King's Dragon

Crown of Stars #1

by Kate Elliott

King Henry still holds the crown, but his reign has long been contested by his sister Sabella, and there are many eager to flock to her banner. Internal conflict weakens Wendar's defences, drawing raiders, human and inhuman, across its borders. Terrifying portents abound and dark spirits walk the land in broad daylight.

Suddenly two innocents are thrust into the midst of the conflict: Alain, a young man granted a vision by the Lady of Battles, and Liath, a young woman with the power to change the course of history. Both must discover the truth about themselves before they can accept their fates. For in a war where sorcery, not swords, may determine the final outcome, the price of failure may be more than their own lives.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult, Magic

591 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

As a child in rural Oregon, Kate Elliott made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. She now writes fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, often with a romantic edge. She currently lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes and spoils her schnauzer.

Reviews

[Mayim de Vries · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Be bound, as I am, by the fate others have determined for you. That way you’ll remain safe.”

A book that combines Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing finesse with Jacqueline Carey’s opulent world building. And I bet you have not heard about it before. Your bad.

OK. Maybe you are not a seasoned fantasy reader and the names I mentioned do not ring a bell. Additionally, you are quite partial to dragons (welcome, welcome, here is your complimentary Who Cares About Dragons Society membership card) and the hideous cover makes you wonder why this book merits a second glance, not to mention precious reading time.

Let me explain.

King’s Dragon focuses on two leading protagonists: Liath (Liathano) and Alain. What they have in common is that they find themselves alone in a world gearing up for war. Or two. Also, the mystery of their origin is as important as their destiny.

Alain is an orphaned boy promised to the church but not really feeling the spiritual vocation. Fate takes him away from expected paths and sends him to fame, battle, and glory to the household of a local noble, one count Lavastine, where Alain has the exciting task of cleaning stables. There are many similar figures in fantasy. What makes Alain tantalisingly different is the fact that he is not characterised by martial prowess or special abilities or even luck to be in the right place and the right time; it is his incredible compassion. Yup, you read it right. We have a young warrior wannabe with all the sensitivity and straightforwardness of St Francesca Francis of Assisi. This assures contrast and tension of the highest order giving us a protagonist full of surprises.

Liath also braves the world alone. She is a child of two sorcerers, deaf to magic and yet well versed in astrology and mathematics, sorcery’s younger sisters. Another man’s desire to possess what is hidden within her is the reason for her misfortunes. I am sure that “a journey of self-discovery” awaits her but in contrast to many contemporary YA, this trope does not dominate the book. My biggest concerns regarding Liath is the danger of “every man falls for her” character. Also, I’m afraid that the special snowflake doom might be hovering in the background (but I am super sensitive in this regard so don’t take my word for granted).

Liath’s path is brutal beyond traumatic. There are scenes involving violence, rape and miscarriage and I wanted to flag them up because I found those nearly overwhelming. I was reminded of the first Sevensweaters book in a way. Maybe because they were written without resorting to gory descriptions typical for contemporary grimdark, but this succinct, nearly documentary narrative made the tragedy even more harrowing in hinting at what was not shown.

A boy with an ever blooming rose and a girl with a mysterious book find themselves on the opposite sides of a brewing war. Their POVs carry on the tale throughout the chapters. And these chapters are long in a very Guy Gavriel Kay way, often consisting of several subchapters with changing narrators. Additional POVs belongs to sister Rosvita of Korvei and Liath’s friend Hanna but there are also other wonderful characters who were not given their own voice (yet?): nobles and freeholders, members of the elite formations Dragons and Eagles, representatives of the clergy, most notably the ascetic and harsh Frater Agius, and various individuals from the King’s Court including members of royal family. Last but not least, I am sure Lackling will melt your hearts (Lackling feeding birds was a scene beautiful in its simplicity). Finally, there are also dogs with cute names (Joy, Terror, Steadfast, Ardent, Bliss, Fear, Sorrow, and Rage, take your pick) and even cuter predisposition (usually murderous when necessary berserk) with an important role in the story.

I sense your impatience; “Where is my Prince charming?” you want to ask. Here he is! Even better, you will get two charming princes: half-elven Snaglant (whose name translates as “bloody fields”) and magical Eika princeling. Both are exciting, but Snaglant adds to his warrior skills (he is the captain of king’s elite cavalry, the Dragons) the irresistible aura of a notorious womaniser, which is to say that you will also get a prime romance as a bonus. The romance is based on a star-crossed lovers trope but like everything in this novel, this is done subtly.

It sounds like a classic light against the dark scheme so far and so you are scared that the antagonists are bound to disappoint. You couldn’t be more mistaken. There are two evil individuals (I am not giving you names not to spoil the reading pleasure), one male, one female, but do not expect a simple symmetry pairing each one with the protagonists, the plot is not that crude. Ms Elliot is incredibly skilled when it comes to writing multidimensional antagonists. Both kill bodies and souls, both work through lethal deception. They are beautiful, smart, educated, and polished. Outwardly, (nearly) everything you’d love and trust, inwardly abominations full of stinking maggots. They are able to work through proxies and minions, they don’t rely on brute strength or on power structures and entitlements. They cunningly weave a web of deceptions, they are patient and persistent. And the scariest thing is that when you finish the book, you know that in spite of the already committed atrocities, neither of those showed what they are truly capable of. The worst is yet to come.

It shows you how skilled is Ms Elliott at character building and doing this without lengthy descriptions. There are many great one-liner characterisations: somebody is “like a boulder rolling down the slope” or keeping a blooded scrap of cloth for years or being “a colourless bloom lost in a glare of her mother’s ambition.” A gesture here, a word there and the person is alive and breathing. It is so because the external is supplemented by excellent psychological elements. Take Liath’s detachment and mental barriers that lock the outside world out and at the same time lock her up in a prison both mental and physical. Her deep fears of Hugh and the fact that even though she is aware of this paranoia, she is still unable to do anything about it makes it all the more credible. How many books had violated heroines (take Hawk Queen) that were happily falling in love or had a tumble when it was plot-wise suitable? Here it is entirely understandable why Liath is attracted to somebody who is unattainable and hence safe. I think that this psychological depth was one of the reasons why it was a very emotional read for me. In fact, the intensity of emotions meant that very often I just had to stop reading as I was so scared or anxious for the main characters.

The book takes us to not really Christian not really Meadieval not really Europe. The setting is as good as Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel trilogy if less sexualised (although not chaste at all). For instance, when the heir apparent reaches majority, they are sent on a progress around the realm and basically they need to prove their fertility which means getting a child as soon as possible which meant frequent sexual relations with whomever they want. This is expected and praised not vilified. I love the Middle Ages vibes in this book especially that the Author’s deep knowledge of the era is evident; everything is reworked with a pinch of feminism that makes is even more interesting due to the fact that is so soundly anchored in historical facts and socio-cultural realities of that times. This book made me want to re-read Women in the Days of the Cathedrals which was one of my favourite books in high school. The women dominated version of the Catholicism was particularly stimulating. Imagine a church led by exclusively female clergy (while men can become monks, only women can become biscops and the equivalent of the pope is also female), female evangelists, feminised names of known theologians and historians (I bet you’d want to read Isidora of Seviya!). In this respect, King’s Dragon is an exhilarating feminist read.

Don’t get me wrong, worlbuilding is so dense and original that sometimes even I felt lost among all those names, and facts and legends. It is one of those books you’d like to re-read only to be able to savour and appreciate all the details that escape during the first reading.

I’d like to thank Shaitarn for talking me into reading this book (you can trust her recommendations!). I expected boring dragons, and I got the dreams of an old empire, the union of elves and men, lost knowledge, theological disputes and genealogical controversies, betrayal and war, siege and fall of a city, battles, magical creatures, heroism and romance, martyrdom and slavery, science and religion, visions of future and memories of old glory.

—-
Also in the series:

2. Prince of Dogs ★★★★☆
3. The Burning Stone ★★★★☆
4. Child of Flame ★★★☆☆
5. The Gathering Strom ★★☆☆☆
6. In the Ruins ★☆☆☆☆
7. Crown of Stars ★☆☆☆☆

[Nes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm usually much too lazy to give reviews, but I felt obliged to write one for this series because I believe Elliott's writing is somewhat under-appreciated. Among the plethora of epic fantasy series that came out over the last 30 years, the Crown of Stars is relatively unknown, so I wanted to make it easier for people to decide whether to start on this 7-book series or not with no spoilers attached.

Language style: I guess it's comparable to George RR Martin's ASOIAF, not as intricate as that of Guy Gavriel Kay but more subtle than that of Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson. Personally I don't care much about the level of language used as long as the story gets across and I think people will have no problem with Elliot's writing itself.

