The Grand Crusade

DragonCrown War Cycle #3

by Michael A. Stackpole

In this incredible conclusion to the epic fantasy saga, continuing from When Dragons Rage, New York Times
bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole returns to a world of mystery, prophecy, and magick, where dreams-for better or worse-can come true...

The Grand Crusade

The hope of the future, Will Norrington, prophesied to bring down the northern tyrant Chytrine and redeem the world, is said to be dead, lost in the heart of a fiery volcano. The news has thrown the Council of Kings into a furor and drained the spirit from once united factions. As questions swirl about as to Will's legacy, and even his identity, one thing is clear: a divided alliance lacks power. And this may be exactly the opening Chytrine needs to seize control-and capture the empowering artifact, the DragonCrown-once and for all. Still, Will's friends and comrades remain true to his cause, preparing to continue the fight. Among them is the Vilwanese hero, Kerrigan Reese, and Alyx, groomed to lead an army. Sayce, pregnant with Will's child, must remain behind as the new custodian of the Norrington future in case they fail. But even as they draw up battle plans, with the enemy nearer than they think, a shattering betrayal-and a stunning revelation-may change the course of everything.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Dragons, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jedimelinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly wonderful end to Michael Stackpole's DragonCrown War Cycle. There is so much going on throughout the entire series (there are 3 books in the main series) that I won't even try to write anything about the parallel plots and storylines. However, I will say that MS does an excellent job interweaving everything until all the stories converge at the end of The Grand Crusade. Rarely am I disappointed to have to say good-bye to characters, but I was when I read the final words of this novel. (Maybe I'll get to be reintroduced to some of them since I still plan to read the precursor to Book 1 at some point.)
I was introduced to Michael Stackpole when he authored a number of novels that took many readers and me to a galaxy far, far away (quite a few years ago). I was so impressed with his excellent character and story development in that realm that I always meant to check out some of his other fantasy fare. It took me a bit longer than anticipated -- but anything worth enjoying is well worth waiting for. I am so happy I finally delved into one of his non-Star Wars series. :-)I highly recommend the DragonCrown War Cycle! :-)
Happy Reading! :-)

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voici le dernier de la saga de la Guerre de la Couronne.
Ce livre est une excellente conclusion à l'histoire. En effet, après le retournement final de La Furie des dragons: La Guerre de la Couronne, T2, on retrouve nos personnages devant faire fasse à une situation que personnes ne pouvaient prévoir. Cependant, plutôt que perdre courage, ceux-ci continuent de se battre pour empêcher la conquête du monde par Chytrine.
Comme les tomes précédents, l'histoire s'attarde sur de nombreux personnes qui finiront par se retrouver pour la dernière bataille qui décidera du destin du monde.
Toujours dans un soucis de ne pas "spoiler", je n'en dirais pas plus, car il est de votre devoir de lire cette saga pour connaître le dénouement final de l'oeuvre.

L'auteur, comme dans ses autres romans, évite toujours de rajouter du contenu superflus, en particulier lors des scènes d'actions qui sont brèves, mais intense. Je regrette seulement certaines scènes entre Corbeau et Alexia, que je trouve un peu trop "forcé" a mon goût et qui m'ont fait parfois sortir de l'univers du roman.

Cet ouvrage est une bonne conclusion à l'univers créer par Michael A. Stackpole. De même que l'épilogue nous racontant les événements suivant la dernière bataille, au cours duquel on en apprends plus sur le devenir de chacun.

Tout comme les deux précédents tome, je vous recommande ce roman sans soucis.

[Bookintserv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great read!! i wanted it to go on and on! it was one of the series i couldn't stop reading and still wanted to go on. rich and deep in characters and worldbuilding. everything fits! These are books, that make you forget your daily problems and leave you very very satisfied! Thank you Michael!!!

[Alain · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Norrington to lead them.
Immortal, washed in fire.
Victorious, from sea to ice.
Power of the North he will shatter,
A scourge he will kill,
Then Vorquellyn will redeem."

