Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars

[PeterWilliam]

Yeah, I remember thinking it ended terribly. Too much left unsaid at the end and too much written in the middle.

 

[annabelle]

Ok, I plan to read the last installment of this series but it's been a long while since I've read the previous books. Anyone knows where I can find a good plot summary ?

Thanks.

 

[Astra_]

It is going to be a very hard task to find anything on the Internet. Looks like she pretty much unknown and not very much liked writer (cannot say anymore that I disagree).
I didn't find any forum where I could discuss her.
If you are luckier than me, please let me know.

 

[Rob B]

Looks like she pretty much unknown and not very much liked writer (cannot say anymore that I disagree).
I didn't find any forum where I could discuss her.
If you are luckier than me, please let me know.

Kate Elliott unknown? Really? She's published on both sides of the Atlantic, has sold very well and continues to sell very well, was nominated for genre awards (King's Dragon for the Nebula Award), gets discussed in places like our forum (and others) fairly regularly and has managed to do well both in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Here's her Web site:
http://www.kateelliott.com/

Her official forums:
http://kateelliott.yuku.com/

 

[Astra_]

Kate Elliott unknown? Really? She's published on both sides of the Atlantic, has sold very well and continues to sell very well, was nominated for genre awards (King's Dragon for the Nebula Award), gets discussed in places like our forum (and others) fairly regularly and has managed to do well both in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Here's her Web site:
http://www.kateelliott.com/

Her official forums:
http://kateelliott.yuku.com/

Have you visited http://kateelliott.yuku.com/? Have you seen what a pile of rubbish it is? Impossible to see anything. I understand it. no one is posting there.
Just having your own website doesn't make you popular.

Can you answer or find someone who can answer on one simple question I posted in another Kate Elliott thread? quick question
And btw., can you explain to me if she is so popular why no one bothered to discuss my question?
I asked it:
1. Here
2. asoiaf.westeros
3. Malazan forum
4! http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/kate-elliott/

 

[algernoninc]

And btw., can you explain to me if she is so popular why no one bothered to discuss my question?

i read the whole series, and i saw your question before. the reason i was unable to answer is the size of the cast and of the plot lines by the end of last book. Things got pretty amalgamated, and I fast forwarded [called also skimming i think] through this final book, so it's difficult to answer such a technical question about a secondary character.
I don't read books with pen in hand making annotations and cross references [although i will write down your question in case i decide on a re-read] - my overall impression was of a very good series, that stopped short of top 5 material. Of course I picked a favorite character [Alain] and wanted something more spectacular for him by the end, but it wasn't my decision, and open ended storylines don't bother me at all. I like to imagine characters walking off into the sunset, or into another story.
The series could have been edited into a shorter version, but at least we can recognize the merit of the author in being the first to finish a multivolume epic [before Goodkind, Jordan or Martin] in a decent way.

 

[Astra_]

i read the whole series, and i saw your question before. the reason i was unable to answer is the size of the cast and of the plot lines by the end of last book. Things got pretty amalgamated, and I fast forwarded [called also skimming i think] through this final book, so it's difficult to answer such a technical question about a secondary character.
I don't read books with pen in hand making annotations and cross references [although i will write down your question in case i decide on a re-read] - my overall impression was of a very good series, that stopped short of top 5 material. Of course I picked a favorite character [Alain] and wanted something more spectacular for him by the end, but it wasn't my decision, and open ended storylines don't bother me at all. I like to imagine characters walking off into the sunset, or into another story.

First of all it was not about a secondary character. This thing almost got killed the main character.

That you skimmed it and didn't read it normally, or skimmed but later didn't come back to savor it says a lot more than anything you could write about the subject.

 

[Rob B]

I wasn't saying having a Web site made her popular, I was posting her Web site in response to your point about it being difficult to find anything on the Internet about her.

I haven't really looked at Elliott's forums, but the color scheme is awful.

Maybe people didn't make it through to the last volume in the series?

Anyway, I apologize for the misunderstanding and I hope somebody answers your question.

 

[Astra_]

I wasn't saying having a Web site made her popular, I was posting her Web site in response to your point about it being difficult to find anything on the Internet about her.

I haven't really looked at Elliott's forums, but the color scheme is awful.

Maybe people didn't make it through to the last volume in the series?

Anyway, I apologize for the misunderstanding and I hope somebody answers your question.

From your reply it is evident that I was not clear enough too. So, my apologizes.
When I said she is unknown and I cannot find anything about her, I meant her books and discussions about her series, not about her personally.

I was really unpleasantly surprised by the lack of enthusiastic fans all rushing over to answer my question.

 

[Jasc]

I've read all of Eliot's Crown of Stars books and was quite impressed, initially.

She creates a vividly realised world with some interesting ideas. She has constructed a very interesting world, imho. Characterization, for the most part, is pretty good.

The problem is, as some people have pointed out, the series is just too long and the cast of character's too big. A couple of the novels could be shaved off. It's still one of the better series out there, but it takes a bit of perseverance.
.

 

[Astra_]

I finished it a short while ago.
The first book was very amateurish, 6/10.
Then it started to improve.
Second - 7/10
Thirst - 8/10
Fourth and Fifth - 9/10 - the best books.
Then the quality took one step back with volume Six - 7-8/10
But the last one was the worst.