World building: some people find too much effort is spent here but I disagree, being somewhat of a history buff. Elliot's rendition of an early-medieval society feels rich, alive and realistic. It is obvious that the author did a ton of research throughout the series. What's more commendable is how she blends it all seamlessly with a religion that is gender-equal. Even if you don't care much for history, the parallels and anti-parallels between Elliot's and the real world is quite obvious so most people should be able to appreciate it.

Characters: another strong point, I found that the characters behaved consistently with well explored motivations. Though at times, a couple of antagonists are a bit too arrogant and presumptuous to feel entirely real, the justification here being their faith and noble birth, though it may just be me being a modern-day atheist. Some people point out that it's hard to connect with the protagonists in this series and it's partially justified. Keep in mind though that this is a 7-book series with a main story that spans better part of a decade and Elliot has kept character development mostly to a slow pace, which feels realistic for me but frustrating to many. And unlike in ASOIAF or Wheel of Time where some protagonists gain great political/military power over the course of the series, the harsh realities of the feudal society is painfully reflected in the Crown of Stars.

Pacing: I think this is the main reason for the lukewarm reception of this series. There are lots of well depicted maneuvering both politically and on the battlefield, but when compared to many other fantasy series these days it feels just a bit too far in between. Many people complain, especially in the middle of the series, that the story crawls gradually forward at a snail's pace (a common problem with epic fantasies really). So it comes down to whether you appreciate the character interactions sufficiently in the meantime to overcome the frustration. For me it was never a problem because first of all, I do not expect speedy resolution from an epic fantasy, and second, by that time I was too firmly attached to the fates of Liath, Sanglant, and Alain not to continue. So if you have problems finishing books like Crossroads of Twilight or A Feast for Crows then I would not recommend this series to you.

Crown of Stars cannot compete with The Wheel of Time for its sheer scope, nor can it compete with ASOIAF for the depth of its political intrigue, and it certainly cannot compete with LotR for the amount of heroic action. Nevertheless, by incorporating all these classical elements of a good epic fantasy into her own creatively imagined and well realized world, Kate Elliot gave us a complete fantasy series that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving this!! The second one is even better so far!

Mel 🖤🐾🐺💕🦄

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic! This was my seventh Kate Elliott novel and there will surely be more. Full review to follow. (Below!)

***

King's Dragon is part of my long-term project of reading fantasy novels by women that were written before 2000 or so. This one comes close-ish to the cut-off, having been published in 1997.

I've read two of Kate Elliott's trilogies previous to this: Spiritwalker and her only YA series, Court of Fives. The Crown of Stars series was written before either of those. It's set in an analog of medieval Germany (I can't remember the specific time frame offhand), where a couple of large-scale conflicts are playing out: a war for the throne between a king and his sibling, and a Viking-like siege on a coastal city.

When I started reading this novel, the first of seven sprawling over 5000+ pages, I wasn't sure if I'd be excited about the setting. The "little ice age" 19th century of Spiritwalker, and the Macedonian-occupied Egypt-esque setting of Court of Fives were engaging and distinctive. As well-researched as I'm certain this series is, yet another "medieval western Europe, with magic!" setting just does not grab my interest as much. The occasional two- or three-page delve into lineages, and the small army of nobility--many of whom were mere sketches of characters and near-indistinguishable from each other--didn't help matters.

There's also an analog of Catholicism, with a Lord and Lady as the major deities, a Christ-like figure, saints and saints' days, and so on. The thing where church and state are by no means separate from each other, and the higher clergy is full of the younger children of nobles, seems pretty accurate to that time period. A couple of the clergy perform incredibly horrific acts, on a one-to-one scale and as a part of the larger-scale dynastic power struggles.

The world building is quite cool on top of the stuff that corresponds with our own world. There's a lot to it, and it wouldn't be very interesting to enumerate it all (I can only hope that I remember some of it when I get to the second book, despite not having typed it all out), so I'll just name off a couple of favorite things. I'm a big fan of ancient ruins--and contemporary ones, but that isn't pertinent here!--and underground catacombs, and this novel has both. There's a race of elf-like people who used to live on earth, I think, but they're stuck in another dimension now. Saints, as well as being an aspect of faith, also directly intercede in people's lives. The cosmology, with constellations and something like the zodiac, is interesting and chock-full of the number seven, and, at least so far, is kept mostly in the background.

What's a story without characters, though! Here are a few of the main ones.

Liath: she lives with her father, a wandering sorcerer, until he suddenly dies. She is taken in as a slave by the local priest, who believes she is also sorcerous and wants to know her secrets. Later on, she joins the Eagles, the messengers for the king, and is instrumental in saving many people during the previously mentioned siege.

Alain: a compassionate young man who was taken in as a servant in Count Lavastine's household. He has befriended the count's hounds, who previously have served no one but his direct bloodline. It is through Alain's point of view that we see a lot of the dynastic power struggle plot line, including a battle between the forces of King Henry and the would-be usurper Lady Sabella.

Sanglant: King Henry's child by one of the Lost (the elves), he is also the leader of the Dragons, the king's militia. He and his force are part of the defense of Gent, the besieged city. He meets Liath during the siege and they fall for each other, but have barely said twenty words to each other before they are separated.

Hanna: Liath's best friend who joins the Eagles at the same time. She likes men a lot, lol. Both of Elliott's two trilogies I've read strongly emphasized bonds between women, and while Liath and Hanna's friendship isn't given a whole lot of room because of all the other stuff that's going on, their steadfast affection for each other is one of the few nice, dependably comforting things in the book.

Hugh: the cleric who enslaves Liath. Lots of CW material behind this spoiler tag, by the way. This book does NOT shy away from what happens to slaves. Liath is horribly abused at the hands of Hugh: physically battered, gaslighted, and raped. This book does really well at depicting Liath's PTSD. Long after joining the Eagles, she feels like Hugh knows where she is and is stalking her, and she gets flashbacks from seemingly innocuous things like "a cold day." Her recovery is slow, and may never be complete. She is puzzled by her sexual attraction to Sanglant, since her only experience with sexuality previously has been at the hands of Hugh. One critique I have of that part of the book is that Hugh's abuse is dwelt on for too long. I understand why it's handled this way--it's a counter to the idea of rape being a throwaway event that is more about how villainous a villain is, than it is about its victim. It's admirable in a way, yet it's extremely unpleasant to read, not to mention there's not a little preaching to the choir going on there.

As an aside, this book's ultra-serious and completely lacking in humor, or anything resembling happiness that isn't dashed to pieces a few pages later. I'm not looking for Terry Pratchett, here. Anything to temporarily break up the feeling of an awful world, and all the characters having an awful time in it, would be nice. Some banter, a companionable meal? Something!

I could go on quite a bit longer about this or that, but we'll leave it here for now. Don't want to drain the well one book in. :D I haven't ever managed to finish a fantasy series of this length before, and I am 100% certain there's gonna be some frustrating slowdown and meandering along the way through this series, since I already came across some of that midway through this book. Kate Elliott has been something of an acquired taste for me so far, and one of the things that's most interesting about her writing is that although I'm still not sure I've acquired it (say what?), I've consistently come away from her books with a vivid sense of the world and characters, and am interested in reading "just one more."

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It was one of those rare ones that I took my time to savor without thinking about what I was going to be reading next. As with many books that I've loved, it's hard to explain why. I really just love Kate Elliott's writing. Her world is so vivid and real, with a deep sense of history and of hidden things that will be revealed. At the same time, she also makes me care about and fear for the characters so effortlessly, and because of the characters, the world feels very immediate rather than overwhelmingly epic.

I honestly had no idea where the story was headed for much of the time - this isn't a quest-type fantasy with a stated goal. It takes place in an alternate medieval kingdom teeming with heresy, hypocrisy, treachery, and violence. Kingdom politics and inhuman coastal raiders. Ancient magic, forbidden knowledge, reverence for learning, true piety, and evil sorcery. The feeling of the world is amazingly real with both awe and danger. I loved the sense of place. This was really great historical fantasy, both recognizable and foreign to our own medieval time.

Some people might find the plot slow, but I didn't find it dull. I enjoyed both of the main viewpoints. Two young, unrelated characters find themselves caught in the middle of affairs they don't understand. Both start out in very humble circumstances and have much to learn and sometimes much to suffer. Although they are important to events, they are not instantly transformed into saviors of the world. They have their parts to play, but they don't grow too far beyond themselves and their beginnings. I am really looking forward to seeing where this is going and what they grow into, and to having more of the world revealed. I have six more books to savor, and I plan to take my time.

I highly recommend this to fans of both historical fiction and fantasy - it's a fantastic blend of both.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this series in its entirety in 2020 and want to add a post-series impression. It boils down to the question: should you read this series?