Exceptional ending to the saga. Not the best book in the series but definitely was worth the pleasure reading. Truly sad to leave this world.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Grand Crusade' is the fourth and final book of 'DragonCrown War' series, and its title is more than fitting, because the final of the war against Chytrine is truly grand. This book had everything I came to expect from this series and more – strong and memorable characters, breath-taking battles, carefully crafted worldbuilding, as well as the satisfaction of watching all the hints and details from the previous books come together to form a full picture. However, I wouldn’t call 'The Grand Crusade' the best book of the series – that honor I would give to 'Fortress Draconis'. Unfortunately, many of the flaws and shortcomings of the previous books resurface in full force, and that was the reason why this book earned only 4* from me. Let me highlight all the ups and downs of 'The Grand Crusade' that determined my rating.

Pros:

- Kerrigan Reese and his character development. Along with Will, Kerrigan had always been my favourite character, and after what happened to Will in the previous book, he had my sole attention. Kerrigan Reese showed a great personal growth throughout all three books, considering that he was introduced in ‘Fortress Draconis’ as incredibly talented, but socially clueless and cowardly apprentice from Vilwan. Since then, he dueled mages of incredible power, weathered a deadly curse that was known to be unbreakable by his sheer will-power and initiative, developed a new way to conduct magic and helped lead an army. But what's more important is that Kerrigan truly became a confident, strong-willed young man who knows what he is capable of and takes the role of a leader with all his responsibility. Now, when Kerrigan is jumped on by unknown beast and dragged off into the forest when camping with his companions, he just blasts the creature through its maw, cooking it inside out, and he is more bothered by the fact that he got earth all over his clothes, while Kerrigan as he were in 'Fortress Draconis', despite being powerful and actually invulnerable, would've screamed and fainted. That episode alone is enough evidence of how massive Kerrigan's character development is compared to the first book. Kerrigan becomes a master of his fate when he stands his ground against the magisters of Vilwan and refuses to follow the path chosen for him by others, and there is no doubt that he rightfully earned the position he reaches in the end.

- Engaging side characters. 'DragonCrown War' is an epic saga that encompasses a plethora of side characters in addition to the main heroes, so there is always someone for me to cheer on – and now that some of the heroes from the first book are either dead or disappointed me, the secondary characters had almost all my attention. Prince Erlstoke practically claimed the place of my second favourite character as he became the leader that his nation so desperately needed and continued his struggle with Chytrine, and general Adrogans had been one of my favourites ever since he was introduced, and I came to respect him even more now. The way he dispatched of one of Chytrine's sullanciri by turning her own power against her was certainly awe-inspiring, and I can only applaud him for how he led the whole campaign, managing to cope with dragonels and save the day in the final battle. Resolute is another character that really shines in the final. I have to admit that I didn’t exactly relate to Resolute before, regarding him more as a force of nature than a person, so powerful was his infamous determination and fortitude in saving his homeland. Ever since Resolute was first introduced in 'The Dark Glory War', every moment of his life was devoted to reclaiming Vorquellyn, and that became his only objective in life – and in a wonderful twist, by defining himself by his struggle with Chytrine, Resolute unwittingly allowed himself to fall into her trap. But ultimately, Resolute is much more than a killing machine and the enemy of Chytrine, and we get a better look at the person behind it all, at his strength of mind and desire to create a better world hiding behind his rough exterior. That's why I love the way Resolute's personal journey ended – the war with Chytrine changed him and left his scarred mentally as well as physically, but he was strong enough to overcome it and find another goal in life.

Isaura and Sayce surprised me in a good way – while it could be said about the previous books that, with the exception of Alexia, the story lacked profound and well-developed female characters, it's not the case there. Isaura in particular had always been a fascinating character due to her being brought up in the very heart of Chytrine's kingdom, which caused her to possess a grey morality and screwed perspective of right and wrong. Now she manages to see past her limited view of the world and makes very bold and dangerous decisions that turn her life upside down and move the plot forward. Sayce didn't have much of an opportunity to demonstrate her character development, as she spends most of the story as a prisoner, but she definitely showed a great personal growth, and I've grown to care for her a lot. Even Naysmith and Rounce, the characters that we haven't seen since 'The Dark Glory War', reappear, and while they never reclaim their role as the major characters, they still play an important part in the plot, and it was very enjoyable to see them again. However, I'm not sure whether or not I should be glad of Lombo's re-appearance - on the one hand, he faced the fate worse than death, being twisted and corrupted behind recognition, but on the other hand, he is not exactly dead, and even after becoming an undead monster, Lombo is still awesome as heck. I lost count of how many times he had saved the heroes, withstanding the damage that would've killed someone else several times over, so to me, Lombo is the hero of the story no less than Kerrigan or Alexia. And Dranae was a character that I got attached to ever since he was introduced in 'Fortress Draconis', and the role he played throughout the whole trilogy is nothing if not heroic. All in all, there is only one drawback to having so many wonderfully fleshed-out and likable secondary characters: it makes it especially painful when they die, which is almost inevitable in the conclusion of an epic saga like this one.

