you might enjoy it more, particularly if you like save-the-world plots, non-human protagonists and books that are heavy on the fantasy elements. Warrington still writes good imagery and humorous British dialogue, and the writing style and pacing are similar to the previous books in the series. Still, for me it was a disappointment.
Grail of the Summer Stars is a more direct sequel to both Elfland and Midsummer Night than the latter is to the former, although it could still be understood in isolation. It introduces a new protagonist, Stevie, who begins the book as curator of a metalwork museum, and returns to Mistangamesh from Midsummer Night. I was initially drawn into Stevie's story and intrigued by the mysteries that confront her. Around halfway through, though, it becomes a save-the-world sort of fantasy novel, and falls increasingly into cliché.
Whether you like this installment may depend on what you liked about the previous ones. For me the heart of the earlier books was the interpersonal relationships, and the fantasy aspect added some fun spice. This book is very heavy on the fantasy elements, and I found the characters hard to believe in or care about, perhaps because those fantasy elements define the key characters’ psychologies. Mist was a particular problem for me--he’s such a generic love interest (of the hot 30,000-year-old reincarnated dude variety) that I never believed in him or found him interesting, and thus had no investment in his romance with Stevie. Meanwhile, many of the characters’ crucial choices make little sense (“okay, I’ll help you destroy the world if you let my friends go”.... that makes sense how? If the world is destroyed, your friends still die). Warrington can write normal human life and relationships well, but perhaps because of the enormity of what’s at stake here, much of the book fell into clunkiness and cliché, and the more I read, the less invested I was.
Many of Warrington’s quirks from previous books also return here, and annoyed me more than they had in the past: the sexualized or just plain sexual sibling relationships ; the recurring idea that people who commit crimes ought to just be forgiven and anyone who tries to bring them to justice is at best misguided; the tendency of characters to wear their hearts on their sleeves even when that’s not supposed to be their personality.
But, while this book was definitely not what I was hoping for, you might enjoy it more, particularly if you like save-the-world plots, non-human protagonists and books that are heavy on the fantasy elements. Warrington still writes good imagery and humorous British dialogue, and the writing style and pacing are similar to the previous books in the series. Still, for me it was a disappointment.
August 21, 2013
It can be really really hard to write a sequel. Sadly there are so many examples of not just movies where the follow-ups don't hold up to the original, but also book series that suffer the same fate. So often the message and magic of the first book get muddied when dragged out through several more books, and the author seems to be grasping at straw-storylines to fill in the gaps of time to stretch out their tales.
Freda Warrington's first book in the Aetherial Tales, Elfland, is one of my favorite books I've ever read. Her second book, Midsummer Night, was a bit sloggy to get through at times, but still quite enjoyable overall. Sadly I felt her third and final book in the series, Grail of the Summer Stars, was very difficult to read. However, whether or not you feel the same may depend on what you enjoyed about the first and second book.
I loved in Elfland how Freda Warrington created a race of beings who seemed quite like the Tuatha de Danann of Celtic legend, and placed them in a romantic-but-modern version of British village life. It was a delightful guilty pleasure read for someone who wants to believe in magic and wonder and the fields beyond what we know.
The second book took place partially on earth and partially in the Otherland Freda Warrington created known as the Spiral. The characters seemed less fey and more...alien? Pre-human? Hard to say, but the tale got a bit stranger, albeit still grounded by a wonderful artist/sculptor character who created magical works.
Now, with her third book, the Aetherials have a sub-race known as the Felynx who somehow have an otherworld form that is cat-like. There's also a sub-race of servants to the Felynx who transform into full-on cat creatures and run races for the Felynx. There are floating castles, multiple lives, murder plots, death and rebirth and shadow minion creatures and a mechanical orb...everyone was constantly transforming both emotionally and physically. Nothing was fixed or steady.
Frankly it was all just a bit much. The story veered completely from its "this mortal world has magic we know nothing of" basis and into an odd pseudo-Sumerian ancient culture meets fantasy sci fi mash-up set in a world with seemingly no solid rules.
Freda Warrington's first book in the Aetherial Tales, Elfland, is one of my favorite books I've ever read. Her second book, Midsummer Night, was a bit sloggy to get through at times, but still quite enjoyable overall. Sadly I felt her third and final book in the series, Grail of the Summer Stars, was very difficult to read. However, whether or not you feel the same may depend on what you enjoyed about the first and second book.
