The Bindings of Fate (A Novel of Epic Fantasy) (The Child of the Stars Trilogy Book 1)

The Bindings of Fate (A Novel of Epic Fantasy) (The Child of the Stars Trilogy Book 1). May 27, by Michael DeAngelo.
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It's too bad, because there are good ideas here, and I wish they'd been presented in a trilogy rather than a seven-book series. Happily, Elliott has also written some strong fantasy trilogies, and is at work on more! Go read them, they're good. As for this series, it's worth a try, especially if you like long sagas.

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And if you read the first two or three or four and decide not to finish, that's okay too. Aug 10, Frank rated it really liked it Shelves: After reading this first book of a seven book series, I must say that I wonder why it doesn't come up on more lists of finished fantasy series, perhaps for the lack of readers. Thinking it may be the covers, which do not work at all compared to the story itself. This story takes place in a medieval setting where magic looms about, and has a gritty feeling to it.

The book is written in two points of view, and later on third point of view is inserted. You do have the typical youn No spoilers here. You do have the typical young male and female who have hidden talents that will play into the story on the upper levels of the kingdom and its surroundings. The battle scenes are much reminiscent to medieval battles only taking place with several thousands of soldiers, and the battle towards the end of book one is well done. I must say that I will be reading the remainder of the series hoping that Elliott will be building on the good work that has been done here.

Jul 30, Veronica rated it really liked it Shelves: This book was a pleasant surprise. I had never heard of this series before and have never read anything by this author. Told in third person, it mostly follows the experiences of two main protagonists, Alain and Liath. Take it from someone who mostly avoids th This book was a pleasant surprise.

Take it from someone who mostly avoids that angst ridden, love triangle fueled genre. There is angst in this book, to be sure, but rest assured that it is caused by things far more important than which suitor to pick. But, back to our protagonists! Both Alain and Liath have mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding their family histories.

The setting is a fictitious world with a decidedly medieval feel. The story mainly deals with the countries of Wendar and Varre, once separate kingdoms that now exist under the singular rule of King Henry. The religion in this world is obviously based on Christianity, with a specifically Catholic flair, albeit with some interesting tweaks such as women holding all the positions of power. It helps to give the world a familiarity that enables readers to settle into the story more quickly.

The escalating threat of civil war places readers on both sides of the conflict because our two protagonists are standing on either side of the battle lines. In addition to vivid characters and the two-pronged dangers of Sabella and the Eika, the story has numerous other things going for it. There are numerous mentions of ancient civilizations and lost empires which, though long gone, still seem to be playing roles in the current lives of the characters.

There is sorcery, political intrigue under the guise of religion, and a touch of a budding romance. For me, this was yet another case of a fantasy story that leap frogs over all the things that make a romantic relationship believable for the sake of expediency. But based on the traumas that Liath endures and the lovely descriptions of how she internally guarded herself, I was looking forward to a slow thaw with regards to her heart…not seeing her snap to attention at the first words from the first handsome, age-appropriate man she meets, which is more or less what happens.

That minor quibble aside, I did really enjoy the story. I really appreciate that some aspects of the story didn't go in the direction I thought they would.

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It's always nice to be surprised. The writing style flowed easily and there were some real stakes for all the characters. There were some questions answered but many more that need attention. View all 4 comments. Dec 27, Shelby rated it really liked it. Finished this in a day! The whole series of The Crown of Starts was a gift from my boyfriend, and I was eager to start in on this.

There is so much going on already in this book. It seems a typical fantasy at first, lost elvish nations, scary lizard-ish bad guys, a brother and sister fighting for the thrown, and a couple of kids caught up in the middle. Mostly, I'm intrigued by the religion Elliot creates in it.

Clearly, there is a lot of traditional, Medieval basis in it. Fathers and "biscops" Finished this in a day! Fathers and "biscops" and other such religious titles, but they all serve the Lord and the Lady, a binding of Christianity and Pagan religions. There is also forbidden, lost arts of magic that is simultaneously despised and used by the Church, and mathemagici, which are sort of astronomers or mathematicians As the first book in the series, I'm not going to go to in depth but I am really, really looking forward to finishing this series!

Apr 19, Sandi rated it really liked it Shelves: I had a really, really hard time getting into this book. I probably would have neither started nor finished it if it weren't a book of the month for a reading group I belong to. I just hate getting into multi-volume 7 epic fantasies. I was never able to pinpoint quite why it was so hard to get into. For the record, I'm going to list some positives and negatives of this book.

