In the Ruins: The Crown of Stars series: Book Six
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A gripping and enthralling fantasy epic (THE TIMES )
A grand and powerful piece of writing (Katharine Kerr )
A grand and powerful piece of writing (Katharine Kerr )
Book Description
The sixth volume in Kate Elliott's sweeping fantasy epic of war-torn kingdoms and a cataclysm foretold.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It has been a long time since I read Child of Flame 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. Needed for the story of Sanglant and Liath to come to an end, this is now epic.
It does now threaten to spill over into Jordan-esque longevity but without quite the intricate descriptions of mundane life.
So, having published a map of (clearly resembling Europe) Liath has unleashed a cataclysm on the world, 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 whilst Blessing cavorts around having been transported.
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.
It does now threaten to spill over into Jordan-esque longevity but without quite the intricate descriptions of mundane life.
So, having published a map of (clearly resembling Europe) Liath has unleashed a cataclysm on the world, 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 whilst Blessing cavorts around having been transported.
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.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This 6th Volume follows on directly from the 5th. The story storms straight into the plots and threads of the previous book with great pace and surprises. The whole book still provides unpredictable choices made by leading characters and unexpected events that shape the whole story in a way that sets up the final volume brilliantly....a real cliffhanger that all fans of this series will enjoy.
Without giving too much away, there are interesting developments after the return of the Ashioi in the aftermath of the great spell worked at the end of the last book; Sanglant as heir to his father's kingdom tries to fill his father's shoes, and in turn that provides a new slant on his relationship with Liath. We find out what happened to Alain and his story in particular is intriguing and not completely certain to the reader yet.
There are some fascinating movements by Queen Adelheid and Antonia emerges again and becomes Skopos, joining forces with Adelheid....and they acquire some VERY surprising prisoners!
Not so surprising is the fact that Hugh has survived, but he again proves to be unpredictable. Plus there are chapters showing the state of play of characters such as Ivar and Baldwin, Stronghand, Sapientia, Theophanu and Blessing, et al.
The book is as fast paced and full of plots and sub plots as the other 5 books in the series. Fans will thoroughly enjoy this book. To other readers, I highly recommend reading the other 5 books first to get acquainted with the book's mythology and characters. FIVE STARS!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I gave up halfway through this book. I bought the seventh as well but just cannot be bothered finishing the series. I was not enjoying it anymore, lost interest in some of the characters, thought the plot was weak.
The religious angle did not attract me either. After 6 books, I just did not want to read anymore about the piety and observance of some of the characters. It's not my bag. Exploring faith is fine, exploring hypocrisy and doubt is fine, but I reached my tipping point with some of the characters.
I might try to pick it up one day and soldier on to the end, but that's not really how a book should make you feel. She is a good writer, but I found myself very uninspired and lacking motivation to finish this series, even after I'd invested so much time into reading them.
The religious angle did not attract me either. After 6 books, I just did not want to read anymore about the piety and observance of some of the characters. It's not my bag. Exploring faith is fine, exploring hypocrisy and doubt is fine, but I reached my tipping point with some of the characters.
I might try to pick it up one day and soldier on to the end, but that's not really how a book should make you feel. She is a good writer, but I found myself very uninspired and lacking motivation to finish this series, even after I'd invested so much time into reading them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fascinating
Fascinating read about how the races of Novaria recover and set about reorganising there land and how to mix with other races that have been bought back from the original spell... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Fantasyreader
My review for the whole series
I think that there was a good story underlying this series, but I can't say that I enjoyed reading it. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2008 by dangermash
Half a story and just waiting for it to finish
From the first three books I believed this to have good potential, even though the end of the third book drulled on. Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2008 by Simon Wells
Reasonble continuation of the story, but still only half a novel.
In the Ruins picks up the storyline from the end of Book 5, The Gathering Storm. The long-foretold cataclysm has come to pass and the continent of Novaria has been devastated by... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2007 by A. Whitehead
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