Rating: 
Summary: great finale to an exciting series [no spoilers]
Review: "The Grand Crusade" is the third and final novel in The DragonCrown War Cycle series approximately one generation following "The Dark Glory War" prelude novel. It is an amazing book filled with creative battles, detailed descriptions, and interesting characters.
I am pleased with the outcome of the series. The unique powers exhibited by the sullanciri are clever. General Androgans and Kerrigan have impressive displays on the battlefield and in magic respectively. Some important revelations resolve unanswered incidents from earlier volumes but most loose ends are tied up at the conclusion with a slim possibility of a future generation story.
The timing of Qwc, an odd character throughout the series, to be at a particular place with a certain individual damages the free will versus fate discussion. The Alexia and Crow romance is nice but I feel the bedroom details could be neglected. The Norrington, whom will challenge Chytrine according to the prophecy, is unusual yet anticlimax compared to other fantasy novel heroes.
Characters and countries overwhelmed me by the end of the novel and a glossary would have been worthwhile along with a more detailed map of the significant terrains.
I highly recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre.
Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good, but it could have been better.
Review: 'The Grand Crusade' is the last book of DragonCrown War series. I loved the pace of the book, because it is as fast-paced as the other reviewers have mentioned. Still, the whole nature of the Norrington prophecy was not fully explained to my liking. Nor was Kerrigan Reese esteemed even half as much as Will. I did not feel as drawn to Will as I was to the character of Kerrigan Reese throughout the whole series. We see Will having a one night fling with the Princess, and people considered that to be love. Yet, there was love and that was solely found with Alexia and Crow. Plus, a more thorough explanation and psychological profile of Chytrine would have thoroughly boosted the book. So, these are my main criticisms about the series in general and the book in specific.
Rating:
Summary: I hated reading until I found the art of Michael A Stackpole
Review: Before I satrt I just wanna say I've never really been a "Reader" it just wasn't my thing. I'd rather watch a movie or play a video game. Well one day when i was sitting in an airport Delayed and board out of my mind. I went to the book store in the teminal to get a magazine and saw the book "I, Jedi". I've always liked the SW movies and games so I thought what the heck so I picked it up and began to read. 3 days later I was done and I loved it. then i began reading stackpole's X wing series and i read 4 within a month. let me remind you I was not a avid reader. Then I saw the onslaught twosome and bought that and Vector prime and I had to choke down VP just so I could get to the great writing of M.A.S. .
Then I found out M.A.S. wouldn' be writing anymore SW novels so I looked around I ender up buying Talion:Revenant and I Loved it. THEN I found Dark Glory War. and I read all 4 withing the month. I was spell bound and COULD NOT PUT THEM DOWN. Reading them was like watching a movie in my head. I spent EVERY waking moment in this world. I now Love reading and realize what all those teachers were saying when they said books can take you to other worlds. I cant wait for another Talion or maybe a continuation of this series(fingers crossed). I even told my Brother about them(he's 19) and is even less of a reader than I am and he can't put them down either. I just special ordered Eyes of Silver and cant wait to get it. cause I know I wont be disapointed.
WARNING: Only begin this series if you want to be transported to another world. Only read it before bed if you want to be up fore hours thinking about the beauty of this world.
I just want to say THanks to Michael A. Stackpole I am now a Avid reader and I will never go back.
Rating: 
Summary: Flop-o-rama!
Review: Dear Reader,
I usually enjoy Michael Stackpole books very much. It greatly pains me to write a poor review for one of his books. Quite frankly, however, The Grand Crusade stinks! At the risk of spoiling the novel I pose this question: Why "kill off" the most likable character of the series and then bring him back as an animated slab of lava? Another question: Is it really necessary to include the romance scenes between the old man and the hot twenty-something? It was sick enough to make me put the book down and watch "Simpsons" reruns. Worst Series Ending Ever!
Rating:
Summary: Flop-o-rama!
Review: Dear Reader,
I usually enjoy Michael Stackpole books very much. It greatly pains me to write a poor review for one of his books. Quite frankly, however, The Grand Crusade stinks! At the risk of spoiling the novel I pose this question: Why "kill off" the most likable character of the series and then bring him back as an animated slab of lava? Another question: Is it really necessary to include the romance scenes between the old man and the hot twenty-something? It was sick enough to make me put the book down and watch "Simpsons" reruns. Worst Series Ending Ever!
Rating:
Summary: Grand Shortcomings
Review: I first started reading Stackpole around the time his fourth X-Wing novel, Bacta War, hit stands and I've been entranced ever since. He's been my favorite author for years. I've gone back and read Talion:Revenant, Once a Hero, A Hero Born, the Battletech novels - anything I could get my hands on. I've never had reason to look back or to doubt that a Stackpole book would be enjoyable. However, as Stackpole's books roll out, I find that I keep feeling his talent is regressing. He has grand ideas that fall short of the vision. In short, I felt that the Dark Glory War was his best novel of this series and The Grand Crusade his worst. I felt hardly any affinity for the characters. Crow or Tarant Hawke seemed to lose the virtues that I enjoyed in him. Instead he became a two dimensional character: love Alexia, kill bad guys. The other characters seemed to feel the same way, with the worthy exception of Resolute. Resolute seemed to thrive in this novel. Perhaps this is because Resolute has always been melodramatic, so his human side seemed that much better. The reincarnation of the Norrington was, unfortunately for me, I very big let down.In all, I felt like the story had great potential, despite my reservations about the Norrington, but it lacked the development, vitality, or the rapport I needed to grab onto this novel. Take this review for what it is. I'm still waiting for the next Stackpole novel with high hopes (the new trilogy he's working on). And hopefully, his mystery novel will be released at some point. Peace.
