Crown of Stars(7 eBooks),Jaran (3 eBooks) - Kate Elliot

"Kate Elliott" published her first novel with DAW Books in 1992.She is currently working on the Crossroads series (Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate, with Traitors’ Gate ), published by Tor Books (USA) and Orbit Books (UK). It’s an “HBO-style” fantasy with a focus on character and landscape, and an epic plot.

Earlier, she wrote the seven volume epic fantasy series, Crown of Stars, set in an alternate European landscape where magic has been (literally) woven through the land. The first volume, King’s Dragon, was a Nebula Award finalist in 1998. Crown of Stars is published by DAW Books (USA) and Orbit Books (UK) and has been translated into German, Russian, Polish, and Spanish.

Her Novels of the Jaran, set in a speculative future, follow the nomadic people known as the jaran after their first contact with the technologically more advanced society of Earth. The author has described Jaran, the first in the series, as "Jane Austen meets Genghis Khan" in a science fiction setting. The series is published by DAW Books.

With Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson, she co-wrote the bestselling fantasy novel The Golden Key, a 1997 World Fantasy Award finalist (published by DAW Books in the USA and Pan Books in the UK).

She has also published short fiction in various anthologies.

In a previous literary life, she published four novels under her real name, Alis A. Rasmussen.

The first volume of Crown of Stars, another complex fantasy saga of political and magical intrigue, bodes extremely well. The Kingdom of Wendar is beset by civil war between brother and sister for the throne, by two hostile nonhuman races, by ghosts roaming the streets, and by enough other plots and counterplots to fuel the average Balkan war. Key to successfully resolving the overly fraught situation are Alain, a young prophet who needs to learn his parentage before he can act safely, and Liath, a lifelong fugitive sheltered by her father from worldly knowledge that she must acquire before she can act. The saga's world is exceedingly well built (including a working economy, for instance), its pacing is brisk enough to keep the pages fluttering, and its characters are, at this stage, at least archetypes who may develop into more. This certainly could become one of the best multivolume fantasies–fans, take note! Roland Green

From Library Journal
Believed slain in the doomed battle for the city of Gent, Sanglant, the bastard son of King Henry, hovers on the edge of madness as a prisoner of the barbarian Eika conquerors. While Sanglant's lover Liath struggles to unlock her hidden magic powers, Alain?lowborn son of Count Lavastine?wages a private battle to prove himself worthy of his father's trust. Continuing the story begun in King's Dragon (DAW, 1997), Elliott weaves together the destinies of star-crossed lovers, ambitious churchmen, and barbarian invaders in a dazzling medieval fantasy set in an alternate Europe. Reminiscent of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series, this engrossing saga should appeal to fantasy lovers and fans of historical epics alike. Recommended for most fantasy collections.

From Kirkus Reviews
Second entry in Elliott's doorstopper fantasy series (King's Dragon, Feb. 1997) set in the old/medieval-Europeflavored kingdom of Wendar. Following an invasion by the vicious, barbaric, nonhuman Eika and their terrible dogs, King Henry makes plans to recapture the city of Gent–where his immortal bastard son Sanglant, the prince of dogs, is being kept chained and humiliated by the Eika warlord Bloodheart. Elsewhere, young King's Eagle Liath, pursued by her nemesis, Hugh, strives to rediscover her past and master the magic within her. Alain, Count Lavastine's adopted heir, desires only peace but can't disregard his oath to the Lady of Battles. And Fifth Brother, Bloodheart's least-favored son, is developing his own agenda for dealing with both his father and the humans. A solidly engrossing addition to a worthwhile series.

There is nothing more tragic than legitimate ambition comprehensively thwarted. Kate Elliott's fantasy sequence has a bleak sadness even in its moments of triumph, simply because her heroes and heroines seem as if they are never going to get the chance to be all they could be. Alan, suddenly adopted heir to the local noble, is obliged to marry an anorexic princess whose hobby of heresy extends to fake stigmata; royal courier Liath and more than slightly deranged royal bastard Sanglant find that their love stands in the way of the King's dynastic plans; the prattish monk Ivar runs away from heresy proceedings and hides among a princeling's boon companions and catamites. And while the nobility juggle marriages and churchmen bicker about doctrine, invaders amass on the borders and the world seems booked for cataclysms both political and metaphysical. Elliott has not yet become as popular as she probably deserves–she has a real sense of what even an imaginary medieval world should be like in its pompous scholarship and simple piety, and her characters are interestingly fluid; place Ivar in a cavalry charge, and he does quite well. This third volume sustains the pace and grim tone of its predecessors in the Crown of Stars sequence. –Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

