The Gathering Storm

Can't remember what exactly inspired me to start a re-read of this series but I'm not sorry I did. It's a fantastic medieval European fantasy series (truly a great depiction of a medieval Europe -inspired setting) that feels so real; from the most desperate of war refugees to the daimones of the Upper Spheres to the working economy... Do yourself a favor and read this series if you haven't already.

Ooof, Book Five is a monster and I say that knowing perfectly well that every volume in this series could easily be a doorstop. Liath has returned from walking the spheres and the cataclysm to come is very near. Sanglant has gathered an army (and found some powerful sorcerous allies) but Anne and her cadre has been planning for this moment show more her entire life.

Alain returns to the present and returns to breaking my heart. He has no kin or resources and ends up being a scapegoat to local unrest. Wendar & Varre are suffering greatly while King Henry is bespelled in a foreign kingdom chasing empire. The wolves are circling Wendar & Varre but I can't help but want the Eika to appear as at least Stronghand will help Alain.

The struggle is real in this one and gives another window into what I love in Elliott's work. You can follow the plans and struggles of a character for books for them to POOF right out of existence as they come right up against the machinations of another character. It's a lot to take but in the best possible way. show less

While Alain, damaged and shunned, wanders the land, Liath returns to her husband's swelling army and hatches a plan to thwart the Seven Sleepers. Meanwhile, the Seven Sleepers position their own pieces as they ally with Stronghand's Eika in the north and mold Zacharias into a suitable sacrifice in the south.

The pawns deployed in the last four volumes finally come home to roost in The Gathering Storm as everyone hustles into position to facilitate two divergent apocalypses. The rising action and definite climax make the novel much shapelier than its predecessors, and even the unresolved sub-plots involving Alain and Hanna have psychological structure: Alain completes the process of grieving for his lost wife while Hanna recovers from show more her prior captivity. The novel ends on a clanging note as Sanglant defeats his possessed father, Liath rends her mother's plans, and the earth endures a cataclysmic collision. Given all that tumult, the novel's final scene--in which Alain watches a dragon rise from the sea--is surprisingly serene and graceful. show less

I remember starting this series and loving how vivid the characters and world-building was, and now I'm just not that into it. I've had a long pause prior to returning to the series and I think I should have just read the whole thing straight through instead of waiting. The world, based on medieval Europe, is detailed and more elaborate than other fantasy worlds, but it's also easy to get lost in the numerous characters and the complex politics of the series. And lost I was.

I've followed the Crown of Stars series from the beginning, and have enjoyed the world Elliott draws and most of the characters tremendously.

This fifth volume was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. According to Elliott, the story just refused to stay small. Like the previous volume, this novel is almost 900 pages long.
This book ends dramatically, spectacularly, and movingly, but leaves just enough loose ends for the final book to satisfy. What is Alain's destiny? How will the races sharing earth come to live in harmony? Did Antonia and Hugh survive the cataclysm (I'll bet they did) and what damage will they do? What has happened to Wolfhere, whose side is he on, anyway, and what secrets does he have to reveal? How will show more Sanglant restore peace and order to Wendar and its neighboring kingdoms? What of Blessing and her attendants? What roles do Ivar and Hanna have to play? And what about Rosvita? And more.
I can't wait to find out. show less

i thought this one would be the conclusion, but actually it's penultimate: Kate Elliott's Gathering Storm, v. 5 of the series Crown of Stars. or at least, so the book clearly states: "The Sixth and final volume will be titled Crown of Stars." however, Amazon says that v. 6 is In the Ruins, mass market pb due Feb 2006. and that #7 title unknown is due in hardcover Feb 2006. does this mean it's too popular now to let the author quit gracefully? i wonder.

i've been reading this series with interest. but i dunno i was really disappointed in this one for the first time. mind you, she had to follow Moore's Voice of the Fire, and that's gotta be a handicap. the action proceeded at breakneck pace towards a conclusion with a cast of thousands show more that seemed to be the appropriate series end - the Crown of Stars gets activated and does that matrix thing it's meant to do (after Marion Zimmer Bradley's Hastur stuff, of course). the world changes. there's even a dragon. it ends with the words "Home, Son. We're going home." doesn't that read like an ending? but, apparently not.

she's got so many characters now, most of them memorable, that they all seemed to get short shrift - one of them 'too much action, no interiority' problems, maybe? even Sanglant got little room. Liath reemerges at last. the skrolin and the lost ones and the bwr races now crowd onto the stage. Stronghand does some interesting stuff. there's a pair of griffins who are rather fun.

the three leading males have now all had a long period of being caged, chained, and reduced to animal impulses (and this seemed excessive to me, to use that pattern thrice). lots of big characters die - it was like the author was conducting a purge. one wonders what exactly there is left to do with the story. mostly, it seemed kinda perfunctory. unsurprisingly, i didn't really warm to it.

then after it was done i caught myself thinking: but i loved these characters in the earlier books. somehow, i couldn't quite love them here. so was it me that came to it wrong? was that the author or the reader getting bored? i don't think it was me, but maybe someone else who's read it can give me a better perspective to frame my own reaction. it just seemed to be one of those turns where you marvel at the feat of it, to keep control of a huge cast and a pretty big story over 1000 pages times five books so far, but nevertheless wonder at this point if the logistics of it are all the soul it's got left. it was like she was just herding them all along, going through the motions of her outline.

i'll still buy the next one: maybe she was just trying to get all this bulk out of the way so she could do something interesting next book. but really, i'm a bit disillusioned, and after i was so looking forward to it. show less

On the eve of the anticipated return of the Aioi land form to Earth the factions continue to either ignore the portents or pretend it isn't happening, or that it will be a great success. A few urge others to prepare (hopeless task). Sanglant has to rout the Qumans, Henry is bespelled, the baddies, Anne in particular, are in full pursuit of their aims.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

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 show more 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. This is the book I quit in the middle of.

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