Queen of Fire
Ratings49
Average rating3.6
In this “deftly and originally executed” (Booklist) New York Times bestselling novel, Vaelin Al Sorna must help his Queen reclaim her Realm. Only his enemy has a dangerous new collaborator, one with powers darker than Vaelin has ever encountered… “The Ally is there, but only ever as a shadow, unexplained catastrophe or murder committed at the behest of a dark vengeful spirit. Sorting truth from myth is often a fruitless task.” After fighting back from the brink of death, Queen Lyrna is determined to repel the invading Volarian army and regain the independence of the Unified Realm. Except, to accomplish her goals, she must do more than rally her loyal supporters. She must align herself with forces she once found repugnant—those who possess the strange and varied gifts of the Dark—and take the war to her enemy’s doorstep. Victory rests on the shoulders of Vaelin Al Sorna, now named Battle Lord of the Realm. However, his path is riddled with difficulties. For the Volarian enemy has a new weapon on their side, one that Vaelin must destroy if the Realm is to prevail—a mysterious Ally with the ability to grant unnaturally long life to her servants. And defeating one who cannot be killed is a nearly impossible feat, especially when Vaelin’s blood-song, the mystical power which has made him the epic fighter he is, has gone ominously silent… ***Don't miss the continuation of this epic saga: The Wolf's Call, A Raven's Blade Novel available July 23, 2019***
Series
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3 primary books6 released booksRaven's Shadow
Raven's Shadow is a 6-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Anthony Ryan.
Reviews
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I have to agree with most of the 3 star reviews in here. Probably would have given this 3.5 stars. First book was amazing, 2nd was great, 3rd was meh! Such a let down. I am not going to go into to detail but read the other reviews and they are right on. Anthony Ryan created a great, epic, sprawling story. The first 2 books were great character stories that you could not wait to read more and find out what happened. The last book though brought back so many characters that it was tough to follow as some points. Everything that made the first books great was gone. This was just a war story,march here and fight, march here and fight. Other than 1-2 characters I could have cared less what happened to anyone by the end. Anthony Ryan is a great writer and I will read his next book but needs to work on story arc and how to finish a story.
There isn't a lot for me to say about this one. The book was...long. I felt like there were pacing issues throughout the book. We spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on little details and plot threads in the beginning, and then breezed past major developments and events later on. Characterization seemed like a mess, with Vaelin becoming this immortal Gary Stu character and trekking through the arctic for a good 2/3rds of the book. Queen Lyrna's developments were also somewhat abrupt, and the whiplash between her motives and character decisions was real. The ending was also abrupt and unsatisfying, with several plot threads just left hanging. I don't know if the author was planning on there being another book in the series, or if he's planning on picking up these threads with another series entirely, but as it is most of the non-main plots aren't acknowledged.
In short, this series ended a fair distance away from its 5-star beginning. I was very disappointed.
Queen of fire prolongs and destroys what should have been a grand finale for a series I have enjoyed immensely till this point. It feels like Anthony did not have any plans beyond the first book and the ones he made up got weaker and weaker. Plus the fact that there was too much to remember from the previous two installments meant that this was going to be ready tough no matter what he did. Still a good series overall and a interesting if not banal end.