On the positive side: There aren't too many central cha I had a really, really hard time getting into this book. There aren't too many central characters to focus on. There are two main characters, Alain and Liath. Most of the action and other characters orbit around them. But, it's not until we've had a chance to know her through Liath's storyline.

There aren't too many subplots. Many multi-volume epic fantasies have a dozen storylines going with a gazillion character that never connect for a few volumes. Elliot keeps it simple by starting with two storylines. She sticks with them for a decent amount of time, not switching settings every two pages.

Once we are comfortable, then she'll add another plotline. It made it very easy to follow this book. Her world is very consistent and well visualized. The politics, religion, and races of her world are very comprehensible. I'm still not sure why it's so slow. Maybe because there's not much conflict early on. It's very, very long. Actually, if you don't read the epilogue, it's a pretty complete novel.

The epilogue is a total cliffhanger though. The hatred of cliffhangers is just my own deal. I hate feeling like I'm being forced to buy another book.


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If you like big, long epic fantasy, this book is a very good choice. It's just not my cup of tea. Mar 31, Kat Hooper rated it liked it. The Crown of Stars series is well-thought out and obviously well-planned.


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    • 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. Elliott's creatures are imaginative and enjoyable, and I especially liked the way they interact with the humans. Elliott uses a lot of description and therefore her plot moves very The Crown of Stars series is well-thought out and obviously well-planned. 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? Her editor could have almost arbitrarily taken out a third of the sentences with no ill effect. Sometimes she tells me something too many times e. 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.

    I quit in the middle of book 5. Read more Kate Elliott book reviews at Fantasy Literature. May 31, Sarah rated it really liked it Shelves: For what started out as a fairly standard entrence into an epic fantasy series, I was quickly surprised. Elliott spends a lot of time world building and the result is impressive.

    This book is thick with history, politics and religion which has been a negative to several reviewers I have read online. In my opinion, I enjoyed reading the history, politics and the religion because it made the world so much more vivid and set the foundation for an incredibly complex, realistic series. It really help For what started out as a fairly standard entrence into an epic fantasy series, I was quickly surprised. It really helped me understand the world I was reading about and actually care about it.

    Elliott writes in such a flowing, descriptive way that you truly become swept away with the story and lose track of the fact that you are the reader, not the actual character.

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    One of my pet peeves with some writers is that I feel as though they are giving me a list of events that transpired rather than weaving a tale for me to mentally take part in. Elliott doesn't give you a list, at all. Hours passed in the blink of an eye reading her tale. I got so involved in the characters and truly cared about their plights that I just couldn't put the book down. The result was finishing a page book in a day. I won't say the book is flawless. There are parts that dragged quite a bit.

    I did skim-read some sections that didn't necessarily seem to need to take up as many pages as they did.

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    Her "evil" characters aren't exactly multidimensional. In my opinion the most multidimensional character in the book is Sanglant. However, with the other two main protagonists just starting to figure out they are more than what they seem, the potential for them to grow and expand into fascinating multidimensionality is there. I am incredibly excited to read the rest of this series and was pleasantly surprised by this book. Dec 21, Tim rated it it was amazing. Kate Elliott's "Crown of Stars" series -- 5, pages or so, through seven volumes -- sure is a monster, but it's worth the undertaking.

    Really, I'd call this one of the most underrated fantasy series ever. Don't be deceived by the generally weak cover art for all these volumes. Elliott's writing, too, is more than it seems at first glance. She writes very, very well. It's sneaks-up-on-you prose, but after you read quite a bit you realize she's very talented. I won't even begin to try to provide Kate Elliott's "Crown of Stars" series -- 5, pages or so, through seven volumes -- sure is a monster, but it's worth the undertaking. I won't even begin to try to provide a plot description of this world based on medieval Europe in a fantasy setting.

    Mythological creatures, magic, alternate worlds, court politics, battle, strong characters. This baby is dense as an asteroid but worth exploring every cranny. Be advised that the best books are the early ones. From there, Elliott does get lost in her own world a bit, fashioning what's admittedly a too-detailed, too dense plot, as if she cuts out nothing and wants everything thrown in. Stick with it, though, it's worth the effort, even with a flat-out poor sixth volume.

    Jul 16, Tim marked it as to-read. I want to read this because of what Orson Scott Card said about it: If Dickens had read these books he might have done a better job of writing Uriah Heep; if Moliere had read them, he might have brought of Tartuffe much more successfully. You can read everything he said about it on his blog, Uncle Orson Reviews Everything. May 21, Kevin rated it it was amazing.