- Interesting plotline. While the plot of 'The Grand Crusade' has its flaws, it was engaging enough to keep me on the edge of my seat as I followed the story. Compared to the second book, there is a lot more of court intrigues and internal politics of the countries united by war that made me remember 'Fortress Draconis', the book that excelled at portraying the intricate power play between countries that each possesses their own agenda. Moreover, Chytrine seems to know every step her enemies take beforehand, making the heroes suspect that she has a spy in the royal council – or are there several spies? Even in Aurolan, the land where Chytrine indisputably rules, there are enough secrets and intrigues, and characters with their own goals and ambitions threatening to tear it apart. Even sullanciri, the Dark Lancers created by Chytrine to do her bidding, don't always act with her interests in mind. For a long while I kept wondering whether Nefray-kesh was actually secretly working against Chytrine, since he had been behaving as Kenwick Norrington, his old self, more and more often, making me question his loyalties and the possibility of him being a part of the prophecy. I wasn't sure whom I could trust throughout the book, and that made the story even more gripping.

There were a lot of strong twists that I didn't see coming at all, and what was even more impressive is how every turn of the plot made the hints and details from previous books come together, putting the whole picture together as if it were a puzzle and creating a truly grand final. Some of the twists surprised me, like the decision to reforge Temmer, some of them were the ones I anticipated, like the revelation concerning the Black Dragon and the Communion, and some of them come from nowhere, like Isaura’s parentage and Kenwick Norrington’s secret, but all in all, the final really managed to impress me. And while the book didn't exactly answer every last one of my questions, leaving me slightly baffled at how certain plot elements could have worked and why certain events happened, we also saw the story unfold in its fullest, with almost every detail set beforehand playing its own role in the grand final and all the loose ends tied, so I was more than impressed by the plot.

Cons:

- Alexia and Crow. Both of them were very disappointing characters to read about, especially Crow. Where is that wise mentor and noble warrior that was introduced in 'Fortress Draconis'? Where was the fighter who swore to free Vorquellyn and stop Chytrine? Where was the survivor that was exiled because he dared to stand before the kings and tell them the truth no one wanted to hear? It seems like everyone, starting with Alexia and ending with the narration itself, is determined to make a martyr out of Crow, and that makes me crazy. Sure, Crow had dark and terrible past, and he went through a lot of loss and grief, but the events that still haunt him happened twenty five years ago, he should've gotten over it instead of pitying himself all the time. Why is he still agonizing over his father’s rejection and his family’s honor when the final battle with Chytrine draws close and there is a real possibility of her winning? Shouldn't he be past daddy issues already? And what was the point of the plot thread revealing Kenwick Norrington to be Crow’s half-brother? It added nothing except creating additional drama for Crow, of which there was plenty already, and highlighting the inconvenience of the culture involving wearing masks all the time. Yes, the fact that Kenwick is not actually a Norrington influences the way prophecy unfolds, but it doesn’t actually change anything except giving Crow yet another reason to be plagued by guilt.

And Crow and Alexia are just so incredibly cheesy and sappy together! Their relationship is so perfect that it makes me cringe, because when these two are together, their romance takes over the plot. There was even an episode when Alexia asked Crow about his previous lovers, and I thought that she was actually having insecurities about their relationship due to the age difference between them and Crow's past experiences - but nope, it turned out that Alyx was neither jealous nor afraid, once again proving to be perfect. Well, I never exactly liked Alexia in the first place, but I could've lived with that if her romance with Crow didn't turn him into an extremely boring character.

