Shannon C.‘s review of King’s Dragon: Crown of Stars Vol. 1 by Kate Elliott
Epic fantasy released by DAW Books Feb 1998
I love sweeping epic fantasy. The kind written in huge books that have a cast of thousands (sometimes literally), set in worlds that are as richly realized as their characters are well-developed. I don’t often read them, because these are the kind of stories that require quite a bit of concentration, not to mention a huge commitment of time (and money, unless you get your books from the library.) I’d been wanting to read a good epic fantasy because there was something missing in the fantasy romance I’ve been reading, and I wanted something a little bit darker to sink my teeth into. Thankfully, I found the first volume of Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series was exactly what I wanted.
A fair warning: This isn’t a romance. There is a definite romantic thread throughout the series, and it’s pretty obvious by the end of the first book who the major couple is going to be, but they don’t get a HEA in this book.
Our story starts out with two very different young people. First we meet Alain, son of a merchant, who is supposed to enter the priesthood. Being a teenage boy, this appeals to him not at all, but he is a bastard, and so there’s really no other choice. However, before Alain can become a monk, he receives a vision from the Lady of Battles, and soon finds his life taking him places he never would have gone before, from his home village to the middle of a rebellion against the king by his sister.
Our other protagonist of note is Liath. Like Alain, she is young–in fact, they’re about the same age. She and her da have been running most of Liath’s life, because her da has some ruthless enemies. Her da also practices magic, which is viewed with suspicion by most good folks of this realm. When her da is killed, Liath is sold into slavery, bought by a priest who wants not only the secrets she keeps, but her soul as well.
One of my favorite things about this book is the world-building. World building is one of the things that people who try and cross genres–say, writing fantasy romance or science fiction romance–don’t seem to spend nearly enough time on. It’s obvious that Kate Elliott has thought over how her world works. She explains to the readers exactly how a Roman Catholic church in which both a god and goddess are revered equally would operate–most of the church leaders and administrators of note are women, with men serving as traveling priests and abbotts of monasteries. I really believed this world, and while I wouldn’t want to live there, it came to life for me.
The characters we get are wonderful, too. While Alain struck me as a bit too much the stereotypical fantasyland farm boy with a great destiny at first, his is the more interesting of the two storylines. Alain is a good kid, deeply compassionate and wanting to do the right thing, but he has just enough humility that he didn’t grate on my last nerve. It is through Alain that we see some of the book’s more interesting secondary characters–Count Lavastin whom Alain serves, Biscop Antonia, who is a great villain made more disturbing because she looks like a sweet little old lady, and my favorite, the tormented Frater Agius, about whom I can’t write without spoiling a lot, but who absolutely steals the show when he’s onstage.
Liath’s story is equally compelling but a lot harder to read. Frater Hugh, the priest who buys her after the death of her father, is both physically and psychologically abusive. Liath really gets put through the wringer with Hugh, and I had to brace myself to get through some of those scenes. That being said, Hugh is by far the creepiest character in any book I have read in a very long time, and Elliott renders his obsession with Liath extremely well. But Liath does have a strong friendship with Hannah, a local innkeeper’s daughter, and I loved every scene those two girls were in together, because I got a sense that Hannah and Liath would gladly die for each other.
There are also some interesting secondary characters who, though they don’t get to have their own PoV sections, are still well-drawn. I’ve mentioned Frater Agius, the tormented priest, but there’s also King Henry, ruler of the lands in which the story is set, and his bastard son, Prince Sanglent. It’s clear that some of these people have huge roles to play as the series progresses, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Though this is a long book, I was kept engaged from beginning to end. Sometimes I did have to put the book down because Ms. Elliott’s writing style is intensely vivid, and I just had to stop. I haven’t held my breath through an action scene in a long time, nor have I yelled at the author out loud. (My exact words are “You’re not going to kill him. You can’t kill him. That’s too mean.) (For the record, she did not.)
I do have a couple of quibbles. Liath comes off as a bit of a martyr sometimes, and while I understood why, sometimes I really, really wanted to shake her and tell her she shouldn’t suffer in silence. I’m also not entirely sure that I like where the romance storyline is going, as at this particular moment it seems to be mostly youthful forbidden infatuation. My other quibble is that some of the characters who were less nobly born than others seemed a bit too well-spoken. Not that I wanted cheesy dialects, but some of these people were clearly not educated. Also, without skimming the end, I managed to guess correctly who was going to die.
That all said, I will be continuing to read this series and recommend this first book strongly to any lovers of fantasy.
Grade: A
Summary:
1997 Nebula Award Finalist
The Kingdom of Wendar is in turmoil.
King Henry still holds the crown, but his reign has long been contested by his sister Sabella. There are many eager to flock to her banner, whether from belief in her cause or the hope of personal gain. Internal conflict weakens Wendar’s defenses, drawing raiders, human and inhuman, across its borders. Terrifying portents abound and dark spirits walk the land in broad daylight.
Two innocents are to be thrust into the midst of the conflict – Alain, a young man granted a vision granted by the Lady of Battles, and Liath, a young woman with the power to change the course of history. Both must discover the truth about themselves before they can accept their fate.
For in a war where sorcery, not swords, may determine the final outcome, the price of failure may be more than their own lives.
Read an excerpt here.