As much as I adore Kate Elliott's books, it's tough to recommend. She is a high-quality, hard-working, dedicated author, and this series was extremely well-researched regarding medieval life, with intriguing sources of inspiration, and unique interpretations of classic fantasy elements. This quality comes through in the books, but I am hard pressed to identify the person who would find this series deeply captivating. If you particularly like medieval historical fiction and fantasy and don't mind a long, deep series that doesn't hold your hand in the least, one that you have to read closely lest you miss a vital detail that informs the story several books down the line. As her first epic fantasy effort, I think this series would have turned out much differently and better were it written in a later era. I think the gist of my reservation is that it could have all been plotted much more tightly. I have the same complaint regarding the bulk of the Wheel of Time series, so perhaps that skill set was not commonly part of the professional fantasy author toolbox during that era.

What I remember the most fondly about this series, two years after I read it, is the realistic experience of medieval life, the unique use of traditional fantasy creatures, Liath as my favorite character, and book 4 in particular, with its long dual epic journeys for Liath and Alain.

************************

It was good, but it took a while to warm up. Based on reading Kate Elliott's later Crossroads trilogy and now this, she appears to spend a lot of time setting up what end up as rich, complex, adult worlds before her characters and plot run free.

The story takes place in a generally European-type medieval landscape currently united by a single king but perhaps not for long given internal unrest and external assaults by a non-human race. Religion and faith are a strong component of daily life, and the church here is politically, socially and economically powerful. The dominant religion draws on elements of Christianity, with a binary Lord and Lady as gods. There is a Christ-like figure that "died for our sins" in a way, but is not broadly recognized and this belief is seen by most as heretical. What stands out is that in this world, gender equality exists on all levels. It took me a while to realize this facet, which permeates the whole society, because it is presented so naturally. There is one passage near the end of the book that discussed how men and women, with exceptions, tend to gravitate towards different roles and modes of religious faith by virtue of their biological differences (you know, that whole thing where women are capable of gestation and birth and men aren't), but both are valued and necessary to sustain a society.

That's all in the background, as important as it is. The story primarily follows two teenaged characters; Alain, an adoptee promised to the Church but whose fate gets diverted to other matters, and Liath, a sorceror's (of sorts) daughter who finds herself in slavery and struggles to keep secret the knowledge imparted by her parents. There remains a lot of mystery to the details of what magic exists in this world, who can use it and how. I much preferred reading the chapters about Liath for most of the book, for one because sorceror>stableboy, for another because she was more active in her portions. Alain's story more often had him simply along for the ride, with events involving figures much grander than he leading affairs while he tagged along as a servant. He is not totally passive; the actions he takes early on have profound consequences that sometimes only the reader is aware of at this point in this 7-volume story, and his unique place in this world develops, albeit slowly.

It all comes together very nicely and made for an enjoyable last 100 pages. I can see an awful lot of potential for the subsequent books. I didn't mind that it took a little patience to get to this point, knowing what Kate Elliott is capable of as a fantasy novelist. I never had any doubt that I was going to read the entire series, but my optimism is heightened having now finished the first part.

[Allison Hurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

FINALLY! A new-to-me epic fantasy to get lost in. I devoured this book, even though it contains lots of things I don't like, just because the world, the magic, mystery and characters are all that good.

CONTENT WARNING: slavery with attendant issues of violence and rape, harm to animals, violent ableism, religion, alcoholism, loss of a parent, lots of gore, war scenes

Things to love:

-Dual POV. It took basically the entire book to sort of kind of figure out why we were watching this all unfold from the perspectives of Alain and Liath, but I was so here for both of them. Both classic "farm [child] to hero" archetypes with very different backgrounds and views, we bounce back and forth, with just enough of the story progressed each time that I was eager to get back to their storylines when we switched.

-Supporting characters. This is probably a bit controversial, because they mostly just satisfy common character types. But when done right, this is a food I love, I don't care if the seasoning is just salt and pepper. It's there, and it's delicious.

-Plot. Oohoo, I can just tell, this is gonna be BIG. Things are gonna get MESSY. There's probably going to be some QUESTS. Let me get some snacks and a big blanket and settle in.

-Care for main characters. This is a big thing for me. The main characters, as with all heroes in epic fantasies, are going through some shit. The author takes the time to go "are we all seeing this?? This is all happening to children. Are we okay with that??" and then gives the characters, and therefore us, the space to NOT be okay with that, but to promise this isn't just a playact, that the author knows what she's doing and will keep all the pain her story is inflicting in her own head, too.

-Magic. Mannn, I cannot WAIT to learn more about this. The tastes we have are just so tantalizing.

-End. This book has one! A whole ending, where the main action comes to rest and we see the characters complete their thoughts around it.

Why this isn't a 5 star for me:

-A few plot holes. For example, a prisoner of war, who can only be released by one person, miraculously "escapes" and no one notices, or cares or thinks it's treasonous of the person who could have released him?

-Rape as backstory. A couple of these, but again they're at least not used to support a man's revenge story.

-Instalove. I'm not going to say more about this. This cliche is dumb and I hate it, even if this time I do happen to like both the idiots falling for this hateful thing.

-Christianity. The religion is a slight rebrand of the Christian faith. As with all things that have real world analogs, that's a risk, and I'm not sure this one was worth it.

I had to force myself to sleep, and to read something between the first and second book though. Can't wait to dive back in!

[Andye.Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I listened to this in 24 hours. There is a villain in this book that I hate almost as much as Jack Randall. I don't know maybe just as much. I've never felt so much rage reading a book! It was so well done.

I loved the world I loved the magic I loved the characters I can't wait to see where this goes! This is a seven book series so I really hope it holds up lol.

The audiobook narrator was fantastic!

[SAM · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm giving up @ 64%. I'm trying to find something to like but it's so boring. I think the only reason i held on this long is because i own three of the other books in the series. Too many characters and lordly titles and way too much silly sounding religious BS! Not for me.

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.25 ***

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

I plan to write a fuller review after reading more of the series, but really enjoyed this. As a kid I read the first couple of books in this series, and now I suspect the reason I didn’t finish is that Elliott’s adult novels are geared toward adult tastes and interests, more so than most popular fantasy, which tends to be heavy on the adolescent wish-fulfillment, action/adventure and romance. Not to say that there aren’t elements of that here, but this probably isn’t the fantasy to buy for your teenage niece or nephew.

UPDATE: See end of review!

The worldbuilding stands out, especially this time around. It’s closely based on the early Middle Ages (France and Germany, I believe). Some fantasy readers prefer more original worlds, but I’ve always been partial to historical fantasy; to me a world based on real culture and history is always going to feel more complex and nuanced and authentic than one invented by a single author, and that holds true here. This is no cardboard quasi-medieval setting; it feels like the real thing, complete with economics that make sense (you can’t just levy an army out of nowhere and go haring off without considering the planting and harvesting!). Even rarer for fantasy, Elliott also portrays a religion and a Church as powerful and ubiquitous as in the actual Middle Ages. And rarer still, the portrayal of this through-a-glass-darkly version of the Roman Catholic Church is quite complex – it contains many people with various motivations, neither all one thing nor easily dismissed. (I’ve seen occasional readers feel that the inclusion of all this religion is preachy, but am quite sure that’s not Elliott’s intent. For one thing, she’s Jewish.) But with all that, this is a more gender-egalitarian world than our own (gender roles exist but dictate which positions of power people ought to occupy, rather than whether they should). There is a much more diverse cast than we get in most epic fantasy – with roughly equal numbers of male and female characters, as well as a few who are non-white – which is fun to read about.

The characters here have a lot of potential, leaving me looking forward to future books; it is a big story with a large cast, and the characters feel like they could be real people, not just genre shorthand for them. Of the two major plotlines, I remembered Liath’s much better than Alain’s. Liath is a vulnerable young woman whose storyline in the first half of the book involves her getting trapped in an abusive situation that feels quite realistic – it is a long shot from the blood’n’guts of many fantasy novels these days, but perhaps more memorable for it. An interesting choice for a fantasy novel, and one whose resulting trauma seems to have frustrated many readers, as well as some of the characters. Alain’s plotline is more conventional – young man discovers the wider world, has mysterious parentage, experiences battle – but I enjoyed his complicated relationship with the Church (Alain is a genuinely good person, unlike a lot of the blandly inoffensive protagonists out there) and his position in a retinue on the “bad” side. The macro plot is similar to that of many epic fantasies – kingdom is torn by internal strife while invaded by evil creatures – but it feels fresh and engaging and, if this volume is any indication, Elliott intends to keep things moving rather than just set it up and leave us in a holding pattern for five books. At least, I hope that is the case, because this book is very promising and I want more like it!


UPDATE: And now, as promised, some comments after completing the series.