From Kirkus Reviews
Third entry in the Crown of Stars series following Prince of Dogs (1998) and King's Dragon (1997). The kingdoms of Wendar and Varre are riven by sorcery and strife. Young King's Eagle Liath feels the magic potential burgeoning within her, but she's torn emotionally by her love for Sanglant, King Henry's immortal, outcast bastard son, and the child she will soon bear him. Liath's sorcery calls her to investigate a portal to the land of the Aoi, the magical country where Sanglant's mother was born, and from where she will eventually return in search of the child she abandoned. King Henry, meanwhile, wrestles with the familiar problems of the kingship, including invasions by the Quman and by the nonhuman Eika and their terrible dogs. A solid addition to this respectable series. And, at this whopping length, it should keep the most avid fans happy for a few days.

From Publishers Weekly
The fourth of what is intended to be a five-volume epic series, this exceedingly stout high fantasy novel stands comparatively independent of the three preceding it. Continuing their deadly rivalry for the throne, King Henry of Wendar and his bastard son, Sanglant, enlist the aid of their siblings as they conjure spells and clash swords. Meanwhile, Sanglant has an heir of his own, the Cursed Ones (beings from one of the several alternate planes that exist in this saga) capture his wife, and his nonhuman mother returns, bearing prophecies of such imminent and dire doom that nobody believes her until disaster is upon them. Newcomers to this series will appreciate the narrative's brisk pacing, as well as Elliott's formidably competent world building (particularly the courts and the village of the Hallowed One) and carefully considered systems of magic and tactics that display more than an average knowledge of military history, religion and folklore. Some readers may find this installment too long and complex, though, and lacking, at critical points, the emotional impact and characterization that Tolkien or more recent fantasists such as Jordan, Hobb and Orson Scott Card bring to works of similar complexity. Although devout Elliott fans and lovers of long, convoluted fantasy tales will find her latest to be more than satisfactory, the novel's lack of precision may limit its appeal. (Oct.)

Fifth in the Nebula Award-nominated series.
The time of cataclysm is almost here when the land of the Aoi-cast forth from the world long centuries ago by an unimaginably powerful spell-weaving-will at last return to its starting point with disastrous consequences…

The long-awaited cataclysm has reshaped the very land and seas, and disrupted the war for the empire. Now all who have survived the return of the spell-exiled Aoi lands must find a way to mend their shattered territories and take a stand against their enemies in a power struggle that may forge new alliances-or doom them all.

From Publishers Weekly
The Ashioi-the Lost Ones-have come home in the prophesied cataclysmic event that has reunited their lands, long lost in the aether, with their homeland on Earth. In this, the sixth book (after The Gathering Storm) of the Crown of Stars series, Elliott nearly brings readers the conclusion of this massive and engrossing series about the clash of religious fervor, ethnic strife and magic. The Ashioi's return coincides with the murder of King Henry (supposedly by his bastard son Sanglant), and sorceress Liath's disruption of Queen Anne's attempt to use the "crowns" to repel the Ashioi once again into the aether. The resulting chaos produces volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, foul winds, dust and ash haze that covers the land and clogs the air for months. (This is not, however, the very end of the story, as promised in volume five.Volume seven is on its way-Elliot's story ballooned to 430,000 words and was thus was broken into two books.) This is a great series for those who love big, convoluted plots with a huge cast of characters, but Elliot's latest installment will baffle readers who haven't slogged through preceding volumes.

From Publishers Weekly
In the fine conclusion to Elliott's seven-volume fantasy epic based in part on the European medieval period, Earth is beginning to recover from the cataclysmic events—tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, vast dust clouds that obscure the sky—unleashed in book six, In the Ruins (2005). Prince Sanglant, the bastard son of King Henry of Wendar, seeks to legitimize his relationship with his consort, the martial and shrewd sorceress Liath, and found a dynasty that can continue their work of healing the battered world. Curses, King Henry's murder and ambitious rivals put formidable obstacles in Sanglant's path. Elliott has a gift for creating grim, dark settings as well as swashbuckling action scenes (both magical and material) worthy of Rafael Sabatini. This is a splendid piece of intelligent entertainment, even if it makes few concessions to new readers. (Feb.)

Review
Elliott demonstrates her talent for combining magic and intrigue. – Library Journal

The first book in Kate Elliott's acclaimed Jaran series-the groundbreaking story of a young woman coming of age on an alien planet…and her effect on the human race's survival.

Tess, an Earth-born woman, finds herself at the center of a conflict between her jaran husband, Ilya Bakhtiian, and her brother, Duke Charles, as the two men battle for control of Rhui.

Last book of "The Jaran" series.