Shield of the Sky

Stone God #1

by Susan Krinard

- Susan is a USA Today bestselling author and Romantic Times award winner.
- She has also been a past winner and finalist for both the Rita and Sapphire Awards.
- She writes for Bantam and Berkley and contributed to Out of This World (Jove, 8/01), which also featured J. D. Robb, Laurell K. Hamilton and Maggie Shayne.
- Kinsman's Oath is available from Berkley in May, and her upcoming short story "Murder Entailed" for Warner Books will appear in October in Murder by Magick.
- Susan has 11 fantasy, futuristic and paranormal romance novels published with Bantam and Jove.

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Magic, Romance, Fiction

512 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Trained as an artist with a BFA in Illustration from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Susan Krinard became a writer in 1992 when a friend read a short story she'd written and suggested she try writing a romance novel. A long-time fan of science fiction and fantasy, Susan began reading romance -- and realized what she wanted to do was combine the two genres. Prince of Wolves, her first romance novel and one of the earliest to feature a werewolf hero, was the result. Within a year Susan had sold the manuscript to Bantam as part of a three-book contract, and the novel went on to make several bestseller lists.

Since then, she's written and published over fourteen paranormal and fantasy novels, and written stories for a number of anthologies, both fantasy and romance. Both the anthology Out of This World (which included Susan's "Kinsman") and the novel Lord of the Beasts appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Susan makes her home in New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment", with her husband Serge, their dogs Freya, Nahla and Cagney, and their cat Jefferson. In addition to writing, Susan's interests include music of almost every kind, old movies, reading, nature, baking, and collecting unique handmade jewelry and decorative crafts.

Reviews

[Tulara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book - the author lives in New Mexico, so I sent her an email saying how eager I was to read the next in the series - she said the publisher chose not to publish the rest of the series - bummer - I was interested in it.

[Elsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the story hasn't ended, I was glad to hear that there was a sequel. In reading reviews, I find that the second book doesn't complete the story and that subsequent books are not planned. That disappoints me very much.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a tough review. I thought the writing was fantastic, and the lore was very well done and intricate. I loved the three main characters and their different personalities (though I'm really over the 'hardened warrior woman who hates men' trope).

But oh my GOSH, I could have done without all the violence and rape and child sacrifice. I get the context. But the book would have been so much better without it. Some scenes just made me queasy. I don't think I'll hit up the next in the series, especially considering how looong this was.

[Mercurybard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a magic-filled alternate history 40 years after the death of Alexander the Great, the tale features Amazons, Greeks, shape-shifting panther-men, and a handful of evil deities known collectively as 'the Stone God'.

Rhenna reminds me, after having read the book twice, of Aeryn Sun from Farscape. Cian stands out a little too much among the Hellanes for someone who's traveled their lands for several years prior to the start of the book. Tavho is extremely well-done: the dreamdust addiction isn't dragged out any longer than it should be (that could've easily turned into a car-crash), the balance of serenity and uncertainty, the way she is almost fragile in her existence but Cian and Rhenna still need to lean on her.

And Quintus is an annoying, arrogant little fucker, but I think that's how he's supposed to come off. Krinard has given him room to grow and develop into a man. And, of course, he's going to have to figure out what kind of man he's going to be.

[Christine Pope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had the option to give half stars, because then I would have given the book 3-1/2. The worldbuilding was impressive, and the writing clean (except for a few weird p.o.v. bobbles late in the novel). Could have just been me, but I had a hard time connecting to any of the three lead characters, and it wasn't until I was about two-thirds of the way through the book, to a place where we meet two new characters, that I started to feel more invested in what was going on.

Unfortunately, I learned as I was partway through the book that this series was dropped by the publisher and so was never finished. I'm not sure if that contributed to my lack of emotional connection to the book or not. However, the quality of the writing overall makes me want to try another book of Ms. Krinard's to see if it was just the characters in this one that put me off. We'll see.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very good mix of culture mythologies mixed in with shapeshifters. It has a lot of action but the mix of passion and contention between Rhenna and Cian was very well done. I felt Susan blender things very well and did not allow the story to get bogged down. She also leave enough mystery to make you want to read the next book.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end left me wanting more but the story often left me wanting more too.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A master of setting; Krinard writes with an atmosphere that truly transports her readers to 200 B.C.

[Kai Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

trust is a must! i need to find the next book...it's killing me!

[Karen Desmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

2

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 1 out of 5]

not grabbing me at all. I might come back to it, but I doubt it. got around 100 pages read before shelving it.

[Penny · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. It's too boring. It couldn't hold my interest.