Okay, guys, I'm just not that big a fan of series. I really enjoyed the first three books, but then it became a little stale; the types of choices Elliott was making became too familiar with use, to the point that I felt less was at stake even as the scope grew broader, and the story simply became less exciting. Nor did the characters stand up to such a long series; they never grew three-dimensional enough for that. I won't say it's just me, because a lot of people seem to have grown disillusioned with these books. But I don't feel it goes downhill any harder than any other fantasy series I've tried to read; in fact, it maintains its quality better than some more popular series, which descend into endless travelogues and non-events. Perhaps Crown of Stars just drew the short end of the marketing stick and didn't build the hype or the huge, devoted sort of fanbase that any series needs to survive the natural leaching of interest that comes with such a long work.

It's too bad, because there are good ideas here, and I wish they'd been presented in a trilogy rather than a seven-book series. Happily, Elliott has also written some strong fantasy trilogies, and is at work on more! Go read them, they're good. As for this series, it's worth a try, especially if you like long sagas. And if you read the first two or three or four and decide not to finish, that's okay too.

King’s Dragon: 4
Prince of Dogs: 3.5
The Burning Stone: 4
Child of Flame: 3
The Gathering Storm: 2.5
In the Ruins: 3
Crown of Stars: 3

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers here.
After reading this first book of a seven book series, I must say that I wonder why it doesn't come up on more lists of finished fantasy series, perhaps for the lack of readers. Thinking it may be the covers, which do not work at all compared to the story itself. This story takes place in a medieval setting where magic looms about, and has a gritty feeling to it. The book is written in two points of view, and later on third point of view is inserted.
You do have the typical young male and female who have hidden talents that will play into the story on the upper levels of the kingdom and its surroundings. The battle scenes are much reminiscent to medieval battles only taking place with several thousands of soldiers, and the battle towards the end of book one is well done.
I must say that I will be reading the remainder of the series hoping that Elliott will be building on the good work that has been done here.

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dies ist ein fleißiger Eröffnungsroman, bei dem die Hauptfiguren ein recht aktives Leben führen und sich die Handlung unerwartet dreht und dreht, während dynastische Kämpfe anderswo für sie sorgen. Das allgemeine Gefühl des Buches ist eine leichtere, etwas weniger versierte (aber nicht unerfreulich) Version von A Game of Thrones von George RR Martin. Die politische Intrige ist im Vergleich zum GRRM-Meisterstück simpel, aber immer noch interessanter als viele andere Fantasy-Autoren in ihren Romanen.
Das heißt, Elliott schafft es, Sie mit Ereignissen in diesem ersten Band zu faszinieren, und das Ende des Cliffhangers lässt Sie das zweite Buch aufnehmen, das meiner Meinung nach die Hauptzielsetzung war.

[Charlotte Kersten]

“It is bright in the wilderness now, warm and inviting, in those trackless lands where she has thrown away the key. Only she can walk safely there.
But it is never safe.”

Spoilers follow, as well as a discussion of sexual violence and abuse.

So What’s It About?

The kingdom of Wendar is in turmoil. King Henry’s reign is contested by his conniving sister Sabella, and she begins to gather allies to her banner- some willing and others ensorcelled through her dark arts. Meanwhile, the monstrous Eika raiders terrorize the coastal cities. As chaos spreads through the country, we follow the lives of two young people, Liath and Alain. Alain is from humble origins, dedicated to the monastery, but it soon becomes clear that the Lady of Battle herself demands more from him. Liath lives with her beloved father, learning the mysteries of the stars and ancient writings, but her world is shattered upon his sudden death. These two innocents are thrust into a world of danger beyond anything they have ever known before.

What I Thought

King’s Dragon feels like a very classic epic fantasy in many ways. This works, in my opinion, both to its benefit and to its detriment as it embodies the archetypal characteristics of the genre that I tend to enjoy and struggle with. To begin with, the world that Elliott has created is no less than meticulously realized – there is a very real sense of dynamic, detailed history and vivid culture, and Wendar truly feels like an authentic medieval setting while still engagingly differentiating itself from our world and its history. The flipside of this is that Elliott’s world-building is sometimes so extensive and dedicated to the realistic concerns of a medieval world that it ends up being detrimental to my enjoyment of the book. A massive amount of time is spent considering religion: religious faith, sin, heresy, history and power hierarchies. Since I think Elliott’s goal was to craft a believable fantasy world that actually parallels our world’s medieval cultures this is no doubt necessary, but I did find it rather tiresome. Slightly less time is spent exploring the hierarchies of various noble families and questions of inheritance and alliance, topics that seemed to have little bearing on what actually happens in the book:

“There is so much talk of dukes and lands and biscops and allegiances,” Alain confessed. “I can’t make sense of it.”

You and me both, my dude.

As befits an epic fantasy, there is a sweeping cast of characters, and for the most part the cast is excellent. Liath and Alain both start the story as complete innocents, and while they are soon forced to confront all of the horror and pain that the world has to offer, they don’t relinquish their essential goodness or the characteristics that fundamentally make them who they are, namely Alain’s compassion and Liath’s intelligence and curiosity. They are surrounded by equally well-realized supporting characters, from the king’s beloved bastard son Sanglant to the determined scholar Rosvita, the cryptic Eagle Wolfhere to the utterly psychopathic monk (?) Hugh. I was engaged by all of the viewpoints except for that of Liath’s best friend Hanna, who mostly seemed to have been granted a viewpoint to 1) inform the reader about what the king was doing while Liath was not there to observe and 2) inexplicably continue to lust after Hugh, the man who enslaved and horrifically abused her best friend.

I was also a little dubious when Liath decided that she was deeply in love with Sanglant after interacting with him approximately two times. The psychologist in me wants to argue that severe trauma during a key developmental stage can lead to attachment issues later on, but I think it’s just plain and simple insta-love, because in a later viewpoint it’s established that Sanglant feels the same way. For that matter, it seems like every single man who interacts with Liath has to comment on how beautiful she is. For a book that is otherwise written with such realism and finesse, this is a rather strange touch.

There are many fascinating magical secrets and hints of arcane powers stirring, especially related to the ancient Dariyan empire that unified humans with the vanished race of Aoi, or Lost Ones:

"There are spirits burning in the air with wings of flame and eyes as brilliant as knives. They move on the winds of aether that blow above the sphere of the Moon, and now and again their gaze falls like a blazing arrow, like the strike of lightning, to the Earth below, and there it sears anything it touches, for they cannot comprehend the frailty of Earthly life. They are of an elder race and are not so fragile. Their voices have the snap of fire and their bodies are not bodies as we know them, but the conjoining of fire and wind, the breath of the fiery Sun coalesced into mind and will."

I’ll admit that at this point I have very little idea of what is going on, but it seems as though the Aoi are hidden away in another world but plan to return to the human realm at some point in the future. It also seems that Sanglant’s birth to the king of Wendar and a mysterious elven woman has something to do with these plans, and that another infant was brought into existence by Mysterious Forces to counteract Sanglant’s influence. It’s all extremely cryptic at this point, and I’m looking forward to piecing more of it together in the next book. I’m also excited to learn more about the Eika raiders, especially the Eika prince who Alain allows to go free due to his compassionate nature- it seems that the prince has been irrevocably marked by their encounter.

As befits any book that calls itself an epic fantasy there is an incredible climactic battle, here between King Henry and his conniving sister, Sabella. Sabella and her priest Antonia are not above resorting to treachery, and employ the use of a guivre, a monster that has powers similar to that of a basilisk. As Henry’s forces stand frozen and helpless, Sabella’s men cut them down where they stand. It is a horribly harrowing scene, but it then becomes even more gripping: the self-loathing priest Agius (kidnapped by Sabella’s forces alongside Alain) sacrifices himself to the guivre, allowing himself to be eaten so that the guivre is distracted while Alain beheads it. It’s a stunningly written moment.

The first part of Liath’s story is excruciatingly difficult to read. When her father dies she is sold into slavery to pay his debts, and is purchased by the clergyman Hugh. Hugh is obsessed with accessing the arcane knowledge that her father has passed down to her, and embarks upon a campaign of psychological, physical and sexual abuse against her. You all should know by now that when an author writes sexual violence, I always hope that they either portray its psychological ramifications with accuracy or comment meaningfully upon the power dynamics and cultural norms that make it possible. Elliott does both. Liath only survives her enslavement through severe dissociation and numbing:

"She felt so utterly detached from herself that it was as if she were two people, one to whom all this was happening, one watching from her safehouse within the frozen tower."

When she is freed she is very much marked by her trauma, experiencing hypervigilance, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, shame regarding her sexuality and a fear of trusting others. While she continues to struggle she nevertheless takes some massive steps in terms of being autonomous, trusting herself and connecting with others.