I loved in Elfland how Freda Warrington created a race of beings who seemed quite like the Tuatha de Danann of Celtic legend, and placed them in a romantic-but-modern version of British village life. It was a delightful guilty pleasure read for someone who wants to believe in magic and wonder and the fields beyond what we know.
The second book took place partially on earth and partially in the Otherland Freda Warrington created known as the Spiral. The characters seemed less fey and more...alien? Pre-human? Hard to say, but the tale got a bit stranger, albeit still grounded by a wonderful artist/sculptor character who created magical works.
Now, with her third book, the Aetherials have a sub-race known as the Felynx who somehow have an otherworld form that is cat-like. There's also a sub-race of servants to the Felynx who transform into full-on cat creatures and run races for the Felynx. There are floating castles, multiple lives, murder plots, death and rebirth and shadow minion creatures and a mechanical orb...everyone was constantly transforming both emotionally and physically. Nothing was fixed or steady.
Frankly it was all just a bit much. The story veered completely from its "this mortal world has magic we know nothing of" basis and into an odd pseudo-Sumerian ancient culture meets fantasy sci fi mash-up set in a world with seemingly no solid rules.
May 14, 2013
"I see a city of gleaming black stone that shines with jewel-colors: crimson, royal purple and blue. I see labyrinthine passages and rooms where you can lose yourself for days, months. Lofty pillars. Balconies onto a crystal-clear night full of stars, great sparkling white galaxies like flowers. Statues of winged men looking down with timeless eyes. And through this citadel walk graceful mean and women with lovely elongated faces and calm, knowing eyes. They take the names of gods, on occasion. Sometimes they are heroic and help the world. And sometimes they are malicious and turn it upside down...."
In this third installment of the Aetherial trilogy by Freda Warrington, all the pieces in the puzzle come together. All family ties are brought together. New relationships are formed. The Spiral and Earth are brought back to harmony. It all ends here. Yet every end is a new beginning.
First of all, can I just say how much I ADORE the artwork of Kinuko Y. Craft? The art that has graced the front of the covers for this series is simply magical. I literally cannot imagine that any other cover artwork could properly portray the sense of mystery and wonder that these do. If you want to see more of this type of artwork to go along with fantastic fantasy books, look up Patricia McKillip. Also wonderful.
But, I digress. This book, this series, has been one of the most delightful reading experiences I have ever enjoyed. From the very first page I was caught up in the wonderful writing style of Freda Warrington; lyrical, descriptive, lush, abundant with sensory overload. The visual imagery that this book evokes is nothing short of magical. I know I keep using that word to describe it, but really that's the best word to describe any and every aspect of this series. Magical. This is urban fantasy, which I usually don't enjoy more than epic fantasy. But this book is a subtle blend of new and old, Nature and the suburbs, power and love. It's really so very beautiful.
And the characters are so incredible! Here are these Aehterial beings; magical, mythical beings, and at some points their dialogue was so frank and hilarious that I burst out laughing on many occasions!
"Can you two show the slightest bit of reverence? It's a magical pathway! Of course there are no fucking pubs!"
"Your worst nightmare in the world was to spend eternity stuck with me-and here we are, trapped in a cell together! Yes, the gods must be laughing their fucking heads off!"
Even when they are shapeshifting into their Vaelyr forms, you can always identify with these characters because they experience all the same emotions that we do; love, hate, fear, shame, pride, etc.
And at the heart of this book is a love story. And while I wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination call this book a romance I would say that the romance contained within is beautifully done and very well fleshed out, which is actually a bit rare for a fantasy novel.
I really recommend this book and this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy, no matter what type you prefer. It really has something enjoyable in it for everyone.
"I can't live a small life. Even if I was wrong, I old to my destiny and I do nothing that is not my own choice."
This review can also be found on my blog
http://ayanami023.wordpress.com
In this third installment of the Aetherial trilogy by Freda Warrington, all the pieces in the puzzle come together. All family ties are brought together. New relationships are formed. The Spiral and Earth are brought back to harmony. It all ends here. Yet every end is a new beginning.
First of all, can I just say how much I ADORE the artwork of Kinuko Y. Craft? The art that has graced the front of the covers for this series is simply magical. I literally cannot imagine that any other cover artwork could properly portray the sense of mystery and wonder that these do. If you want to see more of this type of artwork to go along with fantastic fantasy books, look up Patricia McKillip. Also wonderful.
