Customer Reviews

Prince Of Dogs - Volume Two Of Crown Of Stars - Book Club Edition

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really connected with the first book in this series and am eagerly awaiting the third (August can't come soon enough!). This is a fantastic series with serious scholarly kudos due! If you like fantasy and historical fiction than don't miss Crown of Stars. The detail on medieval life and the spin on religious schisms is fantastic - all on top of a great story with great characters. It was fantastic to see Sanglant, a character of whom more was heard than read about in the first book, come to the fore, and the degradation of his character relly struck a chord. Similarly for Liath - the trials she went through in the first novel come back to haunt her and Elliott convincingly relates her trauma and inability to act in the face of her past. She develops a longing for the fulfillment of the characters separate destinies in the third novel very well. I think that it helps to have some knowledge of the classic texts and languages she manipulates in this novel for fuller appreciation, for example if you knew Sapientia meant wisdom in the first book (she only says so in the second) you can appreciate her character a lot more readily. This goes for Lupus/Wolfheim as well. And the ironies of the attributions of classical texts in this novel is also enriched by knowing the originals e.g. the Heleniad by Virgilia (a story about a woman by a woman) rather than the Illiad by Homer and the Aeneid by Virgil (stories about men by men, with a woman at the heart of it all - Helen and Pallas Athene respectively). But even if you aren't interested in the development of heresies or other topics that are entwined through the heart of the fast-paced action and character travails that propel this series, if you like good quality fantasy you'll still enjoy Crown of Stars. I recommend Gore Vidal's JULIAN for anyone interested in the idea of the development of the Church as a succession of Synods, and Guy Gavriel kay's one off novels TIGANA, LIONS OF AL_RASSAN, and A SONG FOR ARBONNE for anyone interested in fantasy which is enrichened by a historical basis. For medieval historical fiction I can't recommend anyone more than Sharon Kay Penman's Plantagenet series.

Not bad at all, not the absolute best.

One of the features of this series is its thinly veiled grounding upon 10th/11th c. medieval German culture. A lot of authors borrow from history. Kate Elliott borrows *heavily.* (Elliott's sister is a professor in medieval German court culture at Duke University)Amazingly, it works. Here are some of the obvious parallels - 1) The church 2) Wendar/Varre = Germany/France 3) Eika = Vikings 4) Dariya = Rome 5) Alternate Islamic and Byzantine cultures (names escapes me at the moment.) 6)Mathematici = astrologers (well-researched medieval astrology at that)

7) Lots of minor parallels, down to the names of individual mountains - the Eiger, Moench, and Jungfrau of Switzerland make an appearance.

It isn't in the borrowings,but in the skill in arranging them that makes this book better than most. Aside from taking names, Elliott's writing style creates a medieval, and not a disney/medievalish world.

As a pure read and not a merely a history re-working, it's also pretty solid. Hugh is a truly evil villain ;)

Sanglant, the prince of dogs and King Henry's [...] son, is being held captive in the city of Gent by Bloodheart, the Eika warlord. Liath, now one of the King's Eagles and still grieving over the loss of Sanglant, is desperately trying to unlock the secrets of her own past. Alain, proclaimed a Count's heir, is increasingly troubled by visions of the enemy he befriended and the Lady of Battles whom he's sworn to serve. And Fifth Son, least favored son of Bloodheart, has returned to the lands of his own people to unite the scattered tribes and build an army to do his father's bidding. While King Henry continues his progress through a troubled realm, Sanglant, Liath, Alain, and Fifth Son fight their own individual battles. Only time will tell who will prove triumphant as all of them are caught up in the dangers and turmoil of a world at war . . . .

It has been quite a while since I read a series and thought "damn, it's over!" at the end. The author has built a vast number of interesting characters but, despite the number, one is able to know and relate to each. Each of the characters has their own remarkable flaws and imperfections, and you actaully have opportunities to sympathize with each throughout the series (even the remarkably "evil" ones you think you would never agree with). Unlike the Robert Jordan WoT series which seems to go on and on and on without resolution, Elliot has squeezed a sweeping epic into a (mere) 7 books, and I found myself disappointed when I finished the last of the third book. Fortunately, there are enough open issues, unanswered questions and unresolved conflicts in the end that Elliot could forseeably write another series to "fill in the blanks". I, for one, sincerely hope to see more from this author in the very near future.

epic fantasy is a very dangerous market, and Kate Elliott is navigating a very different road. Taking the similar paths to other authors (Martin, Jordan), she begins to layer on the multiple character viewpoints as her story gets more complicated. Unlike the first novel, this one begs you to go on with the series and hopes that the author has an arc which can be completed (unlike a certain other author).

This novel begins to knit characters closer together (Liath & Alain, Liath & Sanglant) while pulling others apart (Liath & Hanna, Hanna & Ivan). The king appears to be the capable leader in one moment, while showing weakness and uncertainty the next. The few problems I had are the events that seem to have no importance at this time (the Seven Sleepers) while being given enough weight that you know it will be important later. You just can't tell how.

I have two rules I try to follow in huge fantasy series.

1. When reading the first volume, don't put the book down in absolute bored disgust `til page 200.

2. Don't decide you're a fan of a series `til you've read the first two volumes.

I finished Prince of Dogs in 1.5 days. I can now say that I am a Kate Elliott fan because, as most of you know, Prince of Dogs is the second book in the Crown of Stars series, and I loved it.