What’s more, Elliott is very clear about the way in which Liath’s community continuously condones Hugh’s ownership/abuse, thinking that she is lucky to be owned by him because he is an authority figure in the church as well as a charismatic, handsome, intelligent man. It is only when he beats her to the point that she miscarries that anyone cares at all, and even then no one hesitates to return her to him once she is well enough to travel. It’s a powerful condemnation of the hypocrisy, permissiveness and misogyny that characterize rape culture.

Interestingly enough, class differences mean an entirely different distribution of power for women and men in Elliott’s world. In the ranks of nobility, women have a great deal of administrative power:

“Her first duties were to administer her lands and bear children to carry on her lineage.”

In addition, they are the ones who inherit property and it is commonly argued by her proponents that Sabella should have inherited the throne because only a woman can prove that she has actually produced her heirs.

It’s often complained of pseudo-medieval epic fantasies that they are extremely white, but King’s Dragon very clearly takes place in a world that is inhabited by a wide variety of societies and people with all skin colors. Liath and Sanglant are both people of color, and it’s clear that historically Wendar has been shaped by people of color as well:

“But the blessed Daisan himself lived in the lands now conquered and ruled by the Jinna, so who is to say he was not himself as dark-complexioned as she?”

It’s an extremely refreshing take on diversity in epic fantasy, and just one of the many characteristics that marks King’s Dragon as a standout in the genre, in my opinion.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a pleasant surprise. I had never heard of this series before and have never read anything by this author. If not for the mention of it on my updates feed by GR friend Mayim (see review), I likely would’ve remained unaware of this little gem.

Told in third person, it mostly follows the experiences of two main protagonists, Alain and Liath. Both are sixteen at the start of the book but if you’re worried that this is another YA book, don’t be. Take it from someone who mostly avoids that angst ridden, love triangle fueled genre. There is angst in this book, to be sure, but rest assured that it is caused by things far more important than which suitor to pick. But, back to our protagonists! Both Alain and Liath have mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding their family histories. Though I wouldn’t call this a fast paced book, walking alongside these two characters through the changing landscape of their everyday lives was nevertheless an absorbing experience. They both face challenges, though I’d say Liath’s were the more horrendous and traumatic, and though they’re both in markedly different places by the end of the book, the challenges have not been wholly cleared away. They’ve merely been replaced by new ones.

The setting is a fictitious world with a decidedly medieval feel. The story mainly deals with the countries of Wendar and Varre, once separate kingdoms that now exist under the singular rule of King Henry. Civil war threatens however as the King’s older half-sister, Sabella, is raising a rebellion to claim the throne she feels was her right. It’s an interesting world where hereditary laws typically follow matrilineal lines and royal successions are typically decided by which heir is the first to reproduce on their traditional tour through the kingdom. The religion in this world is obviously based on Christianity, with a specifically Catholic flair, albeit with some interesting tweaks (such as women holding all the positions of power). It helps to give the world a familiarity that enables readers to settle into the story more quickly.

The escalating threat of civil war places readers on both sides of the conflict because our two protagonists are standing on either side of the battle lines. As often happens with war, this isn’t so much due to the choices and actions of either one. It’s simply a matter of Alain being in Varre and Liath being in Wendar when the story kicks off. They are both surrounded with secondary characters who either capture the readers’ hearts and admiration or else who earn their undying enmity.

As if impending civil war wasn’t enough to deal with, King Henry also faces an outward threat from the Eika, a race of barbaric people with Wolverine-like (unretractable) claws on their knuckles who have increased their raiding in Wendar lands. King Henry’s decisions as he faces this division of his forces and his attention will have lasting impact on the political landscape as well as in his personal life.

In addition to vivid characters and the two-pronged dangers of Sabella and the Eika, the story has numerous other things going for it. There are numerous mentions of ancient civilizations and lost empires which, though long gone, still seem to be playing roles in the current lives of the characters. There is sorcery, political intrigue under the guise of religion, and a touch of (a budding) romance. This is one aspect that didn’t work for me though I had high hopes. For me, this was yet another case of a fantasy story that leap frogs over all the things that make a romantic relationship believable for the sake of expediency. It’s a small thing and certainly not something that will bother everyone, or even most people, and I fully admit that I am super picky about how romances are written. But based on the traumas that Liath endures and the lovely descriptions of how she internally guarded herself, I was looking forward to a slow thaw with regards to her heart…not seeing her snap to attention at the first words from the first handsome, age-appropriate man she meets, which is more or less what happens. Being a social worker, that just hasn’t been my experience in working with women who have experienced similar traumas. Again, though, that’s my own personal nitpick and I did really like potential love interest in his own right so, if Liath had to go there so soon, she made a good pick.

That minor quibble aside, I did really enjoy the story. I really appreciate that some aspects of the story didn't go in the direction I thought they would. It's always nice to be surprised. The writing style flowed easily and there were some real stakes for all the characters. There were some questions answered but many more that need attention. There are bad guys that I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of and characters that I’m curious to see meet. Overall, I’m really glad this series came to my attention. I’ll be reading the second book and hope that it’s able to build on this promising beginning.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Trigger warning for: Rape, Abuse, Violence, War*

This is the start of a promising Fantasy series in the classic style of LotR or WoT but the nice difference here is that this is firmly rooted in medieval society and Elliott has clearly spent time researching and fleshing out the world.
The other thing I liked about this is that this society is very much gender-balanced. Just as many women are in positions of power as men and it's a nice thing to see the eve split across the book.

We're following two main PoVs, Alain and Liath. Alain is a boy destined to join the Church, but when his town is approached by the enemy and the monastery destroyed his path takes a drastic turn towards castle life and warfare.
Liath is a young girl who has lived a life on the move with her Da. They have always been running from something, although she never has known quite what, and her Da is also skilled in astrology and maybe even magic. When something terrible happens her life goes into turmoil and becomes truly sad at some points, but her self-discovery is quite a progression to follow.

This world has a general set up of two main conflicts. We have a race called Eike who are raiding villages and towns and burning them along the coasts and countryside. Then we also have civil war brewing between Henry (the current King) and Sabella (his sister). The mix of a larger (potentially magical) threats and the more localised but outrageous civil war looming is quite the tug of war, and it leads to some political heavy scenes in this one.

Overall, I enjoyed this and although we don't see much magic in this volume there's clearly a lot of magic in this world and ready for our characters to learn. I'm intrigued to see where this will go next, and I hope it grows in strength as the writing quality improves too. 3.5*s from me overall.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this in a day! The whole series of The Crown of Starts was a gift from my boyfriend, and I was eager to start in on this. There is so much going on already in this book. It seems a typical fantasy at first, lost elvish nations, scary lizard-ish bad guys, a brother and sister fighting for the thrown, and a couple of kids caught up in the middle. Mostly, I'm intrigued by the religion Elliot creates in it. Clearly, there is a lot of traditional, Medieval basis in it. Fathers and "biscops" and other such religious titles, but they all serve the Lord and the Lady, a binding of Christianity and Pagan religions. There is also forbidden, lost arts of magic that is simultaneously despised and used by the Church, and mathemagici, which are sort of astronomers or mathematicians...learned men and women whatever way you look at it. As the first book in the series, I'm not going to go to in depth but I am really, really looking forward to finishing this series!

[James Harwood-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deadly Eika invasion. Bloody civil war plagued with dark sorcery, spirits and darker intent. Visions of destiny within devout lands.
And a book of secrets worth killing for.

Wow! A beast of a book packed with mystery, intrigue, terror, battle & heart. So great! My rich epic is here!

Immediately buying book 2.

Update: Finished series and loved it. 🏆

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crown of Stars series is well-thought out and obviously well-planned. It's epic in scope and it's got a lot of texture. There are many complex characters who we follow in parallel, as in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Some of them are very likable, and there are some really excellent villains (e.g., Hugh). Ms. Elliott's creatures are imaginative and enjoyable, and I especially liked the way they interact with the humans. Ms. Elliott uses a lot of description and therefore her plot moves very slowly (again, similar to WOT).

The writing was inconsistent throughout the series. Sometimes it seems brilliant, but at other times I'd think "why did she tell me that?" or "this could be moving a little faster." It's often wordy. Her editor could have almost arbitrarily taken out a third of the sentences with no ill effect. Sometimes she over-explains what a character is feeling or his/her motivation when it would have been better to let the dialog or action speak for the character. Sometimes she tells me something too many times (e.g., "but his voice always sounds like that"). I wonder if the inconsistency is due to different editing processes, because it's not like that in all the books, and even some individual books are internally inconsistent. I thought the fourth book, especially, was not well edited.