But, I digress. This book, this series, has been one of the most delightful reading experiences I have ever enjoyed. From the very first page I was caught up in the wonderful writing style of Freda Warrington; lyrical, descriptive, lush, abundant with sensory overload. The visual imagery that this book evokes is nothing short of magical. I know I keep using that word to describe it, but really that's the best word to describe any and every aspect of this series. Magical. This is urban fantasy, which I usually don't enjoy more than epic fantasy. But this book is a subtle blend of new and old, Nature and the suburbs, power and love. It's really so very beautiful.
And the characters are so incredible! Here are these Aehterial beings; magical, mythical beings, and at some points their dialogue was so frank and hilarious that I burst out laughing on many occasions!
"Can you two show the slightest bit of reverence? It's a magical pathway! Of course there are no fucking pubs!"
"Your worst nightmare in the world was to spend eternity stuck with me-and here we are, trapped in a cell together! Yes, the gods must be laughing their fucking heads off!"
Even when they are shapeshifting into their Vaelyr forms, you can always identify with these characters because they experience all the same emotions that we do; love, hate, fear, shame, pride, etc.
And at the heart of this book is a love story. And while I wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination call this book a romance I would say that the romance contained within is beautifully done and very well fleshed out, which is actually a bit rare for a fantasy novel.
I really recommend this book and this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy, no matter what type you prefer. It really has something enjoyable in it for everyone.
"I can't live a small life. Even if I was wrong, I old to my destiny and I do nothing that is not my own choice."
This review can also be found on my blog
http://ayanami023.wordpress.com
February 4, 2014
This book was a good addition to the trilogy and did a good job tying up all the loose ends and diverse characters but the 2nd and 3rd were never quite as good as the first to me. Maybe it's because the secondary characters were good, but not excellent like the ones in the first book. It could also be that the first book seems to take place the most in a human world so it was more easy to relate to while the latter two are much more predominantly Aetherial. The first level of the Aether is still relatable enough to follow; however when you start getting into character that are entirely Other and Aelyr royalty at that, their logic and way of thinking is so foreign that the plot itself becomes harder to follow just because of how wtf it is. I think that Otherness might be why this one just didn't appeal as much as the first.
One of the things that has kept me coming back to this series is the gorgeous artwork. I've been looking into buying a print of the first one because of how beautiful it is. The art of the first book tied in so perfectly that I could see some of the characters in the art, whether they were intended to be there or not. However, in the last one, the art was still beautiful but bothered me a little bit. For a work of art to be so functional in the plot line and then not match the cover was off putting. It would be one thing if the cover art was just a completely separate piece from the one mentioned in the story but they were very similar. It seemed like they had a lot in common but weren't quite the same and that definitely bothered me. I tend to be visual in most things and that differentiation kept nagging me throughout the book.
Other than that, there were a couple minor things throughout this book that seemed off and nagged at me but overall, the quality of the first just wasn't there. It didn't draw me in as much. I did want to know more about Fela and feel like that character was cut short a bit. I also don't know that the class struggle between Fela and Mist really belonged amidst all the other insanity simultaneously happening. And while most of the tie-ins worked to help bring about a conclusion and draw together the story, there was a time or two where it went too far: specifically Aurata being married to Albin. That was just too much. Those characters were from completely different story lines and didn't have to be combined to further the story at all or tie it in. It was just unnecessary and detracted more than built upon. While a lot of series tend to draw on too long when they really should just end in a timely manner, I wonder if the opposite is applicable here. Maybe Warrington has an entire universe of wealth and story in these characters and that deserves to be expanded on. I see that she has other series going on in the fantasy realm with different characters and stories and I would love to dive into these as well, but I haven't been able to find them in the US. (At least not through the library, which is what currently fits into my budget plan.) When I find a talented writer who can weave a tale as well a Warrington, I usually end up sucked into their works until I've consumed everything they've ever written. This is a case where I really want to do that, but it's just not available here. :( Here's hoping that changes in the future and I can delve back into another nerdy outlet.
