Alain remains a bro. That ending with the lady of battles doesn't bode well for him though. Tallia though - what a dick. I feel bad for her, especially after she "marries" Conrad, but there's nothing likeable about her. I hope Alain gets lucky with the Kerayit princess. Dude needs a win. Hanna also remains a bro. I really enjoyed Zacharias and Kansi-a-lari. I want to see more of the Aoi, and I think Zacharias was a good point of view to give me that. The whole Quman plot felt like it came out of...

So a lot happens in this book and at a pretty good rate. With so many reveals going on, you have to work hard to put it down each night.I can hardly wait to continue with the next book.

Things got WAY more complicated in this book. Up is down and left is right and who knows who you can actually trust, but I do know I trust Kate Elliott to wrap the story up nicely so I'm here for this wild complex beast of a series.

Now comes the usual challenge to meaningfully review the third book (then fourth, fifth, and sixth) in a heptalogy. Is one likely to read this far if one were not committed to reading the entire series? I suppose a person could have mixed feelings about the first two and decide to give it just one more book. Fortunately for that open and adventurous person, this volume is different from the two prior in two key ways. First, it is significantly longer. As in, this is a looooonnng book. They're al...

This book was a beast, over 900 pages, and while it was slow going in the middle I thought it held together pretty well and kept me interested the whole time. I like how each book introduces new characters to follow and I particularly liked Kansi-a-lari and her story. I was also happy with where most of the other main characters went though Alain's storyline was pretty sad. I was quite intrigued by his ending though and I am excited to read more. I was also glad that Liath's storyline didn't inc...

This started out as a 5-star, couldn't put it down, book. It gave me just what I had been looking for in book 2. Then... well, sprawl set in. Plot threads multiplied, and complications began breeding. This is good. This is complex. But as the sprawl unfolded before me, I found myself wishing for a tighter focus on the characters that I care about.All of the characters, even minor ones, are so well-drawn and nuanced, and they change realistically with events. I dislike so many of them, and the on...

Reviewing subsequent volumes in a series always feels a little pointless to me. Those who haven't read the previou parts are unlikely to be terribly interested in this review, and those who have probably know whether they want to read it or not based on books 1 & 2. But I'd much rather have something to look back on, so here I go.This is the volume that finally clarifies many, many things, setting the stage for the main events to come. It was my favourite yet, frankly, due to that clarity--in th...

Again, this is very much a middle book of a long series, and you should under no circumstances read this without having started at the beginning with King's Dragon so I'm not going to say much except that this was an 800 page book that I read and enjoyed, and immediately moved on to its 900 page continuation.

Technically it was the best out of the three books I've read so far - and the easiest to read (book 1 was SUCH A CHORE, ugh) - but there was something off about it. I guess I would've preferred it to be just slightly more concise? Or it might be the fact that it's already the third book in the series and I'm still struggling to find one character that I really love.

3.75 rounding up, thanks to Part 2The Burning Stone is the third book in the Crown of Stars fantasy series and this is the tale of two parts. While I was glad to be back in this medieval themed world, it got off to a rather questionable start with me. The book is divided into two rather equal parts and Part One was not going down especially well as far as I was concerned. There was too much of a focus on the romance between Liath and Sanglant, a pairing that has always felt flat to me to begin w...

Kate Elliott is definitely growing on me. She's pretty different than most of the authors I've read...most fantasy I read is by male authors with a bit of McCaffrey, McKinley and Lackey thrown in with Kurtz to spice it up a bit. But Elliott isn't like any of them. The closest is Kurtz, but that's only because of the religious nature of the world. Kurtz is way more predictable and less cohesive. It's not that the books are incredibly gripping like Sanderson, but they do have the same kind of comp...

I'm obviously biased at this point since I'm now three books into the series, but I love how intricate and complex everything is getting. The characters continue to be a shining aspect of the series, their choices are frustrating and exciting and some of them make me want to throw my book through the wall. Can't wait to see where this series goes.

Wow. This was...not good. It undid all the work and character building in the first two books and used infodumps about the worldbuilding in lieu of story.A full ten hours of this 32 hour audiobook is either from the POV of women trying not to get raped or men trying very hard not to be rapists. There are LITERAL 101 astronomy lessons that we have to listen to in their full tedium. Actual entire prayers. There are maybe 100 pages of plot in here. We should have taken them and added them to book t...

The series has kind of everything I like and don't like in the genre together, but I'd say the things I don't like that are typically seen in the genre are more understated and less in your face here. Whereas the things I like are taking center stage more and more.For example, the reveals that give royal blood to everyone are obnoxious and tedious, but they've yet to be extremely significant. And one of these cases has already been overturned and un-royaled the recently made royal. Which is just...

I am continuing to enjoy this series, which deserves more attention than it’s gotten. Come on, it has everything you’d want from epic fantasy: intricate plotting on an epic scale, several major threats coming from different directions, battles that can and do go either way, complex political situations, charming and devious villains, a bit of romance, some magic that we’re only slowly learning anything about, an expansive world that feels real and lived-in, and of course interesting and sympathe...

My relationship with the Crown of Stars series has been mixed to positive. While the first novel was fine story-wise, it was sorely in need of an editor. Prince of Dogs was a great fantasy romp that moved quick and built toward a satisfying conclusion. It seemed Kate Elliott had hit her stride and was going to continue this with The Burning Stone, a novel I started with high expectations and a lot of excitement. The first fifty or so pages I ate up, enjoying the preponderance of magical elements...

Sad to say, the author became obsessed with the genealogy/lineage of the characters and way too engrossed with the religion she developed based on the celestial positions of planets and stars. Information overload. Several hundred pages we could have done without.However, if you like cruelty, this series abounds in that. There are no shortages of characters you will come to loathe. I'm stopping at this book three of seven.

4,5 stars.I can't possibly write a review. Check Mayim's, she'll explain it all to you.

“Blindness comes in many guises and a furious heart overflows down unexpected channels.”“The Burning Stone” takes us back to the magical land of war and intrigue. Kate Elliott is a real sorceress of words, conjuring an original world for her readers: A mix of adventure and mystery, magic and politics, drama and humour that can not be resisted.While I am happy to return to this surprising and intriguing world, I have to admit that, ultimately, this instalment bares naked the biggest drawback of t...

This is an excellent book. I love how she adds characters as the books go on. The first starts with Alain and Liath, and Then goes on and on. The first two books can be slow, since they have to explain so much, and as the series goes on, it gets easier to understand and follow. This is one of the best ones, but you would never imagine what happens in the last books while reading this one, which makes it so dang interesting!! Kate Elliot is so talented!