    Leading up to our wedding, Bethany and I both blazed through Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series as fast as we could We both adored it. At long last, after five years, I'm returning to it. Prior to this, neither of us had been voracious readers of speculative fiction. So, my reread is for two purposes: Refresh the great characters in my mind; and 2. See if it holds up.

    The first volume definitely did. King's Dragon shifts the narrative perspective frequently, relying on the observations of a Leading up to our wedding, Bethany and I both blazed through Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series as fast as we could We both adored it. King's Dragon shifts the narrative perspective frequently, relying on the observations of at least five characters. This number grows in the subsequent volumes.

    The world of Crown of Stars is much like central Europe towards the end of the first millennium A. It primarily follows the stories of Alain, a young man who had been promised to a monastery, but finds himself serving a local count after the monastery is destroyed by raiders, and Liath, a young woman who had spent her life wandering the world with her father, gaining secret knowledge, until her father mysteriously dies and she is enslaved to a local priest.

    The majority of Elliott's characters feel real and are interesting, but for me the world is the highlight of these books.

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    It is complicated, fascinating, and incredibly detailed. And I found myself just as interested in it as I was before, even if the narrative, spoiled by prior knowledge, wasn't as compelling. I still highly recommend these books to anyone who loves the fantasy genre. Nov 30, Leseparatist rated it liked it Shelves: Goodreads keeps crashing on me, this is my attempt to post this review, but here we go again.

    This, I think, is the only Kate Elliott series that has been translated into Polish I might be wrong about some of her early sf, but her later - and to me, the most interesting - novels are sadly unavailable. In fact, I distinctly remember seeing them in bookshops, and on occasion, in a private fee-for-book library, and thinking - this looks just like what I'm not into, fantasy-wise. There were k Goodreads keeps crashing on me, this is my attempt to post this review, but here we go again.

    There were knights on the cover, armoured people generally, and the religion looked a lot like Christianity, judging by the titles. Now, at the age of twice that and some, I approached King's Dragon very differently, from the perspective of someone who is already a huge Kate Elliott fan. Because sometimes the more you read, the more you love someone's writing and that's how I feel about Elliott. Over the course of thousands of pages, she has trained me into a reader that really likes her tropes and her characters and her style.

    King's Dragon takes a while to get going also typical of an Elliott novel, but perhaps a bit more pronounced here than, say, in Crossroads , but once it did, I was hooked. Let's just say I own it on paper - which is always bad for a book because I read faster on my e-reader, and have more opportunities to do so - so the trajectory was basically that I spent about 2 months reading the first pages, a week reading the next pages, and then the remaining was read in a day, when I came home from work, until 1 am.

    I don't know what this is about, but I seem to always crush on Elliott's male characters. I can read 50 novels and historical romances and enjoy the characters without ever getting attached and then give me a female character in an Elliott novel meeting eyes with a male character and blushing and I'm there with her. Except for Black Wolves, those dudes did nothing for me and that's seekritly my biggest peeve Sanglant can womanise me any day of the week.

    I hate it when diversity with regard to people with intelectual disabilities means a token "innocent" character to whom terrible things happen. Elliott uses it sparingly but craftily, and the guivre I loved the way this was built.

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    The characters were interesting and well-built, no shortcuts. I don't think the next novel in the series will languish long when I get my hands on it.

    Which is soon, very, very soon I do not even know where to begin. I was so booored, but read on, skimmed, and read on. I came to the conclusion that "swears some" I will read this book. I got it, I will read it, not put it back on that darn TBR pile. So I read it, half way through I read reviews for book 7 so I could see what would happen. It was the characters, I should have felt for Liath's plight. But I just did not. I should have liked Alain but he was a wooden figure.

    The Eika prince written a month ago. The Eika prince seemed interesting, but Sagalant, the half elf prince whatever lost me when he lusted after Liath the second he met her. Instalove and then I was all what? The world, yes the world was the one thing that had me bored. Sure it's fun when worlds resemble our but here it was just too much. The weird Eika, eh can you say the vikings are coming?

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    The church, the lady and her son. The convents, priest, I do not need that much Catholicism in my fantasy. I want it to differ a bit. You are creating a world, play with it. But here it was just I shall make women strong too, a woman can claim a child came from her womb but a man can't. So let's make women bishops and shit.

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