Queen of Oblivion

Heartstone Trilogy #3

by Giles Carwyn, Todd Fahnestock

Journey beyond Ohndarien to the fallen city of Efften in the stunning conclusion to the epic Heartstone Trilogy A fallen hero defies his destiny . . .
A scarred sorceress fights for love . . .
A vindictive lover clings to hope . . .
And a father of lies calls his family home . . . "You must teach a lost child how to love." With his dying words, the Opal Emperor leaves Brophy, the Heir of Autumn, with an impossible betray his heart by seducing the enchantress Arefaine Morgeon, or watch her ruthless ambitions destroy the world. As Brophy fights to stop Arefaine from unleashing the ancient menace trapped within the silver towers of Efften, the sorceress-concubine Shara returns to her beloved city of Ohndarien to find its people enslaved by the same sinister voice leading Arefaine to her doom. Shara and Brophy rush to bring the truth to Arefaine before the horrors of Efften are reborn, but the darkness within their own hearts may prove the greatest threat . . .

Genres: Fantasy

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not as happy with this book as te first two novels. The book should have been about 100 pages shorter. It was kind of obvious what was going to happen at the end and the authors could have gotten there quicker but they wasted time with some subplots in earlier books that then had to be tied off in this novel -- and at least one of those subplots -- with the Summermen was completely wasted in this story, which was a shame because two of the characters Lawlon and her mate were fun.

In this story Shara and Brophy are re-united and with Arefaine finally meet the master of the dark magic and have to defeat him. Prior to that story arc we have the Islanders in the form of Reef and Osamyr trying to fight Arefaine, -- which does have a great navel battle scene.

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this fantasy trilogy immensely. If you enjoy fantasy novels then there is no reason you will not enjoy Book 1 (Heir of Autumn), Book 2 (Mistress of Winter), and Book 3 (Queen of Oblivion).

[Kes · Rating 3 out of 5]

He didn't say anything for a time, and then: "How do lynch mobs form? How do gang rapes start? Why do big kids pick on little kids?" he said softly. "Sometimes people are..."

"What?" she asked softly. "What are we?"

"Stupid, sad, lost. We'll do anything to feel part of something important."

This was a lot better than the previous book, even though some parts seemed contrived. The start was gloomy - I felt that if Shara had posted her story on any relationship advice column, she would be told to Move On. She's had sixteen more years of "living" than Brophy - I would have felt that gap in maturity (Brophy's 15 or 16 to Shara's 30s) would be insurmountable. But that was just ignored.

The best part, in my opinion, was Efflum's speech to Arafeine, when he's asking her to trust him: "Am I the father who spilled his seed to create your limbs and the color of your hair? No. But I am the father who will sacrifice his life to make your dreams come true." We're not supposed to sympathise with him because we know that Efflum is evil, but I did enjoy his perspective - that he was effectively her foster father. But yeah, he shouldn't have started the relationship based on lies.

There were a whole lot of assholes in this book, and I felt sorry for Arafeine at the end of it. But I did like that Brophy stayed faithful to Shara.

I wouldn't recommend this series at all. It was innovative but ultimately, just ok. I'll give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 just to be kind.

[Rey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review applies to all three books in the Heartstone Trilogy.

The world the authors create is well woven, with a tangibility that permeates the pages. The characters and settings were rich with the texture of this world. And the world is close enough to our own that one guesses that some commentary is assessed by the authors. But the fantasy element of magic is also deeply present. I thought that in the first book, the magic and the world stood rather apart from each other, with the world super rich and the magic rather aloof from the world and rather icky. The ickiness of the magic was a neat change for me, but there were way too many rapes for me throughout the series, especially as there isn't much in the books to really balance the vileness of rape. Sure, there is always hope, but it wasn't enough to keep me happily invested in the story.

[Kara Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I was somewhat disappointed. The last book in this series was incredible but this one was just okay. There were parts of it that I really liked but there were other parts that bored me. I liked the ending quite a bit but most of this book just did not wow me.