- New concepts introduced too late. 'The Grand Crusade', as one may expect from the final book, features a number of unexpected revelations, but not all of them work with the existing worldbuilding and storyline. With that I mean first and foremost the introduction of the Oromise, an ancient race that had been at war with the dragons for centuries, and the revelation that they are the true villains behind Chytrine. In my opinion, such ground-breaking and world-changing element shouldn't be introduced in the last book of the series without proper build-up, and there wasn't any of it. Moreover, I despise how the inclusion of the Oromise into the story downgrades Chytrine from a ruthless and terrifying villain to the minion of some greater evil. Chytrine had always been an amazing villain that was cunning and manipulative enough to turn almost any situation into her favor and use her enemies against each other, so seeing her wheedling before her Oromise 'masters' was really demeaning to her character. Not to mention the fact that 'the ultimate evil sealed underground manipulates the villain into releasing it' is far from an original trope in storytelling.

Besides, I can’t help but notice how the dragons' Truestones resemble Eldunari from ‘Inheritance Cycle’, both of them being the essence of a dragon’s soul that can be removed from its body and that can continue living even after the body’s death. I even went so far as to check when both series were first published, and while it turned out that ‘The Grand Crusade’ was written first, I still read ‘Inheritance Cycle’ before it, so the concept wasn’t so unique and exciting to me.

- Pacing problems. Lots of events happened in ‘The Grand Crusade’, but even despite all the twists and surprises I was bored with the story for the most part because the pacing was so slow. The heroes were spending enough time in the courts of kings and queens for me to wish for battles and sieges, but oddly, even when the armies set out to war things seemed to slow down even more. My problem with pacing wasn’t just the fact that it was slow, but it was inconsistent as well. It dragged a lot, but then there were moments when I wanted the story to slow down and explore some situation or predicament, and instead it was rushed or skipped altogether. For example, there’s the instance when Resolute, the one who terrorized Chytrine for hundreds of years and became a legend for it, is finally captured by her forces and imprisoned. I expected this to grow into a tense sideplot exploring how Resolute and his friends deal with it, but this opportunity was completely wasted, since Resolute spends literally a page in the cell before being rescued off-screen, and he is reunited with the rest of the heroes in the next chapter. Pacing may not seem as crucial to the story as characters or plot, but it can make the book into a page-turner or make it drag on, it can highlight its strong points and mask its faults or bring them to the forefront. And in ‘The Grand Crusade’, pacing certainly leaves much to be desired.

[Daniel Millard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very, very good conclusion to an excellent trilogy that feels more like a four- or five-part series, and could have gone on longer. My primary gripe with this trilogy is its very ending - the campaign against Chytrine succeeds (as the reader always knew it would) in spectacular and dramatic fashion, but the last few chapters, as is often the case, feel so pell-mell and hurried. We barely get to experience the victory, and its all over without very much savor - though the epilogue helps somewhat with closure from the point of view of all major characters.

About halfway through this entry, the bombs start dropping - deaths of important characters on both sides, plot revelations, new details about the Norrington (And other) prophecies and the elven homelands, etc. It's some pretty exciting writing that's very gripping throughout. This is only marred by the final battle between Alexia's army and Nefrai-Kesh's, as well as the final confrontation with Chytrine. I expected big, dramatic things to be happening, but the fast resolution of both of these led me to think "why did we wait this long when it was this simple?", which leads me to believe Stackpole ran out of words or inspiration and had to finish in a rush.

The good characters all push through and become really distinct and worthy of attachment by the end of this story. That most noticeably includes Sayce, Kerrigan, Resolute, and Adrogans. Alexia still seems too problematic and situationally competent for me to love her as a character, and Crow is really stuck in "damaged old man" status, emotionally and mentally. The Norrington prophecy plays out very satisfyingly, but Crow himself is not as exciting (or maybe just too wordy) as his history and relationships would suggest.

Of all three books, this one's the heaviest on military operations by far, and not for the worse. It's essentially the story of the final military campaign, broken down across its parts. However, reader enjoyment may vary especially with this third volume dependent upon how much one likes military fantasy.

The Epilogue by itself, capped by Crow's letter to his sons, is one of the most satisfying closing pieces of fiction I've read in a long while, and does a good job redeeming the concatenated conclusion of this story. This trilogy will be staying on my shelf permanently.

