The Crown of Silence (The Chronicles of Magravandias, Book 2)

Rating:
Summary: Uneven, with very good moments
Review: This book is so frustrating -- there are moments that are really very good. It's a classic journey of self-discovery (individual and group) and Constantine is a good writer at the sentence level. But, as has been mentioned here, the plot and character development is very uneven. All in all, it feels like it needed another few hours of baking.

Rating:
Summary: Ther eis one word for it - "BAD"
Review: This book is wonderful.Storm explores the deep meanings of heroic fantasy's topics (the quest,the crownless king, the war between good and evil) whit rare wisdom and a dry wit that's sometimes reminiscent of the satire of Douglas Adams (think only of the base quarrel between Tayven, Khaster /Taropat ans Shan), and even echoes the Arthurian Lore (Who does the Crown serve?, the Peacock Angel Azcaranoth asks, reminiscent of a famous question not asked by Percival/Parsifal in many versions of the Grail Saga). By the way, Storm Constantine has contrived to insert plausibly one of her favourite themes,Fallen Angels and knowledge.But in the Seven Lake's quest there is much more: Storm's deep understanding of the contradictions of the human mind, her realistic renditions of the crudest realities of war. And what of the uncanny feeling you get when you compare her fantastic worlds and the world we know? You can read in her most fantastic stories some echo of actual events.There's more: since Isaac Asimov I've never read a most realistic and ironic rendition of polytical intrigues.And she adds the realistic view on the sexual side of human relationships. And you wonder: Frodo and Sam relationship was so chaste as Tolkien rendered ii?

Rating:
Summary: A realistic Lord of the Rings
Review: This book is wonderful.Storm explores the deep meanings of heroic fantasy's topics (the quest,the crownless king, the war between good and evil) whit rare wisdom and a dry wit that's sometimes reminiscent of the satire of Douglas Adams (think only of the base quarrel between Tayven, Khaster /Taropat ans Shan), and even echoes the Arthurian Lore (Who does the Crown serve?, the Peacock Angel Azcaranoth asks, reminiscent of a famous question not asked by Percival/Parsifal in many versions of the Grail Saga). By the way, Storm Constantine has contrived to insert plausibly one of her favourite themes,Fallen Angels and knowledge.But in the Seven Lake's quest there is much more: Storm's deep understanding of the contradictions of the human mind, her realistic renditions of the crudest realities of war. And what of the uncanny feeling you get when you compare her fantastic worlds and the world we know? You can read in her most fantastic stories some echo of actual events.There's more: since Isaac Asimov I've never read a most realistic and ironic rendition of polytical intrigues.And she adds the realistic view on the sexual side of human relationships. And you wonder: Frodo and Sam relationship was so chaste as Tolkien rendered ii?

Rating:
Summary: Ther eis one word for it - "BAD"
Review: This book was simply bad. It is disappointing after the first book. Crown of Silence is laborious , tiresome and drags on for ever. I don't think the author had any clarity about the story at this point. I wish I had read the reviews before I started reading the book. Crown of Silence was not essential to the story and could have been skipped.