King of the Crags [Hardcover]

Stephen Deas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2010

Prince Jehal has murdered, poisioned and betrayed his way to the top. There is a new speaker for the realms, his opposition has been crushed, now he just has to enjoy the fruits of power. And yet ...He feels more for the wife he married for power than perhaps he should and his lover knows it. And out in the realms those loyal to the old regime are still plotting. and there are rumours that the Red Riders, heralds of revolution and doom are on the ride. And still no-one has found the famous white dragon. The dragon that, if it lived, will have long since recovered from the effects of the alchemical liquid fed to the the dragons of the realms to keep them docile, to block their memories of a time when they ruled and the world burned ...Stephen Deas has created an epic world, vivid characters, a plot full of betrayals and the most awesome dragons fantasy has seen.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This bleak sequel to 2010's The Adamantine Palace holds up a dark mirror to companion animal fantasies. The aristocrats treat their dragons as prized pets, little knowing that the creatures are intelligent, capable of speech, and only controlled with harsh drugs and brutal training. As the escaped white dragon Snow plots to free her imprisoned fellows, the usurping Queen Zafir and her equally amoral lover, Prince Jehal, take power and immediately turn on each other. An array of conspirators rises up against them, led by exiled Princess Jaslyn and the veteran dragonmaster Hyrkallen. In this cold world, alliances are formed for revenge, comfort, ambition, and religious revelation, but never true affection. Fans of grim epic fantasy will find these intrigues engrossing. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

"With excellent and realistic characters, the plot races along with more action and intrigue then you can shake a stick at" British Fantasy Society --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (April 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575083778
• ISBN-13: 978-0575083776
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,010,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars King of the Middle., July 3, 2010

By 

D. Chuter "ZaneStriker" (Newcastle, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The King of the Crags (Kindle Edition)

King of Crags picks up right where The Adamantine Palace left off. The realms are in chaos, Zafir is speaker and the white dragon is still on the lose.

I quite enjoyed The Adamantine Palace. It was a great mix of action, dragon flights and political intrigue. The King of Crags maybe focuses a little too much on the dragon flights and the intrigue.

Stephen Deas is a great writer. His prose is clear and just fun to read, and he paints some amazing images of mountains and soaring dragons. But they're not terribly exciting.

Much of the book seems to be people arguing about going to war, rather than actually going to war. And while this (for the most part) is done quite well, it felt very drawn out.

About a third of way in, I got excited. The King of Crags had arrived. Then nothing. He's an old man who falls asleep through a meeting. The book would have been better named, The King of Furymouth, as the main character is obviously Jehal.

Jehal. Are we meant to feel sorry for him? I did a little. But he brings so much of his trouble on himself. I'd rather have read more about Kemir and Snow, but much of those chapters are very similar (almost too similar) to the Kemir and Snow chapters of book 1.

Reading back over this review, it sounds like I didn't like King of the Crags. So why give it 4 stars? Well I did like it. It was a fun, fast read and I enjoyed it.

The problem? King of Crags is very much a "middle-of-the-trilogy" kind of book. There's a lot going on but nothing really happens.

Stephen Deas is a great fantasy writer and one that I will definitely continue to follow. Here's looking forward to book 3.

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of "The King of Crags" or Book II of Memory of Flames, October 6, 2011

By 

K. Caid "4ever lost in books" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The King of the Crags: The Memory of Flames, Book II (Hardcover)

Book II of Memory of Flames is much better than Book I in my opinion, though I enjoyed Book I very much. However, I had to adjust my understanding of past books I read and realize that the author is very different from others and the manner and style should not be a detriment but in fact a refreshing way to read stories.

Because there was a lengthy pause between purchasing Books I and II, I re-read Book I to familiarize myself with the characters and plot and discovered something I hadn't realized the first time around. Now, for those of you that may be having difficulty with these books due to PLOT(s), let me give you a major Aha! moment, think Lord of The Rings. Not because the story(s) is similar, but because of the different plot lines that traveled simultaneously parallel to each other and yet where very much a part of the story.

If you recall in LOTR, there where many characters that once they meet they all go their separate ways to achieve the same goal. And in the movie we watch how each goes about doing their tasks. In both books - Memory of Flames - the same occurs. We are introduced to characters from different "families" and go along in their ventures as they attempt to survive incidences that are either predestined or manipulated by others, to achieve a final "cause". We the reader are witnesses to each of their occurrences, and we have to appreciate what happens wether we like it or not. Now that that's put in perspective somewhat, I hope it helps you move through the books.

"King of Crags" is truly a remarkable tale full of intrigue and mystery. Don't get too wrapped up on the title, it's my belief that it's a set up for Book III though I could be wrong.

One last note, I really like how this author takes important characters and uses them to their maximum potential and leaves the reader agasht in how they are manipulated. It's brilliant that we as a reader can become so invested in a character and not realized their value in a plot or story line when something happens to them until much later. I love how this author used the reader to impose emotion in character importance where there was none, and yet our emotions continue to drive the story forward because we insist that vengeance must be served.

Book III is already out in Europe, but I'm holding out until 2012 because I want the cover that matches the other two books.

Personally I love the series Memory of The Flames!

2.0 out of 5 stars The King of the Crags, July 4, 2011

By 

Sue Beebe "Beebe, a book lover" (La Pine, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The King of the Crags: The Memory of Flames, Book II (Kindle Edition)

This was really a depressing book and also rather confusing. The characters seemed to change sides so often that sometimes it was hard to keep track of them all. Also, the white dragon seemed to be left behind and was hardly mentioned at the end. I read the Adamantine Palace and was enough interested to want to find out what happened with the characters. However, this book was so bleak that if there is a sequel, I don't think I'll bother reading it.