[T J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Norrington is dead, leaving everyone wondering if the prophesy would ever come true. Will's friends must keep fighting the Nor-Witch if they are to survive. This is one page turning exciting read with twist and turns that keep you guessing who will win this deadly war.

[Kei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful ending to the series.
Some surprises, some things foreshadowed solidly, though skillfully, rather than with a baseball bat.

[Sue Shipley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the characters and action of this book. A stirring ending to the series. Crow, Resolute, Alexi and Will fight their way to a peaceful world

[FunttiDiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ma chronique ici.

[Colin Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

For as drawn out as the rest of the books are, everything wraps up VERY quickly. Kind of disappointing.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of all of the books I've ever bought or had purchased for me since I turned about ten years old, there are only four I have ever straight up thrown away. One of these was Wizard's First Rule (obvious) and the other three were The DragonCrown War Cycle books.

That sounds pretty harsh and I don't mean it to be - except about Wizard's First Rule, because Goodkind... yeah. This trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole was not on that level of badness. It was not terrible at all, in fact. It was decidedly mediocre. It was a series of fantasy books at a time I was reading a lot of fantasy books and there was basically nothing, either in the setting, or plot, or writing style to make it stand out from any of these others. I could not imagine ever wanting to read these three books again, I could not imagine a situation where I would lend them to others, and so, about six years later when I moved all of my books from one place to the next, I tossed the four I mentioned.

What I will say about The DragonCrown War Cycle is it would be a very good bunch of books to have for a plane trip. You know, you impulse buy it in an airport book store for when you're waiting to board and for when you're cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet or whatever. It's a fast read, maybe you buy the second book for the return flight. I don't know where the third book fits in this analogy but the point is you forget about it as soon as you're done with it and your trip ends and you go back home. And you stick it somewhere and then you find it again years later and you don't really want it any more but none of your friends would want it either, nor can you picture it as the kind of book you would want to donate anywhere, and it's not exactly the kind of book that you're going to hang on to on the off chance you want to shovel a bunch of nerdy reading material at your hypothetical future nerd child(ren) (look, don't judge me, OK?), so... sorry, books.

I feel vaguely guilty even confessing this, actually. But I figure, I paid for the books, the royalties (I assume) went to the appropriate party, so after that point it was up to me what to do with them, and it turns out that something was stick them in a closet for six years and then throw away.

[Xeddicus · Rating 3 out of 5]

So everyone makes it except Bok who gets offed out of the blue kind of at the end by a gun shot. Sucks for him. Oh, Lobo the wraith gets skinned, then eaten too.

Resolute kills Scrainwood who had got all of Cathy's knowledge. Then doesn't get bounded to his redeemed homeland because he goes and makes his own.

Erlstroke becomes king. His brother marries Sayce.

Alex and Crow have 2 boys and some # of daughters. He plans on showing them not Will.

Will is still not-will the Rock Monster, but got to kill Cathy by being vaporized then reforming inside her and busting out so there's that. He's going around smashing evil for all time.

General A becomes new the Dragon fort Baron. No secrets of canons for anyone.

Reese lays the smack down on the mages and becomes the new Grand Master. But they nations won't let him destroy the crown, of course. Not sure they could stop him and the dragons, but they went with it.

[Shari Mulluane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been trying to figure out why something felt slightly off about this last book. The action was good, there were surprises, twists and turns to savor, I cannot think of any loose ends that are not resolved but something failed to leave me satisfied. Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed it, it was a great book, and a fast read. I had a stake in the characters and truly wanted to know how everything turned out. Granted, as with any prophecy driven book, you know how it will end, good wins and evil loses, but the joy is in the journey taken to reach that goal. I am not sure; maybe it is the fate of The Norrington that bothers me, that did not strike a realistic cord with me. However, I am not going to give any detail about that, you will just have to read it and form your own opinion. This a great series with awesome writing, characters you can identify with and detail will amaze even a non-military lover. This world is, in my opinion, well worth the price of admission.