Spoiler

I didn't like the ending. Such a long story about the main characters and then abruptly abandoning them....

 

[Boiler]

i'm thinking about finally reading the 'crown of stars' series (or at least give it a try). however, i was wondering if someone could enlighten me about how elliot handles characters.

to be more concrete, while i liked (some parts) of hobb's first farseer trilogy, the liveship traders really annoyed me. i wasn't able to finish that series. every male character was constanly whining and full of self-pity. not my thing at all.

so i was wondering if elliot has a similiar or a different style of characterization.

what's the opinion around here?

 

[Astra_]

the liveship traders really annoyed me. i wasn't able to finish that series. every male character was constanly whining and full of self-pity

In the Crown of Stars instead of so called whining you will get hours and hours and hundreds of pages of preaching. One of the main characters end up being second Jesus Christ.

After I finished the series I gave it some thought and I came to a conclusion that it was a waste of time on my part reading the series. 7 very thick books and atrocious ending. I tried to discuss it on some forums...no one remembered it no one could answer my questions, although some people were saying it was soooooooooooo good, so good that no one remembers reading it.

Waste of time. Period.

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

Ok, everything Astra_ just said, but the exact opposite. These are really good books, though the middle books in the series do drag a bit, and I did not think Elliott's characterizations resembled Hobb's.

Incidentally, Astra_ I remember the ONE question you asked about these books (something to do with how a particular daimone was associated with a character), and I don't think the fact that no one could or cared to answer it has any bearing on the quality of the books.

 

[FitzChivalry]

To balance Astra's opinion, so you won't get the impression his opinion is a consensus... i found it a great series, i especially liked how she made her world building, her world really comes alive.
As for the characters... they sure do a lot of musing and contemplating about things, i didn't find it too bad, but if you are more into action based fantasy, it might be too much for you. You should just give the first book a try and see for yourself, different people have different standards for what "whining" is... i don't think you can really trust anyone else's opinion on this.

For the record, eventhough my nick is a clear indication that i like Robin Hobb, i don't really like The Liveship Traders that much, i think The Farseer and The Tawny Man are much better.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

She creates a vividly realised world with some interesting ideas[...] Characterization, for the most part, is pretty good.

The problem is, as some people have pointed out, the series is just too long and the cast of character's too big. A couple of the novels could be shaved off.

^ agree with this.

I dropped the series after the first book (which I didn't finish) because the story was going too slow and I didn't care about any of the characters. Really disliked some of them (Liath and Hugh, former for being a whiny-ass O Noes I'm So Hot dishrag and latter for being a cackling one-dimensional caricature), didn't care at all about others, wasn't interested in following any of them. They're reasonably well-drawn, they're just not particularly interesting people (so far as I read).

YMMV. Elliott is not a bad writer, and I hear her work improves with the Crossroads books, but I wouldn't recommend Crown of Stars because it is sloooowww and not absorbing enough to compensate for that. Still, if you decide to read it, it's not going to melt your brain or anything. At worst it'll put you to sleep and you'll be out $50 or so.

 

[Werthead]

to be more concrete, while i liked (some parts) of hobb's first farseer trilogy, the liveship traders really annoyed me. i wasn't able to finish that series. every male character was constanly whining and full of self-pity. not my thing at all.

This is definitely a minority opinion, but I think Elliott handles characters better than Hobb. She does so in Crown of Stars and then does so even more strongly in Crossroads. The only exception is Liath, who is really annoying and passive throughout. Luckily, she sits out a couple of the books and the other characters, particularly Alain and Stronghand, make up for her. Sanglant is also an interesting character, until he becomes obsessed with Liath which makes him more annoying.

The series is overlong, but I think it taught her pacing lessons that have been employed to much better effect in the Crossroads trilogy.

 

[tpetty]

Agree that Liath gets annoying -- not so bad as Nynaeve (or however you spell it) pulling her braid, but annoying. Overall, I enjoyed the series, but (as is true of a lot of the mega fantasy series) it could have used a better editor and slimmed down 1000 pages.

 

[Boiler]

@ all

thanks very much for all your input, i really appreciate it. i guess i will make up my own opinion anyway, i was just looking for some indications if i should make 'crown' my primary new read or a secondary one (i usually read a few series at the same time).

i have another question though: i don't mind reading lenghty series (even if they're too long, which seems to be the consenus regarding 'crown').
however, i do believe the longer a series is, the more important the ending becomes. for instance, if you read 4000+ pages of a story and then all threads are being resolved in a few dozen pages, i feel kind of cheated, I don't care if there's a happy ending or a sad ending, but there has to be an ending consistent with the tone of the series.

A few people mentioned problems with the ending of 'crown' in this thread, so i was wondering if someone could elaborate a bit on this (spoiler free if possible? )

thanks again!

 

[FitzChivalry]

The main problems with the ending of Crown of Stars are certainly not plotlines being resolved too fast. I'd say the last book as a whole is actually the ending, so you got a whole book dedicated to that, which is what bothers some people. The book doesn't bring anything really new to the table, just ties up some plotlines. And eventhough a whole book is dedicated to that, some plotlines are remained not really resolved, i couldn't elaborate more without spoiling.