Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul) [Mass Market Paperback]

Some books just rob me of words to adequately describe what it did with me, CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME is such a book. C.L. Wilson gave me a conclusion where joy and sadness, love and hate, courage and angst, laughter and tears fuse in to an action filled story that gave me an unparalleled reading experience within the romance fantasy genre. CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME is by no means a novel you can read as a stand-alone since it is an end game story where the truemate bond between Elly and Rain needs to find completion or else..., and the battle against High Mage Vadim Maur enters the last stage to claim the final victor.

From the first word C.L. Wilson plunged me in to high risk chases and tension filled battles where fey powers and Celierian tenacity clashed with the dark strength of the mages. There is a very fine line between death and survival, defeat and victory, and I can guarantee you there will be moments of angst, tearful goodbye's and moments filled with utter relief as various characters make it through one ordeal or another. C.L. Wilson holds nothing back, the plot thickens to almost insurmountable heights with a rapid succession of unfolding events. It nailed me to the couch, every major and secondary story thread blended seamlessly together. I was completely absorbed in the story being told as to whether or not my most beloved characters would find peace, joy and love again.

The plotlines that were set-up in the former four books of this series and hadn't found a conclusion do so in CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME. The signature beautiful and lyrical writing style of C.L. Wilson encompassed me; it set me on the grim battlefields, it made me soar like a Tairen, weave magic along the fey warriors and allowed me to feel the range of emotions coursing through the characters. This author knows how to bare the souls of the characters, let me witness all the good, the bad and everything in between that they have to give. Each character; Rain, Elly, Belliard, Gaelen, Shan, Elfeya, Vadim Maur, Melliandra, Lillis, Lorelle, the Dahl'reisen and the Tairen, to those new to the series they are just names. Nevertheless, to those familiar with the series know that each brims with a distinctive voice that allows them to come to life via the pages and in the mind's eye. I loved them all; each of them gave the love, the friendship, the battles and even the darkness of hate or evil meaning and purpose. While the story, as each of the four preceding books, revolves around the completion of the truemate bond between Rain and Elly, it is each supportive character, each secondary storyline, that deepens this series to a rich and multi-layered reading adventure.

I cannot tell you much about the story plot itself since each reader who has longed for CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME should go in to it unspoiled and experience it all firsthand themselves. The tender courtship romance between Elly and Rain I got to read about in Lord Of the Fading Lands is no longer. Now it is a love, running so deep in the soul of the couple it demands the full and complete truemate bond. There are risks to be taken, the love needs to be expressed, the fear felt and the dangers are everywhere, Rain and Elly's go rock bottom to aim for the completion of their bond and they took me along with it for every moment! Their romance is truly one of epic proportions that touched my heart to the very core but my heart also plummeted in fear for them and cried for them. This story is the culmination of everything that came to pass and it delivered a breathtaking read from an author who can wholly claim a reader with her characters, imagination, storytelling and high-risk plotting.

From the moment I read Lord Of The Fading Lands I knew C.L. Wilson was an author with a fantastic gift for writing. With CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME C.L. Wilson has cemented herself among the greatest authors on my shelves with exquisite storytelling, fantastic world building, heart-in-throat tension, larger-than-life characters and a romance that will keep you on edge till the very last chapters. I will love reading this series for the rest of my life!

An excelent final book to an excelent series. The story line was such that having picked the book up to read it, I was unable to put it down and read it write through. Rare for a book to captivate so intensley that I just had to write a review. This series of books is the first time I have read anything by C L Wilson but I will be on the look out for any book by him in the future, though The Fading Lands will be a hard act to follow.

This series has been a joy to read. If you like an adult fairytale then this is for you. Hurry up and write some more please ....