One of the things that has kept me coming back to this series is the gorgeous artwork. I've been looking into buying a print of the first one because of how beautiful it is. The art of the first book tied in so perfectly that I could see some of the characters in the art, whether they were intended to be there or not. However, in the last one, the art was still beautiful but bothered me a little bit. For a work of art to be so functional in the plot line and then not match the cover was off putting. It would be one thing if the cover art was just a completely separate piece from the one mentioned in the story but they were very similar. It seemed like they had a lot in common but weren't quite the same and that definitely bothered me. I tend to be visual in most things and that differentiation kept nagging me throughout the book.
Other than that, there were a couple minor things throughout this book that seemed off and nagged at me but overall, the quality of the first just wasn't there. It didn't draw me in as much. I did want to know more about Fela and feel like that character was cut short a bit. I also don't know that the class struggle between Fela and Mist really belonged amidst all the other insanity simultaneously happening. And while most of the tie-ins worked to help bring about a conclusion and draw together the story, there was a time or two where it went too far: specifically Aurata being married to Albin. That was just too much. Those characters were from completely different story lines and didn't have to be combined to further the story at all or tie it in. It was just unnecessary and detracted more than built upon. While a lot of series tend to draw on too long when they really should just end in a timely manner, I wonder if the opposite is applicable here. Maybe Warrington has an entire universe of wealth and story in these characters and that deserves to be expanded on. I see that she has other series going on in the fantasy realm with different characters and stories and I would love to dive into these as well, but I haven't been able to find them in the US. (At least not through the library, which is what currently fits into my budget plan.) When I find a talented writer who can weave a tale as well a Warrington, I usually end up sucked into their works until I've consumed everything they've ever written. This is a case where I really want to do that, but it's just not available here. :( Here's hoping that changes in the future and I can delve back into another nerdy outlet.
April 22, 2013
Grail of the Summer Stars is full of adventure, misdirection, and plenty of very detailed and twisted history. There’s romance, friendship, betrayal, growth, revelations and much more. Basically, it’s anything anyone could possibly want in a book. I can honestly say the only other urban fantasy book I’ve enjoyed this much for many of the same reasons is Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht. These two authors know how to write an incredible story full of emotional drama, depth and amazing world building.
Freda Warrington doesn’t just write urban fantasy. She’s mastered it.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/04/...
Freda Warrington doesn’t just write urban fantasy. She’s mastered it.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/04/...
August 12, 2013
This was a nice book to end the Aetherial Tales series. Although I hope there may be more! It felt a little rushed at the end to tie is all together. I liked Elfland the best of this series. I feel like this book was more mystery themed, which is ok. I wish the character Aurata would have been more developed, she seemed interesting and multi-faceted but not developed enough. The book was fast paced and I couldn't put it down, it was a real page-turner to find out what would happen next.
February 3, 2021
I did read the entire trilogy. It’s a bit heavy on the gloom, violence, and torture for me. I did become quite fond of Stevie, the main character in this. Her dedication to doing what is right and loyalty to her friends is compelling.
Stevie is running an art gallery/museum in a area that is being renovated. She’s just getting by, financially, but loves her work. Then she suddenly gets a package every from a long ago lover that holds an incredible piece of art. It turns out that the friend has disappeared, and his mom asks her to look for him. Then she’s attacked....
Stevie is running an art gallery/museum in a area that is being renovated. She’s just getting by, financially, but loves her work. Then she suddenly gets a package every from a long ago lover that holds an incredible piece of art. It turns out that the friend has disappeared, and his mom asks her to look for him. Then she’s attacked....
August 13, 2017
After reading Elfland and Midsummer Night (which I thoroughly enjoyed) I was so looking forward to the third book and... it let me down. Page after page I was waiting for something to spark this story to life, but sadly that never happened. Mist turned out to be a totally boring character, which was a pity because I felt the potential was there after reading Midsummer Night.
Currently reading
February 28, 2018i don't want to read this because if it's good I like to read from book 1 in a series, but part 3 is the only one available in whole state library system I was told!
I think I was attracted because the cover art is similar to my favourite fantasy author Patricia A McKillip.
I think I was attracted because the cover art is similar to my favourite fantasy author Patricia A McKillip.
July 19, 2013
What a wonderful series this has been! I especially loved the first book, Elfland, and this one has much in common with it (I found the second book to be slower, but it's still good too). Each book is supposed to be able to stand alone and each one does tell a very different story with mostly different characters, but Grail of the Summer Stars also ties together threads that have woven through the previous two books in a really cool way. I think it's best to read all of the books if possible because it's an incredibly rich story with wonderful detail and it would be unfortunate to miss any of that. I'd heartily recommend this series to many people, with the caveats that it may appeal more to women and those who don't mind less conventional attitudes and morals (although there's nothing all that shocking if you've read, say, Game of Thrones).
