Customer Reviews

In the Ruins (Crown of Stars, Vol. 6)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the Ruins (2005) is the sixth Fantasy novel of the Crown of Stars series, following The Gathering Storm. In the previous volume, the Seven Sleepers raised the enchantment to thrust away the land of the Aoi, but three crowns were disrupted; yet Anne compensated for the setback. Then Liath guided the molten streams of lava up through the central crown, killing Anne and her retinue and the enchantment failed.

Prince Sanglant and Zuangua killed the diamone within Henry and the freed Regnant named Sanglant as his heir. Both armies then acclaimed him as their ruler.

Dragonback Ridge shattered and released the dragon. Alain and the dragon faced each other momentarily, but then the dragon flew away. A wave washed over Alain and then carried him back toward the sea; but the cart caught on the rocks and his chains held him back. His foster father Henri and the dogs found Alain lying amidst the ruins, released him from the chains, and took him home.

In this novel, the land of the Ashioi rejoins the Earth at the same time as the current Feather Cloak, Secha, gives birth to twins. The restoral also has unforeseen consequences among those left on Earth. The violence of the unfolding spell raises volcanoes, generates tsunamis in the Middle Sea, causes rivers to run backward, and buries villages under mudslides. Great windstorms tear down trees and scatter the ever present ashes. Huge waves wash over the shore and sweep far inland. Then the widespread ashes and dust obscure the sun.

King Sanglant has inherited the remains of two armies; both are at half strength after the fighting and the effects of the Cataclysm. After the virtual destruction of Estriana by tidal waves, Sanglant refuses to look further for Queen Adelheid. Nor does he send a party to look for Liath. Taking his survivors, Sanglant marches north toward Wendar.

The hot windstorm blows down the tents of King Geza and Lady Eudokia. The Eagle Hanna wanders among the survivors, witnessing Geza's divorce of Princess Sapientia and his hurried departure to Ungria, but she is captured by Eudokia's soldiers and taken away in chains as they depart. Sister Rosvita waits for her return, but is forced to leave without her before the coming of twilight. Finding Sapientia as they exit the camp, Sister Rosvita takes her with them.

Liath struggles across the devastation that she has created, coming to a ruined watchtower. There she finds Eldest Uncle with a skin of water. He takes her to the river to wash away the grime and ashes. Then she falls sleep, waking once with the arrival of two masked warriors, but falls asleep again for many days.

Waking once more, she dresses herself in an ancient tunic and her mantle, then climbs the watchtower. From there she sees an army of refugees coming. When they arrive, Eldest Uncle and a younger version of himself embrace in joy; they are twins who have been separated in time. Unfortunately, Kansi is with the refugees and turns them against Liath. She flees, but Kansi sends sorcery after her. As she falls, a golden griffin catches her and flies away.

This novel recounts the destruction from the Cataclysm and the subsequent violence among the various human factions and between the Ashioi and the humans. The Ashioi who walked the shadows still remember the war with the humans and horse people; they outnumber the Lost Ones who traveled with their land through the aether and are eager to resume the conflict. The self-deluded humans, however, mostly consider the Ashioi as a sideshow to their own righteous killings. And the country folk and townspeople die mostly unregarded by the nobility.

Highly recommended for Elliott fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, noble thinking and magical weapons.

-Arthur W. Jordin

It has been a long time since I read The Gathering Storm by Kate Elliott and the author gives us her apology at the beginning. The last novel is so long it has been split into books six and seven. Luckily this should mean the last is out soon, not giving much chance for the story of Sanglant and Liath the chance to fade from memory before we end this epic.
And an epic it has become, threatening to spill over into Jordan-esque longevity but without quite the intricate descriptions of mundane life.
So, Liath has unleashed a cataclysm on the world, killed Anne, freed the Aishoi back to eradicate humanity and ended up carried naked by griffins back to Sanglant who leads a bedraggled army back to Wendar.
Much of the next five hundred pages is taken up with the aftermath of the cataclysm as our groups straggle and struggle back to whence they came and try to restore order against the swathe of destruction. As such, Sanglant confirms his becoming regnant of Wendar and Darre though he and Liath are fighting hard against Mother Scholastica's vicious attempts to nullify their marriage. Blessing finds herself throwing more and more tantrums as she escapes a crown with Berthold and others, eventually being captured by the beautifully evil Hugh of Austra and being used as a pawn in the nefarious alliance with the Aishoi. Throughout a host of other supporting characters wheel and deal to establish a foothold in the new world order whilst the Aishoi prepare to invade, the most prominent of these being the alliance between Aheleid and the new power out of destroyed Arethousa, General Alexandros.
Much of this sixth novel, as Elliott warns us in her note, deals with post cataclysmic upheaval. The real action can be condensed into a hundred key pages as we follow Hugh in those final hundred as he makes his move once Elliott has moved her pieces into position for the final book.
The beauty of it is the fact that the one character who has become an ever deepening mystery is Alain. The opening character of the series, he ghosts in and out in a manner that is infuriating to the reader but used as a brilliant hook by Elliott to keep us moving forward ever faster to get our next glimpse. You can't help hope that the real climax of the books is going to arrive in Alain and that it won't disappoint. His destiny seems inexorable and he calmly accepts it whilst Liath dithers in powerful confusion, frustrating in her prevarication.
Elliott's barely disguised early-medieval world that draws heavily on that social, geographical and religious structure is delightful drawn, excellently characterized and possessing of a heavily built plot in a Jordan-esque fashion. Effortlessly building suspense and engendering real empathy in her characters with Hugh, Alain and Liath the stand-out people, the author has created a fantasy world that resides in the top echelons of the genre.