The pace of these novels is so slow that I found my self bogged down in the middle of book 5 with not much desire to go on, so I decided to quit. I struggled with that decision because I really did want to find out what happened to the characters, but it was taking me too long to get there and the writing style wasn't good enough to make up for the crawling pace (unlike Wheel of Time).

Overall, these books entertained me for a while, especially the first couple of novels. The plot was interesting and the characterization was particularly notable, but it eventually got too slow. I quit in the middle of book 5.
Read more Kate Elliott book reviews at Fantasy Literature .

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a really, really hard time getting into this book. I probably would have neither started nor finished it if it weren't a book of the month for a reading group I belong to. I just hate getting into multi-volume (7) epic fantasies. This one took about 200 pages (out of 600+) to get interesting. I was never able to pinpoint quite why it was so hard to get into. For the record, I'm going to list some positives and negatives of this book.

On the positive side:

1. There aren't too many central characters to focus on. There are two main characters, Alain and Liath. Most of the action and other characters orbit around them. About 1/2 way, Liath's friend, Hanna, gets a bit more of a starring role. But, it's not until we've had a chance to know her through Liath's storyline.

2. There aren't too many subplots. Many multi-volume epic fantasies have a dozen storylines going with a gazillion character that never connect for a few volumes. Elliot keeps it simple by starting with two storylines. She sticks with them for a decent amount of time, not switching settings every two pages. Once we are comfortable, then she'll add another plotline. It made it very easy to follow this book.

3. Her world is very consistent and well visualized. The politics, religion, and races of her world are very comprehensible.

The negatives:

1. Slow start. I'm still not sure why it's so slow. Maybe because there's not much conflict early on.

2. It's very, very long. Like I said, this book is 600+ pages long and is the first of 7 volumes.

3. Cliffhanger ending. Actually, if you don't read the epilogue, it's a pretty complete novel. The epilogue is a total cliffhanger though. (The hatred of cliffhangers is just my own deal. I hate feeling like I'm being forced to buy another book.)

If you like big, long epic fantasy, this book is a very good choice. It's just not my cup of tea.

[Dom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

A great start to what I hope will be a great series. I really enjoyed the different character groups we follow here and the individual factions (Eagles, Dragons, etc.) are nicely defined and interesting. There’s a good bit of character building as we progress through the book, with plenty of time spent with each of the main characters. Possibly my one slight negative on that front is that the chapters (and/or groups of chapters within “books”) are rather long and so it can sometimes take a while before you return to a character once you leave them.

I like how we get to see both sides of the conflict, and with main characters on both sides, there’s no sense of which is “right” or “wrong”, so it allows you to make up your own mind on who, if anyone, you should be rooting for – especially as neither of the young main characters from the synopsis have chosen their side, they are both swept up by others and join a side almost by default.

The worldbuilding is good, with plenty of lore delivered, but never feeling like you’re being bombarded with it. I liked the little hints of magic and abilities as well, and the idea that we’ll be seeing more of that in the books to come.

There were a couple of skirmishes and then a couple of big battles, and I thought these were really well done. I loved the set up for these, and that they don’t necessarily just follow normal convention. It’s always nice to see an author doing something slightly different, without going so far out of leftfield as to feel out of place. I think there was a great level of action and intensity in these parts, and when viewed as a full book, they helped to give a great balance to the overall pacing as well.

[Brian Durfee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#42 KING'S DRAGON by Kate Elliot: Durfee's top 50 novels countdown. Book 1 in Elliot's 7 volume Crown of Stars. Each novel is a hefty 600-900 pgs. Epic. A vivid and well-written medieval fantasy series complete with invading barbarians, ambitious churchman, brisk pacing, and engrossing characters. So why did I have to read vol 4 and 6 in secret???

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what started out as a fairly standard entrence into an epic fantasy series, I was quickly surprised.

Elliott spends a lot of time world building and the result is impressive. This book is thick with history, politics and religion which has been a negative to several reviewers I have read online. In my opinion, I enjoyed reading the history, politics and the religion because it made the world so much more vivid and set the foundation for an incredibly complex, realistic series. It really helped me understand the world I was reading about and actually care about it.

Elliott writes in such a flowing, descriptive way that you truly become swept away with the story and lose track of the fact that you are the reader, not the actual character. One of my pet peeves with some writers is that I feel as though they are giving me a list of events that transpired rather than weaving a tale for me to mentally take part in. Elliott doesn't give you a list, at all. Hours passed in the blink of an eye reading her tale. I got so involved in the characters and truly cared about their plights that I just couldn't put the book down. The result was finishing a 635 page book in a day.

I won't say the book is flawless. There are parts that dragged quite a bit. I did skim-read some sections that didn't necessarily seem to need to take up as many pages as they did. Her "evil" characters aren't exactly multidimensional. In my opinion the most multidimensional character in the book is Sanglant. However, with the other two main protagonists just starting to figure out they are more than what they seem, the potential for them to grow and expand into fascinating multidimensionality is there.

I am incredibly excited to read the rest of this series and was pleasantly surprised by this book.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up for a book club in July and I'm glad I did. It's a bit of a chonkster, weighing in at a hefty 636 pages for this first volume in a (completed!!) seven book series. Despite the high page count, I thought the book read pretty quickly despite being a bit slow in developing the plot.

Our story unfolds through the eyes of two main characters, both adolescents and roughly the same age (around 16). Until I reviewed my notes for this review though, I thought Alain (the boy) was younger.

Alain has been raised by a foster father named Henri, who is a moderately successful but not wealthy merchant. Alain was given to Henri to raise with the understanding that Alain would go into the Church when he was old enough (somewhere around 16ish). Alain is not too pleased with the fate set out for him and wants to see some of the world before joining the Church. In a bit of "be careful what you ask for," Alain's wish is granted, just perhaps not in the way he would have liked.

Our other main character is Liath (short for Liathano). Liath has been on the run with her father for years, but she never knew exactly what they were running from. Her Mother died when she was small, but Liath knows her Mother had some magical talent. Eventually Liath and her Father settle in a small village, but it's an epic fantasy novel, so obviously Liath's father can't stay alive for too long. Plot spoilers about, but things do not go well for Liath for awhile after her Father passes away. She ends up sold into slavery to cover her Father's debts to an unscrupulous member of the Church. Eventually things do look up for Liath and that isn't the end of her story. Due to Liath's upbringing by her Father, she's well-versed in astronomy as well as literate in several languages which puts her head and shoulders above most commoners on the education front.

For the most part we see the overarching plot of the book through the eyes and experiences of Alain and Liath. In the big scheme, you're going to learn a whole lot about a very tangled royal family and related nobles as well as royal succession dependent upon being able to prove your ability to procreate and sustain your family tree. Women are favored for succession as a result, but it's still not impossible for male members of the family tree to inherit or carry the succession due to circumstance.

The currently reigning King Henry has an older sister named Sabella who thinks she should have inherited the crown. Sadly for her, during her "heir's progress" she failed to get pregnant and therefore her younger brother (who did have a child before her) ended up as the next heir and eventual King. This book details Sabella's rebellion and her attempts to change the succession (for the second time). Having been thwarted the first time, Sabella has some new tricks up her sleeve for this round.

Setting-wise, this is pretty standard medieval European fantasy. It's well-researched and well-written, but it's not breaking any new ground on the setting. An integral part of this world is the religion which is basically Catholicism with a twist. The twist being there is both a male and female deity as the cornerstone of the religion so women have a lot more of a role in the world and the Church, in addition to being the favored heirs for succession. I had very mixed feelings for the religious aspect of the book, I really wish it had just been more of its own religion instead of Catholicism with window dressing.

For the most part this book feels like historical fantasy but there are a few points where magic definitely plays a part in the plot and is significant to the characters. In addition, there's a race of lizard-people called the Elka that seem a bit Viking-like in that they regularly attack and raid by ship, but in this book they are making a more concentrated offensive and laying siege to a city.

This series if often offered up as an epic fantasy to read after you've exhausted Game of Thrones. There are certain parallels and it's not a bad recommendation, however, for better or worse, at least in volume 1 this series does not have the enormous cast of PoV characters that A Game of Thrones boasts. On the bright side, that does make it easier to follow the narrative and you'll have plenty of names and lineages to keep straight. I also liked that GoT had more of its own religions (and several of them) in play. I also think the character work in this book fell a little short, but was not terrible. Hence 4 stars from me rather than 5.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Elliott's "Crown of Stars" series -- 5,200 pages or so, through seven volumes -- sure is a monster, but it's worth the undertaking. Really, I'd call this one of the most underrated fantasy series ever. Don't be deceived by the generally weak cover art for all these volumes. Elliott's writing, too, is more than it seems at first glance. She writes very, very well. It's sneaks-up-on-you prose, but after you read quite a bit you realize she's very talented.