The writing throughout this book and the series has been excellent. The author has a way with dialogue (which isn't always the case with fantasy writers), so all the characters sound like real human beings. Actually, most of them aren't human beings, but...they sound appropriate for what they are. For the most part, the characters are Aetherials, fae-like beings who can be more or less humanlike depending on inclination and circumstance. Aetherials are an original species invented by the author, and while they have some things in common with the elves or fairies of other stories, they have a rather unique life cycle. They can live for a very long time and be reincarnated in various ways ranging from pure spirit energy to other Aetherials to humans with no knowledge of their Aetherial nature. So it is that in this book, an Aetherial is dealing with some serious family drama that goes back THIRTY THOUSAND YEARS. However, even the stranger ones come across as realistic in their own way. Characters exhibit a lot of honest emotion, quite believable reactions, consequences intended and unintended, and so on.
I must also point out that Aetherials have the most awesomely envisioned Otherworld ever. The Spiral is based on the elements (earth, water, air, fire, spirit), beautifully and vividly imagined. Elfland is a good introduction to it and it appears again in this book. Hooray!
And so, with that background...one of the main characters in this book, Mistangamesh, is an ancient Aetherial belonging to a lost group of desert-dwelling, felinesque folk. He has a very complicated relationship with his strange siblings and problems that have their roots in events that occurred thousands and thousands of years ago. He's trying to track down his trouble-magnet brother, which leads him cross paths with Stevie. Stevie works in a museum devoted to Victorian jewelery-making and generally lives a solitary life, with only a "ghost cat" that others can't see for company. She's also...wait for it...a mysterious orphan! Which, of course, means there are all sorts of cool possibilities for her past. But at the moment, she's trying to deal with the disappearance of a college friend and the extraordinary piece of art he sent her before vanishing.
I'm afraid to say much more about the plot, but I will say that some beloved characters from the earlier Aetherial books are involved in this story as well. It was just as fun to read about them this time around. The ending is perfectly satisfactory, but I hope that someday there will be more Aetherial tales (maybe featuring a few of the same characters or maybe just a new cast). A great reading experience!
The writing throughout this book and the series has been excellent. The author has a way with dialogue (which isn't always the case with fantasy writers), so all the characters sound like real human beings. Actually, most of them aren't human beings, but...they sound appropriate for what they are. For the most part, the characters are Aetherials, fae-like beings who can be more or less humanlike depending on inclination and circumstance. Aetherials are an original species invented by the author, and while they have some things in common with the elves or fairies of other stories, they have a rather unique life cycle. They can live for a very long time and be reincarnated in various ways ranging from pure spirit energy to other Aetherials to humans with no knowledge of their Aetherial nature. So it is that in this book, an Aetherial is dealing with some serious family drama that goes back THIRTY THOUSAND YEARS. However, even the stranger ones come across as realistic in their own way. Characters exhibit a lot of honest emotion, quite believable reactions, consequences intended and unintended, and so on.
I must also point out that Aetherials have the most awesomely envisioned Otherworld ever. The Spiral is based on the elements (earth, water, air, fire, spirit), beautifully and vividly imagined. Elfland is a good introduction to it and it appears again in this book. Hooray!
And so, with that background...one of the main characters in this book, Mistangamesh, is an ancient Aetherial belonging to a lost group of desert-dwelling, felinesque folk. He has a very complicated relationship with his strange siblings and problems that have their roots in events that occurred thousands and thousands of years ago. He's trying to track down his trouble-magnet brother, which leads him cross paths with Stevie. Stevie works in a museum devoted to Victorian jewelery-making and generally lives a solitary life, with only a "ghost cat" that others can't see for company. She's also...wait for it...a mysterious orphan! Which, of course, means there are all sorts of cool possibilities for her past. But at the moment, she's trying to deal with the disappearance of a college friend and the extraordinary piece of art he sent her before vanishing.
I'm afraid to say much more about the plot, but I will say that some beloved characters from the earlier Aetherial books are involved in this story as well. It was just as fun to read about them this time around. The ending is perfectly satisfactory, but I hope that someday there will be more Aetherial tales (maybe featuring a few of the same characters or maybe just a new cast). A great reading experience!
