Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Again, The Cataclysm, February 15, 2003
The Gathering Storm is the fifth novel in the Crown of Stars series, following Child of Flame. In the previous volume, Prince Bayan has been killed by Quman sorcery, but Prince Sanglant has defeated the Quman hosts, capturing Bulkezu, and now has taken his army to the east. King Henry has been possessed by a daimone and Sister Rosvita has been imprisoned in a dungeon, but Hathui escapes the plotters. Liathano walks the spheres, learning the truth of her mother and meeting Sanglant's grandfather and mother. Alain has met Adica and witnessed her death in the great weaving, but has been swallowed by the white fires of the crowns. Ivar dreams of Alain as he and his friends escape through the tunnels to elsewhere.
In this novel, two Eagles, and a young aspirant, meet in an old Dariyan waystation and exchange information. Hanna and Ernst have come from Osterburg and Hathui from Darre. When they leave, Ernst travels back to Princess Theophanu in Osterburg, Hanna goes to Henry's court in Darre, and Hathui travels to Sanglant in Ungria.
In Wendar, Theophanu holds Osterburg as regent while Henry is pursuing imperial ambitions in Aosta, but has few forces available to her and is beset with uprisings in Varre and civil war in Salia.
In Aosta, Henry and his new queen, Adelheid, have overcome the rebels in the north, but still struggle against riots, Arethousan invaders and Jinna bandits in the south. Hanna has been sequestered by Hugh, but is able to make contact with Rosvita's clerics. When a severe earthquake occurs, they use the distraction to rescue Rosvita and then flee to the Convent of St. Ekatarina, but with Hugh in pursuit.
In Ungria, Sanglant, together with Sapientia and Blessing, is moving east to the great grasslands hunting griffen feathers and sorcerers, with Bulkezu as his guide. While only three years old, Blessing is growing very rapidly in physical maturity, but not emotionally.
In the north, Stronghand is invading Alba and thinking Empire. Alain returns through the crowns from his sojourn in the past, grieving for Adica. Stronghand and Alain begin to perceive each other's thoughts once more.
Soon Anne and the other sleepers will begin the great weaving to forever sunder the Ashioi from the world. Can none stop them?
This volume was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. According to Elliott, the story just refused to stay small. Like the previous volume, this novel is almost 900 pages long. Hopefully, the next, and last, volume in the series will not take quite as long. Just remember, Tolkien worked on the Lord of Rings trilogy for decades; does anyone want to complain about that?
Recommended for all those Elliott fans who have waited patiently and for anyone who likes large-scale fantasy tales of war and intrigue.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The End Is Near, August 13, 2004
The land of the elf-like Aoi was cast out from the earth into the aether with powerful spells in the distant past. Now the time for its return is fast approaching, and a cabal of sorcerers is determined to do anything necessary to ensure that the spell is renewed to keep the Aoi away, including controlling King Henry via possession. Prince Sanglant has led his army to the far lands of the griffins and centaurs to find allies with the necessary magic to free his father and confront the cabal led by Skopos Anne. After a long absence (that seemed quite short to her), Sanglant's wife Liath returns from the aether with new knowledge about her magical heritage and a grim determination to stop Anne's disastrous plan. But time grows short, and the political chaos that has descended on Henry's kingdoms makes everything more difficult. Wendar and Varre are falling apart under bickering rivals as he is off pursuing conquests in other lands. This leaves a door open for the lizard-like Eika invasion led by Stronghand - who plans not to raid and plunder, but to rule. Stronghand has a secondary mission as well, one that just might hold the key to surviving the coming cataclysm: to find the much-persecuted Alain now that their strange psychic bond has returned.
THE GATHERING STORM is the fifth volume of the Elliott's wrist-bending Crown of Stars fantasy series. It is not a stand-alone read; new readers will definitely want to start at the beginning with the first book, KING'S DRAGON. Fans of the series might want to skim through previous books before diving into this one, because there's not much in the way of a recap provided. I'm not a novice at reading long fantasy series, but it had been a year or so since I read the fourth book, CHILD OF FLAME, and I was feeling a little lost among the multitude of story lines.
This is a fascinatingly complex world, complete with religions, magic systems, and several different races of beings. Elliott could easily write other books set in this world without exhausting its possibilities. In fact, there is so much detail and such a large cast that at times it gets a little overwhelming to keep track of, especially without a character guide. It's also hard to see the significance of some of the minor plot threads and while they might make more sense in the sixth and final book, I found myself getting a little bored with some of them. Elliott has generally done very well in developing complex main characters in this series - both heroes and villains have mixed character traits and motivations. But while a couple of the characters develop and grow in this book, several of the other main characters seem to regress into shallowness.
Long series tend to get a bit bloated as they progress, and at almost a thousand pages, this is no exception. However, for the most part the plot advances steadily along without bogging down. But after such a long, patient build-up, the climax feels rushed. Still, all in all, I would recommend this imaginative and complex series to fantasy readers who aren't daunted by hefty, multi-volume series.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
complex exciting fantasy, February 4, 2003
The ancient spell that exiled the Aoi from the planet is failing to hold. Thus the elven horde is expected to return soon, which means havoc and perhaps the final pandemic cataclysm. Also coming back to her home is Liath, after learning to use her powers while being away for a week in her time, but four years on her home world. While she was gone, her husband Prince Sanglant has raised an army and has tried to obtain the griffins as an ally in the upcoming war.As Sanglant and Liath want to rediscover one another, the future of humanity will not allow them to linger together. Separately they must abort the efforts of mathematici Anne and Hugh and their supporters from recasting the original spell that displaced the Aoi over a millennium ago as success means most likely planetary devastation at a level never seen before. The fifth epic tale in the "Crown of Stars" sextet, THE GATHERING STORM, is a complex exciting fantasy, but is also difficult to follow especially for newcomers. The action-packed story line includes numerous subplots and a cast in the DeMille numbers. Still, fans of the series will gain much pleasure from Kate Elliot's latest effort as the key players struggle in their own way with the almost certain end of the world. Harriet Klausner
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