Three millennia ago, the Horse People (centaurs) and seven sorcerers from seven different human tribes wove a spell that sent the Ashioi (elves) into the aether. Now that Liath, a half-human, half daimon of fire has stopped Anne and her agents from renewing the spell, the Ashai and their land has come back to Earth causing a cataclysm of epic proportions. Millions died in the resulting earthquakes, flooding of the seas and volcanic eruptions. The sun doesn't shine very much or as brilliantly, making it almost a certainty that famine is coming. The only reason Liath stopped the spell from being rewoven is that if it was; the very earth could have been destroyed.

She makes her way back to her husband Sanglant who is now the king regnant of Wendor. They travel through lawless, lifeless and unstable lands making Sanglant realize that he wants to make Wendor a haven of peace and stability in a world gone mad. The old alliances are gone as rulers vie for even more power and land; there are those who would like nothing better to see Sanglant and Liath gone from the political scene.

This book does not end the Crown of Stars saga but readers will find themselves glad of it because there is still much of the story to be told. Series fans will want to know what the Ashai will do and how Sanglant and Liath will deal with their enemies including the church who regards them as a heretic because of her use of sorcery amongst other dangling threads. Kate Elliot, an excellent fantasist, writes lush and lyrical scenes and uses her characters to scale down cosmic events to a human scale.

Harriet Klausner

I find Kate Elliots' Crown of Stars fascinating, I was anything BUT disappointed in this volume... There are few things I think could have been better but I didn't write it.. and there is one more to come that will hopefully mend up anything not already.. ^^ If you like fantasy however I do highly recommend this series.

I admit that this series is quite a work of fantasy. I was sucked in immediately by the story told in the first three volumes. At volume 4 though, it started dragging. This, the 6th book, was a terrible disappoinment to me. After reading it, I wish I could of had a friend recant the story for me over a cup (just one cup) of coffee. Rarely do I feel this way about any books I read, but I feel that I wasted my time and money reading it.

Nonetheless, I will read book 7. I remain hopeful that this obviously talented author will find a way to skillfully resolve all of the conflicts she's created and not gloss over anything or leave the reader hanging.

Although not quite as good as the previous five, it still rates a 4-star. It's frustrating, at times, as it does tend to drag on and on with little continuance. Then it jumps to another set of characters to bring you up to date. There are so many scenerios, it's hard to keep track of them all, all the time. Kate Elliott is a fantastic author, and I will be patiently waiting a new series after book 7 comes out.

This was a tough read. Describing the aftermath of a cataclysm is a tall order and Elliot does a thorough job of it here. Thorough is great, but it doesn't necessarily make for "entertaining" or "highly enjoyable" reading. Kindof like Matrix Revolutions was a grind to get through.

Elliot does a real good job of giving her world depth. The world machinery is never explained, only described. Of course characters offer piecemeal explanations but their knowledge is imperfect.

Theoretically I love this. That's how I like to approach my RPG'ing as a DM. But you know what? It just doesn't read that well. It's kind of a slog to get through. There's no strong central arc, it's basically a chronicle of events. The different threads don't have much motive power to get you to turn pages. (Well, depends on the reader.)

This book made me dislike Sanglant and Liath. There's so much going on, they don't get many scenes--and when they do they're always fighting and talking about how inconvenient their relationship is. Gee, there's a real simple solution to that--leave. Just quit complaining.

I got kindof irritated at all the "beautiful" men in the book. I mean, okay, men can be "beautiful". But surely their beauty can be communicated in more diverse ways that just saying "incomparable beauty" or "angelic beauty" or having characters (male or female, hetero- or homo-) get all hot and bothered at the incomparable beauty of these beautiful men.

Anyway, still 3 stars for effort. Keeping the complex world and plot under control (which they are) is a real achievement. Not much in the way of action here. The next one does pick it up. This is probably the nadir of the series (like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), but it's still okay.

Liath and Alains' world is breaking apart as King Henry's kingdom is savaged by earthly and supernatural forces. The Eika warriors thirst for the King's land and power, their enmity sealed by generations of blood. Bitter in-fighting within King Henry's court and the ceaseless attrition of raiders also weaken his reign. Those who remain true must stay strong as the shadow of the Cursed Ones falls, and the spell holding the exiled ones from the planet fails. Liath must force her wild sorcery to maturity and Alain, her husband and King Henry's heir, must struggle to hold the realm together. Their twin destinies may yet avert the destruction written in the stars.

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.

I really got into the first 4 books, and could hardly put them down. It seemed like the author was just trying to get the most out of her series though after the 4th book and it really should have ended at book 5. The last few books in the series were so hard to read and keep up with I found myself drifting more often than not, but I am one of those people that cannot stand to leave a book unfinished. I was actually relived when the series ended and I finally could get started on another book. I am a speed reader, and the last three books took me a month and a half to read alone...it has NEVER taken me that long to get through 3 books!

Elliott still does not show her hand completely in what was to have been the last volume of this series. But some of the knots are becoming unraveled.
Well written if you have the background of the previous five volumes.