November 4, 2016
Summary: Stevie, a museum curator, has her life turned upside down when a friend sends her a piece of art to display and then vanishes. Leaving behind a vaguely suicidal note, Daniel leaves England without any clue to where he has gone or if he is okay. In Stevie’s attempt to locate Daniel, she runs into a very strange and attractive man, Mist, who is also looking for Daniel in order to track down his brother, Rufus. Mist believes Rufus may be the person who stole Daniel away.
My Thoughts:
So yea, this was 10 times better than the previous Aetherial Tales book. Sooo wonderful. We have a nice new character named Stevie. After being plagued by hallucinations for as long as she can remember, which isn’t very long as a large chuck of her life is missing, she learns that there might be a reason for all her problems. She might be an Aetherial. Through her great efforts to look for an old college friend, Daniel, she learns much more about herself in the process. Her character answers the questions that started to form in the first book, when Rosie’s supposedly human friend marries into the family and discovers her Aetherial nature.
Then, there is Mist, who (yay!) has finally appeared. Mist is after Rufus and is trying to avenge all the torment Rufus inflicted on him. We learn more about his and Rufus’s lives together before Mist was killed. It’s wonderful how this book builds upon Midsummer Night and Elfland. We get to see Lucas, Rosie, and Sam again! I love how everything is incorporated into the book. It digs deeper into the great Aetherial cities that used to exist on Earth, it provides more insight into the whole Albin struggle, and it has a near apocalyptic ending. Pretty much anything you were wondering about is answered in this last book.
Warrington builds up the suspense so wonderfully in the book. We have Rufus who doesn’t know what Aurata is up to, Mist who thinks Rufus is to blame for everything, and Stevie who is really just trying to save Daniel from whatever evil has him. As a reader, you see them struggling to connect the dots and just waiting for everything to blow up in someone’s face. The last reveal and the way the resulting conflict ends were surprising (and a good way) but they completely made sense and tied up ending nicely.
Bottom Line: It was the perfect conclusion to the Aetherial Tales. You get to see all the characters you loved from Elfland, and the plot is super intense.
My Thoughts:
So yea, this was 10 times better than the previous Aetherial Tales book. Sooo wonderful. We have a nice new character named Stevie. After being plagued by hallucinations for as long as she can remember, which isn’t very long as a large chuck of her life is missing, she learns that there might be a reason for all her problems. She might be an Aetherial. Through her great efforts to look for an old college friend, Daniel, she learns much more about herself in the process. Her character answers the questions that started to form in the first book, when Rosie’s supposedly human friend marries into the family and discovers her Aetherial nature.
Then, there is Mist, who (yay!) has finally appeared. Mist is after Rufus and is trying to avenge all the torment Rufus inflicted on him. We learn more about his and Rufus’s lives together before Mist was killed. It’s wonderful how this book builds upon Midsummer Night and Elfland. We get to see Lucas, Rosie, and Sam again! I love how everything is incorporated into the book. It digs deeper into the great Aetherial cities that used to exist on Earth, it provides more insight into the whole Albin struggle, and it has a near apocalyptic ending. Pretty much anything you were wondering about is answered in this last book.
Warrington builds up the suspense so wonderfully in the book. We have Rufus who doesn’t know what Aurata is up to, Mist who thinks Rufus is to blame for everything, and Stevie who is really just trying to save Daniel from whatever evil has him. As a reader, you see them struggling to connect the dots and just waiting for everything to blow up in someone’s face. The last reveal and the way the resulting conflict ends were surprising (and a good way) but they completely made sense and tied up ending nicely.
Bottom Line: It was the perfect conclusion to the Aetherial Tales. You get to see all the characters you loved from Elfland, and the plot is super intense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2016
"Grail of the Summer Stars" is the third installment in the Aetherial Tales series by Freda Warrington. Although it's part of a series the books don't have to be read in order, nor do they all have to be read to understand what is happening in each of the books, but they do have overlapping characters and settings. For me the recurrence of characters and places was like finding yourself face to face with old friends (and sometimes enemies) and old haunts. The world that Warrington created in her Aetherial Tales is more than magical: it's addicting, wondrous, and exhilarating!