Rating:
Summary: Grand Shortcomings
Review: I first started reading Stackpole around the time his fourth X-Wing novel, Bacta War, hit stands and I've been entranced ever since. He's been my favorite author for years. I've gone back and read Talion:Revenant, Once a Hero, A Hero Born, the Battletech novels - anything I could get my hands on. I've never had reason to look back or to doubt that a Stackpole book would be enjoyable. However, as Stackpole's books roll out, I find that I keep feeling his talent is regressing. He has grand ideas that fall short of the vision. In short, I felt that the Dark Glory War was his best novel of this series and The Grand Crusade his worst. I felt hardly any affinity for the characters. Crow or Tarant Hawke seemed to lose the virtues that I enjoyed in him. Instead he became a two dimensional character: love Alexia, kill bad guys. The other characters seemed to feel the same way, with the worthy exception of Resolute. Resolute seemed to thrive in this novel. Perhaps this is because Resolute has always been melodramatic, so his human side seemed that much better. The reincarnation of the Norrington was, unfortunately for me, I very big let down. In all, I felt like the story had great potential, despite my reservations about the Norrington, but it lacked the development, vitality, or the rapport I needed to grab onto this novel. Take this review for what it is. I'm still waiting for the next Stackpole novel with high hopes (the new trilogy he's working on). And hopefully, his mystery novel will be released at some point. Peace.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly Dissapointed
Review: I read the first two books in the trilogy and loved them. It has been a long time since I was truely surprised by a plot twist, but when dragons rage surprised me twice. Unfortunately, this third and last book left me a bit depressed. The lead character is completely absent, leaving the other to scramble around trying unsuccessfully to fill a void in plot of the book. Compared to the other two, The Grand Crusade seemed to be made up of characters struggling to get to where they needed to be while insulting various political powers. Taken by itself, the book is decent, but Micheal Stackpole obvious didn't put as much care into the finale of the series.
Rating:
Summary: This series really was a "grand crusade"
Review: I really didn't expect this much out of this series when i first picked up The Dark Glory War, but with the way Stackpole was able to tie you to the characters and describe with grizzley detail the battle scenes but also the brutal political discussions that decided what the South will do against the avalanche of the North, I found myself enthralled.
The 4th book of the series (3rd of the trilogy) doesn't slow down at all. I really enjoyed seeing the transformations that were wrought in certain characters (i.e. Kerrigan), but really didn't understand the incarnation of Will. As one reviewer said that he thought he might have struggled for a way to tie it up, I would have sworn at the end of the third book that Will would come back because of the "Immortal, washed in fire." I finally found myself liking him while they were in Sarengul. Maybe the note from Crow at the end hints at something more to come. Especially since the problem of the Oromise was never really settled......
I interrupt for a moment...But the entire book is great and the series itself has really psuehd high into my book rankings. Jordan's fallen and I wonder if he will even bother picking himself up. If you like the battles in this book Gemmell is a great read (rigante), Martin might be my favorite (Song of Ice and Fire) and for whoever liked the politics discussed in these books, might also hold him in favor.....
I continue.....and the war between the Dragons and the Oromise could rage on and again humans, elves, urzrethi, and gyrkyme could be caught in the middle of saving their homes and being pawns of a far larger game.
Rating:
Summary: A grand finale: Don't miss this!
Review: I think this is about the best Stackpole book I've yet read. And that's saying quite a lot. For starters, I didn't go back and reread any of the earlier books in the trilogy that this one concludes, so it had been about a year since I last visited the world and characters of the story, but this final book pulled me back into the story pretty well from the start. There were certain events from earlier in the series that were alluded to from time to time, in which I couldn't quite recall all the details of what had happened, but that didn't detract much at all from the new progress of the story in this book. Much more frequent were the events from the last book alluded to in this one, which came quite completely back to memory when they were mentioned, making my enjoyment of this book all the greater by drawing on remembered enjoyment of the previous one. The characters in this DragonCrown trilogy are wonderful, so many different types of people, so well developed, both the heroes and the villains. The plot is great too; the Norrington prophecy and all the developments from it, which drove a large part of the plot, had me making all sorts of guesses of what could happen, yet there were still surprises for me in how it all worked out. And it was a satisfying ending...actually more so the further I get from finishing it. Will's ultimate fate was kind of bittersweet, but maybe better than the various other guesses I'd been making. And as for the "Hawkins Secret" from the prequel, The Dark Glory War, well, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, though similar, but was cool nonetheless, and it was worked into this final book of the series very well. Stackpole's writing style is wonderful to read, the storyline is engaging, the characters and themes were excellent, and overall, I'm very happy with the book and with the series that it concludes. I'd love to see more from the world of this story!
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