I won't even begin to try to provide a plot description of this world based on medieval Europe in a fantasy setting. Suffice to say it's, er, DETAILED. Mythological creatures, magic, alternate worlds, court politics, battle, strong characters. This baby is dense as an asteroid but worth exploring every cranny. Be advised that the best books are the early ones. "King's Dragon" starts quite slowly but turns into a gem. "Prince of Dogs" is equally good. From there, Elliott does get lost in her own world a bit, fashioning what's admittedly a too-detailed, too dense plot, as if she cuts out nothing and wants everything thrown in.

Stick with it, though, it's worth the effort, even with a flat-out poor sixth volume.

[Patrick St-Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn, I'm really late to this party. It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last, but I doubt I've ever been this late before. At least I hope not! I felt bad being fourteen years late reviewing Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns, and deservedly so. And yet, Kate Elliott's King's Dragon was published way back in 1997, twenty-five years ago.

My excuse? I have none. Other than having too many books to read, of course. The funny thing is that I have a full set of the Crown of Stars series, for I bought each installment as they came out. King's Dragon was a Nebula award finalist and I remember buying it when the paperback edition was released. Robert Jordan had already burned me as far as long series are concerned, so I elected to wait till a few more volumes were written before jumping into that series. You'll recall that I did the same with George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (after GRRM told me it would be a trilogy).

Back in the 90s and the early 2000s, I bought a slew of Daw titles. Starting with Tad Williams, Melanie Rawn, and C. S. Friedman, followed by Kate Elliott, Michelle West, Jennifer Roberson, Mickey Zucker Reichert, and many more. The books were big, sported distinctive SFF covers, and they were good. When I created Pat's Fantasy Hotlist back in 2005, I never would have thought that I'd still be blogging nearly two decades later. And if you'd told me that I would receive hundreds of review copies over the years, I would have said you're crazy. Still, with the emergence of new quality authors like Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Naomi Novik, Patrick Rothfuss, R. Scott Bakker, and so many others; and with the discovery of established talents such as Jacqueline Carey and Steven Erikson; and with new releases from favorites such as Robin Hobb, George R. R. Martin, and Neil Gaiman, it's no wonder that every week or so my books-to-read pile grew and grew and grew. So much so that I'm acutely aware that I won't likely manage to read all the novels I have before leaving this world. First World problem, I know.

Long story short, my backlog's just getting bigger every week. And about all those books and series I've owned since before the creation of the Hotlist, it often feels as though they just keep getting pushed back to the end of the line. Moving out of my loft in January 2011 meant that I could no longer have all of my books with me. Which means that I have hundreds of them in storage in various locations. Truth be told, I wasn't supposed to read Kate Elliott's King's Dragon. I've been looking for Michelle West's The Broken Crown ever since it was announced that PRH had forced Daw to drop her. But try as I might, I couldn't find any of my West books. Rummaging through boxes in my locker allowed me to get my hands on my Elliott books, however. Feeling that the universe was somehow speaking to me, I decided that it was high time to finally give Crown of Stars a shot!

Not surprisngly, I feel quite stupid for waiting this long, for King's Dragon is a quality read and the opening chapter for bigger and better things to come. As for West, no worries, for I ordered a copy of The Broken Crown and will get to it shortly. At least that's the plan. . .

But it's going to be difficult not to read Prince of Dogs and the subsequent installments in the near future. Again, First World problem.

Here's the blurb:

Set in an alternate Europe where bloody conflicts rage, the first book of the Crown of Stars epic fantasy series chronicles a world-shaking conflict for the survival of humanity

It begins with civil war….

For though King Henry still holds the crown of Wendar, his reign has long been contested by his sister Sabella. There are many eager to flock to her banner, and there are ways to make even the most unwilling lord into a weapon pointed at the heart of Henry’s realm.

Torn by internal strife, Wendar also faces deadly raids from the north by an inhuman race, the Eika. And now terrifying portents are being seen; old ruins restored to life under the light of the full moon and peopled by the long-vanished Lost Ones; dark spirits walking the land in broad daylight. And suddenly two innocents are about to be thrust into the middle of the conflict.

Liath, who has spent her early years fleeing from unknown enemies, is a young woman with the power to change the course of history if she can only learn to master her fear and seize what is rightfully hers.

While Alain, a young man who may find his future in a vision granted by the Lady of Battles, must first unravel the mystery of who he is—whether the bastard son of a noble father, the half-breed child of an elfin lord, the unwanted get of a whore, or the heir to a proud and ancient lineage. For only when he discovers the truth can he accept the destiny for which he was born.

Liath and Alain, each trapped in a personal struggle for survival, both helplessly being drawn into a far greater battle, a war in which sorcery not swords will determine the final outcome, and the land itself may be irrevocably reshaped by the forces unleashed….

If you could define Kate Elliott's worldbuilding with just one word, it would have to be "meticulous". With an uncanny eye for detail, her portrayal of this medieval European analog occasionally makes you feel as though you're reading a historical novel. In that respect, King's Dragon can be reminiscent of some of Guy Gavriel Kay's titles. Based on true cultures and the history of the early Middle Ages, the book is nevertheless spiced up with way more fantasy elements than any of Kay novels. Such a conscientious depiction of the historical period will please fans of worldbuilding. Personally, I loved it. But there's no denying that it often gets in the way of the plot and also slows the pace throughout the book. Hence, your mileage will vary in that regard.

Another element that sets Crown of Stars apart from most epic fantasy series out there, at least as far as this first volume is concerned, is the presence of religion and the major role it plays in every single aspect of this tale. Elliott's gender-egalitarian rebranding of the Roman Catholic Church affects people from all walks of life, from king to peasant. Not since Katherine Kurtz's Deryni saga has any SFF author tried to make religion such an all-encompassing facet of every day life in their fantasy universe. It is particularly well-done in King's Dragon, though I can understand that many a reader found that offputting. As I mentioned, religion affects everything. Whether or not Elliott's portrayal of the Church can be as impressive as Kurtz's remains to be seen, but I must say that I have high hopes for the volumes to come. Given that the use of sorcery has been formally accepted at a past religious council, although only if under the Church's supervision, here's to hoping that we will get POVs from members of the clergy to explore that aspect in future installments. I felt that not including the perspectives of characters such as Frater Agius or Biscop Antonia turned out to be a missed opportunity to delve into whether or not the use of magic is a form of heresy. The notion is obviously not clear-cut.

Although good overall, the characterization can at times be uneven. In true 90s fashion, we get two young, naive, and somewhat vulnerable main protagonists through whose eyes the bulk of the story will unfold. Alain, a compassionate young man destined to become a monk but who yearns to be a warrior. And Liath, a young girl who has spent years running away from a past she knows little about with her father and who's been taught forbidden knowledge that she must keep secret if she wants to stay alive. There seems to be a good balance between the two perspectives, although I found Liath's story to be the more compelling of the two. Especially early on. Though traumatic and often difficult to read, Liath's plotline is more fascinating. On the other hand, it takes a long time for Alain's importance to become evident and for him to come into his own, so to speak. It all comes together towards the end, but some sequences featuring Alain can be a bit boring until you reach about the halfway point of the novel. The third POV in importance is that of Rosvita, a female cleric and advisor to King Henry. It's through her perspective that the reader learns about the history and the politics of the kingdoms of Wendar and Varre. Hanna, Liath's friend, becomes a POV character almost by default, for we need to know what happens when the two are separated. We also get the point of view of Prince Sanglant, King Henry's child by one of the Aoi (name by which the elves are known) and leader of the Dragons, the king's militia, yet those scenes are few and far between. King's Dragon is by no means a slim novel and it already features a number of POVs, but I feel that the tale would have benefited from the perspectives of people such as Wolfhere, Frater Hugh, and/or other clergyman/women.

The political intrigue which is the backdrop of this tale is rather simplistic. Which could be detrimental to the overall storyarc if it doesn't improve in the sequels. Then again, at face value the political intrigue of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones appeared a bit simple early on and we all know how that turned out. Time will tell if Kate Elliott can be as good as Katherine Kurtz and GRRM in that regard.

Given the size of the novel (King's Dragon weighs in at 625 pages) and the fact that it's an introduction to a much bigger and more ambitious tale, it's no surprise that it suffers from some pacing issues. All of them found in the first two-thirds of the book, as Elliott lays the groundwork for this opening chapter and the rest of the series. And even though the rhythm can drag in some portions, you always get the feeling that, even if it doesn't make sense now, those scenes will have their importance in the greater scheme of things. The endgame might not be as rousing as expected (those expecting great battle scenes à la Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, and Steven Erikson might be disappointed), yet the author brings this one to a satisfying conclusion. Not a standalone by any stretch of the imagination, this first installment is still more self-contained than most of its epic fantasy counterparts.