Full Review Here:

Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for the quadrilogy (a prequel and then the three in the DragonCrown War Cycle) as a whole, not just this one book. It's grand entertainment! There's magic, elves, kings, queens (good and evil), dragons, other unique races, action, warfare, a smidgen of romance (but not too much) and a big ole' prophecy that's central to all the action. The characters were well fleshed out. One thing that makes a book good (for me, at least) is when you care about what happens to the characters, whether you want them to prevail or you want them to die, and that was definitely the case here. The viewpoint would switch back and forth between all the main characters, something that be bothersome if not done well. Not the case here. The one criticism I do have (and it's a small one) is the battle scenes. There were a lot of them and after a while, they got a bit tiresome. That was not a deal-breaker, however. This was just wonderful, enjoyable, well-written entertainment.

[Troy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once saw an interview with Mr. Stackpole in which he described his philosophy to writing this book. Short chapters. As the end of each chapter approaches, you should look for a cliff hanger to end the chapter on. He said something like "This will make your book a quick read. It might be crap, but everyone will tell you it was a page turner"

He succeeded in making this book a page turner. I read it as fast as humanly possible. Staying up most of the night to get it finished. I enjoyed every moment reading this book. I was never bored, I was never annoyed. It isn't a novel worthy of prestige that will be cherished by future generations, but it is one hell of a read.

[IbnQamar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, this was a disappointment.

Killing off a major character is a move that takes guts. Killing off a major character in a non-satisfying method is even more gutsy. But doing so demands a high payoff from the author, and The Grand Crusade fails to provide. Tantalizing hints are replaced with a "gotcha" method which falls utterly flat. While Stackpole's desire to break away from traditional fantasy narrative is well-taken, the execution needs work.

The first two volumes in this series (Dark Glory War and Fortress Draconis) are superlative. This one...not so much.

[Brian Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending to the DragonWar saga, The Grand Crusade wraps up the war that has ravaged the lands. The two main bad guys Chytrine, an ancient evil elf who wants to take over the world for her demonic masters; and Scrainwood, the cowardly king that tried to kill Crow and hamper Crow and his team in the previous novels of the series; are killed in an epic fashion, giving our heroes an age of peace. The heroes do live happily ever after except for Will, but the Norrington does fulfill the prophecy. Highly recommended for epic fantasy fans.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion the this wonderful DargaonCrown war series. What I liked about this series was that it was an unconventional fantasy series. There was technology and Magic, the elves were not always nice and the writing was gritty and descriptive. It also had good use of military battles in here. I would recommend this to fans who have read fantasy for awhile and are looking for something different.

[Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misschien is het omdat ik in boek 3 begon en het Engels is (waar ik normaal geen problemen mee heb). Maar ik kon de personages niet volgen. Het waren er teveel en ik kon me er geen voorstelling van maken. Plus ik vond het vreemd dat ze allerlei vreemde samenstellingen van mensen (met vleugels, extra benen etc.) wel normaal vinden, maar draken niet.
Maar dat ligt waarschijnlijk aan het feit dat ik de vorige 2 boeken niet heb gelezen.

[Atul Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among my favorites wraps ups to a series, ever.

Would love to revisit thee characters. Author moved on to a historical fantasy revolutionary war series, which isn't bad, but this series truly created about 4, maybe 4 stand out, original characters.
And that's not even counting Will.
The elves in this series are original, heroic, and tragic.
The magic was some of the best written I've come across in the genre, best explained, best explored; you know what I mean if you read the genre.

[Kateri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a brilliant conclusion to the Dragon Crown Cycle. I was really impressed that it was not a "perfect" happy ending, as that would not have fit the rest of the series. I didn't love the series at the beginning, and the second book had a really killer, cliff-hanger ending. But this book made it all worth it. Excellent.

[Donna Maroulis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and characters, but there were too many varying creatures to keep track of them all--a bit confusing. It was a very lengthy book, even though I liked it , I was getting impatient to be done...

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The DragonCrown War Cycle is a deep, rich fantasy trilogy with a complex plot and vivid characters. I didn't want it to end.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the end of this book. I didn't like the one guy(leaving un-named so you don't get a spoiler) in it ending up alone, but other than that it was great!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion of the DragonCrown War series. Lots of detailed military action and wrapped up the storylines of the characters. I found it a pretty good read and was satisfied with the ending.

[Brandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried twice. Too slow. Sad to be the ending book of the series.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole I enjoyed the series but was disappointed with the ending.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most satisfying wrap up to a very engaging series .. even if I did skip quickly through some of the battle sequences.

[Marielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

....