The book opens with a somewhat manic painter, Daniel, packing a painting to be sent to an old friend, and considering killing himself. As we're introduced to the friend, Stevie, that the painting is sent to a mystery begins to unfold. What do the images on the painting mean, why did Daniel send them to Stevie, and what part does she have to play in the story that is beginning to weave around her?
Stevie sets off to find out what happened to her friend and why the painting is so important. Along the way she meets a mysterious man (from book 2) who just happens to be aetherial. Joining forces they begin to unravel the strange secrets swirling around them, and begin to realize there is more to their mutual attraction than meets the eye. Further into their journey they illicit the help of three aetherials (from book 1) to help them in their quest to discover what's happened to Stevie's friend and unravel the dangerous mystery they're all being swept into to.
"Grail of the Summer Stars" completely put me under its spell. While I would have to say that the first book "Elfland" was my favorite of the three "Grail of the Summer Stars" certainly comes in very close second. The characters, the settings, and the magic completely get under your skin and make you wish there really was a spiral (otherworld) full of aetherials. I would read anything by Freda Warrington after experiencing her Aetherial Tales, and I will keep my fingers crossed that sometime in the future she might return to this series and add more tales to get lost in.
The book opens with a somewhat manic painter, Daniel, packing a painting to be sent to an old friend, and considering killing himself. As we're introduced to the friend, Stevie, that the painting is sent to a mystery begins to unfold. What do the images on the painting mean, why did Daniel send them to Stevie, and what part does she have to play in the story that is beginning to weave around her?
Stevie sets off to find out what happened to her friend and why the painting is so important. Along the way she meets a mysterious man (from book 2) who just happens to be aetherial. Joining forces they begin to unravel the strange secrets swirling around them, and begin to realize there is more to their mutual attraction than meets the eye. Further into their journey they illicit the help of three aetherials (from book 1) to help them in their quest to discover what's happened to Stevie's friend and unravel the dangerous mystery they're all being swept into to.
"Grail of the Summer Stars" completely put me under its spell. While I would have to say that the first book "Elfland" was my favorite of the three "Grail of the Summer Stars" certainly comes in very close second. The characters, the settings, and the magic completely get under your skin and make you wish there really was a spiral (otherworld) full of aetherials. I would read anything by Freda Warrington after experiencing her Aetherial Tales, and I will keep my fingers crossed that sometime in the future she might return to this series and add more tales to get lost in.
December 22, 2015
While we like Elfland better, the Grail of the Summer Stars ties together both Elfland and Midsummer Night. It reads a little slowly, but at the same time that may be because we like to take it a bit at a time, savoring it. Freda Warrington speaks to our hearts and seems to understand us, and our own inner understanding of ours’elves, more than nearly anyone else writing today. It is as though she is writing about our own lives, in a rather more dramatic and the world may end at any moment fashion. The world is coming to a huge crisis point but we expect these elves will be back in Faerie before the pollution really hits the fan. At least we hope so. And if not, we will, like the characters in this book, come back again and attempt to shape the ideas of Man toward more harmonious living once more.
The Silver Elves authors of The Elven Way: The Magical Path of the Shining Ones
The Silver Elves authors of The Elven Way: The Magical Path of the Shining Ones
October 3, 2013
Just finished reading Grail of the Summer Stars. It's SO good that I find myself re-reading certain paragraphs, just because they're so beautifully written and lyrical it's like eating the very best, richest dessert that you've ever eaten...and you want to savor every single bite. The writing (not to mention the story), is just lovely.
Each of the three books in this series could be read as a stand-alone novel, but they are also inter-connected. I can't say that each book was better than the last because each book, on its own, was beautiful and perfect.
While I am a lifelong member and supporter of my local Library, these are books you will want to purchase, and keep on your shelf, and re-read often, when you need a dose of beauty and mystery and love and longing and sacrifice and MAGIC - in your life.
Each of the three books in this series could be read as a stand-alone novel, but they are also inter-connected. I can't say that each book was better than the last because each book, on its own, was beautiful and perfect.
While I am a lifelong member and supporter of my local Library, these are books you will want to purchase, and keep on your shelf, and re-read often, when you need a dose of beauty and mystery and love and longing and sacrifice and MAGIC - in your life.
August 12, 2017
I enjoyed this whole trilogy. I really like books with good world-building and this one meets the bill - the world of the Aetherials is beautiful, mysterious, magical, complex, visionary. It also manages to be intertwined delightfully with modern-day UK.