Prince Sanglant is once again the influence for the book's title, though, some can argue that Alaine can also be a sort of "Prince of Dogs" as well. At any rate, Sanglant has been captured by the Eika king Bloodheart. Bloodheart keeps Sanglant chained with a pack of fearsome dogs to an altar close to his throne. Everyone thinks Sanglant is dead. No one save Sanglant seems to remember the magical aegis his mother set upon him. The Dogs torment and protect Sanglant, and, ultimately, change Sanglant forever.

Most of the kingdom morns Sanglant's loss, but none more despairingly than King Henry and Liath. Liath's sorrow makes her vulnerable, and, if it can be possible, more fearful than in King's Dragon. I do admit to getting a little frustrated with Liath, but, at the same time, I appreciated what the author did with her. Fear is a part of Liath's character, and, as much as we want our fantasy characters to grow, there are just some things people can't get passed. I've grown a lot in my life, but I'm still afraid of large crowds.

Hugh returns in this book. Both he and Liath spend most of their time in the King's progress. Liath's interactions with Hugh, while frustrating, have a ring of realism to them. I like how Kate Elliott obviously is all for women empowerment, but also isn't afraid to sometimes portray her female characters in a negative, and occasionally sexist, light.

And as for Hugh, Hugh is a wonderfully complicated and complex villain. In most fantasy books, the evil characters are irredeemably evil, crewel, and simple. Hugh is certainly irredeemably evil and crewel, but he definitely isn't simple. I think some authors forget that the devil has a honey tongue and a beautiful face; Kate Elliott makes no such mistake.

Alaine is tested by the Lady of Battles in this book. What exactly Alaine's purpose is and why he has strange visions remains a mystery, but we get more insight into why and how he can change the world around him. Alaine is an excellent character. He sees the harsh world around him and reacts to it in such an innocent way. I wouldn't call Alaine ignorant, though. He has an interesting strength and wisdom about him. Kate Elliott knows how to make faceted fascinating characters.

The number of characters and PoVs doesn't bother me. I'm a veteran of several huge and complicated series. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin has over 1,000 characters in four books, and The Wheel of Time has over 1,700 over eleven. And that's just to name the two most popular series out there. Crown of Stars probably has over 1,000 characters, but it also has an incredibly intricate story. I do think some of the threads are difficult to keep track of, but this is my first read through. I don't expect to pick up everything the first time around.

The religious aspect of Crown of Stars is unforgivingly relentless. I like how Kate Elliott's world mirrors our middle ages in nearly every way. Our own past was directed by religion and blind faith, Crown of Stars is no different. In our day, people don't like reading, learning, understanding, respecting religion, but it's a necessity if you ever want to understand literature and our past. Most readers put down this series because it, quite frankly, is about religion, but I think setting aside a good story because it goes against a modern paradigm is a serious mistake.

The prose can be repetitive and choppy, but it's worth ignoring for the story.

I give this book 4 out of five.

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.

--FanLit.net

King Henry's bastard son Sanglant is considered dead by most residents of the Kingdoms of Wendar and Varre. However, the PRINC OF DOGS is actually alive, held prisoner by the Eika, Bloodheart. Sanglant, who is immortal, finds his last vestiges of sanity slipping away during his unwelcome stay as the guest of the warlord. The reported death of his son has shook King Henry, who is completing his victory over several rebel lords before engaging in the ultimate battle with Bloodheart.

PRINCE OF DOGS, The second novel in "Crown Of Stars" series, is an action-packed, exciting other world fantasy novel that works because the characters seem so real. Like its predecessor, KING'S DRAGON, (which is coming out in paperback), the captivating story line holds reader attention throughout the novel. Fans of the fantasy genre need to read the two volumes of this well written series for a taste of a realistic fantasy adventure.

Harriet Klausner

In this book, I was even more excited to read it since the first one left still so much much unfinished explanations, understandable in a series, but they still weren't answered! I was so disapointed with Liath. She's spent now almost a year with a bow and arrow and a sword, and still hasn't learned how to use them properly. For all you people who loved Hugh he comes back, but the way they acted was just too similar to the first one. I started thinking who cares anymore? Just destroy him. Especially since Liath always got in the type of posistion that you were just waiting for big strong man to come save her, she can't save herself. It's even more intruiging as she tries to master her own powers and figure out what killed her father. Again Alain did slightly more important role, but still didn't cut it for me. Rosvita was a boring character who I just didn't downlike like at all. Sanglant was cool, but what was he expected to all locked up? So, nothing was done really with him until the conlusion. New characters are introduced in Mathias and Anna, who don't do anything important in this book, but have a definite foreshadowing effect of them doing something important later. They had way too many characters in this book, too confusing, and would go through all the other characters before coming back to the person who was doing something exciting. When Hugh comes back and Liath sees him, it takes them more than seventy pages to get back to that. It was very exciting and still worth the read, but all these characters are not needed to make a good book!

A seperate story from the first, which told of the fall of Gent. This tells of the recapture of Gent but yet continues the series in an excellent manner. Elliot uses great elements of literature to make the story seem real and derives another totally believable world into pieces of paper bound together to amuse readers of the world. The characters were totally believable except for how Liath acted when Hugh was around. Besides that I would have to say the best character is Wolfhere, he reminds you of a Sean Connery type in a way, next would be Sanglant. A charater completely changed by his year in captivity by Bloodheart. Yet his character seems a lot more developed now than during his time as the captain of the Kings Dragons. I read it once. Then I read it again after the third came out, which I am in the middle of. An excellent series for everybody who likes true fantasy.

A great read, each night as I was reading this story I would get in the "one more page mode".