Some argue that Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars is one of the most underrated fantasy series on the market. Time will tell if that is indeed true. But there's no denying that King's Dragon shows a lot of promise. I'm eager to see if what comes next will live up to that potential.

One thing's for sure. If you are looking for a big, multilayered fantasy novel featuring intricate worldbuilding and interesting characters, then King's Dragon is definitely for you!

For more reviews, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[Karen ⚜Mess⚜ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burn book, but I really liked it!
A bit heavy on religion, but I really liked it!

Something about the way Kate Elliott writes really grabbed me. Several POV and my favorite character was Liath. Liath got to me. Her caring heart and struggles. She also had the best action scenes. Without giving anything away, Sanglant is the reason I want to read the next book. Because I NEED TO KNOW!

I want to read this whole series, and Spirit Gate is up for a buddy read soon. But knowing my past behavior, book 2 will sit on the burner. I should be reading Robin Hobbs book 2 before that's been sitting on my shelf for a year. I need to belong to The First Book's Club.

[Tim]

I want to read this because of what Orson Scott Card said about it:

"Kate Elliott joins my very small pantheon of great living fantasy writers.

"[She is] one of the best world creators in fantasy literature.

"[The readers] are so fully immersed in this world, and its details are created so convincingly and richly, that it's a pleasure to simply live there with these characters.

"[It has] the most wonderfully frustrating villain you have ever experienced in literature. If Dickens had read these books he might have done a better job of writing Uriah Heep; if Moliere had read them, he might have brought of Tartuffe much more successfully."

Sounds good, doesn't it? You can read everything he said about it on his blog, Uncle Orson Reviews Everything.
[http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/ev...]

[Jean Triceratops · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second time I’ve tried to read Kate Elliot’s King’s Dragon and the second time I’ve quit reading it. The first time wasn’t on purpose—I read it over the span of weeks until I set it down and forgot to ever pick it back up again. Maybe that should have been a sign, but as I perused my shelves of ForFemFan books, I figured this time I’d give it a real go.

It starts off with a prologue. For the average book I’d consider this a detraction, but in King’s Dragon it worked. A young woman, clearly magical, mythical or otherwise not-traditionally-mortal-human, is leaving her infant son and his father. It becomes clear that bearing a child for this man was part of some greater cosmic scheme and, now that she has fulfilled what was expected of her despite great personal cost, she’s ready to move on.

While the idea of a destined child is an often boorish trope in fantasy, I still enjoyed this prologue. First off, I love that the mother wasn’t killed off, as is so often the case. I also love that she takes the rarely seen choice of opting to leave her child. I further love that she’s not demonized for this choice. She’s not a villain, she’s a rather sympathetic young woman who did a hard thing out of conviction and is ready to put it behind her. The child will be in good hands with his father. Nothing more is needed of her.

At this point I couldn’t possibly understand how I had wandered away from King’s Dragon and forgotten about it.

Then we meet Alain, a young man promised to the monastery by his adopted father. He’s doesn’t want that life, but he’s a shockingly good sport about it. On the day of his initiation, though, raiders attack his town. All looks lost until what appears to be an avatar of some sort of war goddess appears to him and offers a deal: his service in exchange for the safety of the village. He accepts and, as the monastery is somehow exempt from this deal and is burnt to the ground and its monks murdered, he escapes an ecclesiastical life and is instead conscripted into the army.

This part was … okay, though saying it like that makes me feel bad. It was fine, but it was also really heavy on things that aren’t interesting and don’t advance the plot but are authentic to a medieval world of this nature: we learn about his cousins and the monks and the village he calls home. We learn about tax collection and watch an official go about the business of collecting said taxes. None of this is damning, and in the context of an engaging plot I don’t think I’d think twice about it. But with little else for me to chew on other than the words passing before my eyes, the attention to detail on these superfluous / world-building ideas started to distract me. King’s Dragon was still an entirely acceptable book, but I could feel that my heart wasn’t in reading it—I was just putting in time hoping eventually I’d be won over.

After Alain, Liath comes on stage. Her and her father are on the run from some powerful and magical evil, though Liath doesn’t know what, exactly—her father never tells her. For a few seasons they’ve laid low in a small village and, with her sixteen birthday nearing, he realizes he needs to begin training her in his passion/profession: sorcery. Before you get too excited, sorcery in this world is mostly astrology and memorizing facts. There is a lot of astrolabe talk. Here things started to feel like the fantasy equivalent of “hard sci-fi.”

I can roll with “hard” speculative fiction in the right context. The most obvious is if I’m invested in the character(s), but I don’t have to have characters I’m personally invested in to read a lot of hard specifics with interest. If the tone of the writing is especially delightful, I can read through thousands of seemingly superfluous asides about the state of the war and the cost of beef—think Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell. If the world is so nuanced and quizzical that it’s almost like its own character, I will actively revel in specifics about how people live their daily life—think Star’s Reach.

But King’s Dragon is stolid, steady, not exciting but not bad either, just … kinda like real life, I guess? Just real life set in a war-torn magical world.

Anyway, I wasn’t invested, so I couldn’t bring myself to care about the “hard” stuff for too long. So occasionally, when there was a lot of astrology talk and I was getting bored, I’d peek ahead a few pages to whet my appetite of what’s going on with the characters. And if I’m being honest … I never went back to re-read what I skipped. I just couldn’t muster the interest.

So we’re at a bad place here, and then it gets worse. Liath’s father is murdered and his belongings are auctioned off to pay off his debts. Frater Hugh, who both suspects that Liath’s father was a sorcerer and really wants to fuck Liath, commandeers her father’s books, excluding them from the auction and thus guaranteeing that Liath will be sold into slavery to pay off her father’s debts.

And, of course, Frater Hugh buys her.

This is roughly where I quit reading the first time. The power imbalance between Liath and Frater Hugh, the self-serving nature of a religious man abusing his power to prey upon a young woman, the town’s casual acceptance of “eh, this is life,” or, even worse, “you should be grateful, he’s not such a bad guy, just let him fuck you and count your blessings” was too much. I know its fiction, and I know it’s based on reality, but dammit. I don’t read fiction to be reminded that the world is, and always has been, a horrible place. And this isn’t like The Serpent where depictions of sexism feel revelationary and almost like an act of solidarity with all women who have to deal with misogyny.

Nope, this is just clear cut older, wealthier, more well-connected guy going marginally out of his way to enslave a young woman for his own personal and professional gain. This sort of depiction has existed in books since folks started writing books.

Hoping that Liath soon pulls a Princess Leia on Frater Hugh and strangles him to death, I forced myself to keep reading. After another chapter or two, Liath is still enslaved and hopeless. I could barely bring myself to open the book let alone read multiple pages in a row. I started procrastinating reading, convincing myself that I’d just do a nonogram or two and then finally crack the book. It never happened. After about a week of just not, I finally decided to call it quits.

The thing is, I could force myself to get past Frater Hugh. He’s awful, sure, but there’s a villain in pretty much every book and most of them are especially horrible to women. The problem is that there’s nothing on the other side of Frater Hugh to tempt me on. Liath has no agency, so unless something comes out of left field, she’s stuck with Frater Hugh for the foreseeable future, and a faint hope that she strangles him in his sleep or divine intervention makes him choke to death on his own dick can only keep me going for so long. I need to feel like there’s a bigger picture that Liath and Alain are working within so that intellectually their actions and decisions are stimulating for me and so that emotionally I can hope that things will change. I don’t have have that.

What I do have, though, is information about the saints, martyrs, and political leaders of the land. I know about taxes, and astrolabes, and astrology. I know about the duties of Fraters and the various steps needed to liquidate a person’s assets to pay off their debts. I know a lot about a lot of things, just not the most important thing: why should I care about any of this.

And maybe King’s Dragon gets there, or, extremely likely, this isn’t the sort of book written for anyone who needs a reason to care, but rather for people who thrive on the minutiae of world-building just because they intrinsically find value in it. I can’t argue with the fact that, technically, King’s Dragon is rather good. But after two tries, I also can’t bring myself to read it.

[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]

[Joebot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you like astrology, genealogy, and religious doctrine? Then, boy howdy, do I have a book for you!

This was a mostly decent first book in a series. The droning on and on and on of astrology, genealogy, and religious doctrine (purposely typed it out again for effect) gave this book a bit of a bogged down feel. Hopefully this was used only in this volume to set things up going forward.

The world building and characters made up for it, for the most part. Interested to follow their adventures and see them grow as the series progresses.

There's one other thing I want to touch on: I am by no means a fan of men abusing women in literature. The early part of this book had a few scenes portraying this. Blood boiled on my end. I do, though, want to commend Kate Elliot for how she narrated the emotional impact of the abuse throughout the rest of the book.