In the book, I enjoyed the return to the Aertherial realm and to some characters we met in the first two books of the trilogy. As the book opens, we are introduced to a woman named Stevie who can't remember her past, an artist friend of hers who's gone missing, an Aertherial man freshly reborn to life, and his crazy family. Their stories, the roots and mythology of the Aertherial realm, and how they are all connected is revealed slowly and deliciously - and excitingly - over the corse of the novel. This book contains a bit of romance, a bit of adventure, of wonder, of fire and ice and wings.
In the book, I enjoyed the return to the Aertherial realm and to some characters we met in the first two books of the trilogy. As the book opens, we are introduced to a woman named Stevie who can't remember her past, an artist friend of hers who's gone missing, an Aertherial man freshly reborn to life, and his crazy family. Their stories, the roots and mythology of the Aertherial realm, and how they are all connected is revealed slowly and deliciously - and excitingly - over the corse of the novel. This book contains a bit of romance, a bit of adventure, of wonder, of fire and ice and wings.
February 7, 2015
I really enjoyed this third(and last?) book of the Elfland series. One thing I have noticed in reading this series of books is that the author takes quite a bit of time setting up the storyline and introducing the characters. For me, this makes the first 75 to 100 pages of the book seem really slow reading. But after the story gets going, it's hard to put down. I think this was my favorite of the 3 books. Just love Mist! I liked that he and Stevie ended up together. I liked the whole "saving of the world" plot of the novel.I enjoyed seeing the characters from the two previous novels set in this world. They didn't have huge parts in the novel, but I would say that they were very important to the outcome of the story. This is the fourth book I have read by this author and I will be looking into the other books she has written to see if they seem to be equally as good.
February 28, 2014
Although I was not a fan of the second book in the Aetherial tales series, I loved Elfland so much it's one of my favs. This final installment was good, I was so happy Ms. Warrington included the characters from Elfland in this book. It was so wonderful to be reintroduced to Rosie, Sam, and Lucas again I adore them.
Neither sequel quite lived up to Elfland for me, but I'm still sad to see this magical world end. Ms Warrington really knows how to create a world you could live in. It's refreshing to read characters who are all flawed in there own way, some worse than others of course, but never the less flawed all the same, as we all are.
In laments terms read this final installment it was great. Keep in mind, much better than the second book but not as good as the first.
Neither sequel quite lived up to Elfland for me, but I'm still sad to see this magical world end. Ms Warrington really knows how to create a world you could live in. It's refreshing to read characters who are all flawed in there own way, some worse than others of course, but never the less flawed all the same, as we all are.
In laments terms read this final installment it was great. Keep in mind, much better than the second book but not as good as the first.
June 12, 2013
Grail of the Summer Stars is the third in the Aetherial tales and is tied for the first (Elfland) as my favorite. While Elflands characters were enchanting and the lives they lived were interesting, the characters in this book were complex and you saw more of the world or realms they lived in. It does a good job at explaining the Dusklands and things they see in the first two. It seems a bit more fantasy. I can now say without a doubt Freda Warrington is my favorite author of this genre and I am already excited about the fourth book in the series. I really hope i don't have t wait almost 3 yrs again though.lol
September 20, 2013
After the whole brother sister lover story, it was like pulling teeth to finish this book. I think it took me four months. I held on anyway because I liked the first 2 in this trilogy. I just didn't connect with the main character, or any of them. The description of the aetherial world could have saved it, but it fell flat.
June 15, 2013
The third installment in the Aetherial series. Each book can be read without having to read the others, but it is better if you have. There is an over-spill of characters, but I like that the main character for each book is different. Elegant writing, a wonderful story, plus the Aetherial world is amazing!!!
February 16, 2014
I enjoyed large parts of this book, but in the end, it was missing a certain spark. Some characterization felt rushed ... instant bonds between the main character, Stevie, and the Gatekeeper's family, felt like they were coming purely from the demands of the series rather than developing organically out of this story.
July 1, 2013
I kept reading ti find out what would happen, at the same time I was vaguely dissatisfied afterwards. I think one problem was that I could never quite like Mist.
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July 24, 2013A richly-imagined story told with Warrington's signature lush, jewel-toned prose.
October 19, 2013
Loved this series. Truly magical, like the best De Lint.
October 28, 2013
This story was beautiful and transported me to a different world, I recommend for those interested in the intricate weavings between worlds.
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