The Eunuch's Heir

The Singer's Crown #2

by Elaine Isaak

Wild prince of the realm Wolfram duRhys spends his days carousing and wenching—anything to avoid the legacy of his revered father, Kattanan duRhys, who saved the kingdom and created a legend impossible to match. But when his carefree existence is shattered by an assassination attempt, he discovers that he's been living a lie and a dark destiny awaits. Fleeing to a distant land of magic and mystery, he finds the love of a cloistered virgin, the ire of a priestess with a plan for bloody revenge, and a cult that would claim all those he holds dear. But a much darker threat looms that will either save his land or leave it in utter ruin. Sweeping magical adventure, political intrigue, and romance unite in this stunning follow-up to The Singer's Crown .

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Anne Osterlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolfram duRhys can never live up to his father’s legend, his mother’s expectations, or the role of crown prince.

When someone tries to kill him, he flees. Trying to keep the demon within him at bay.

He sets out on an unplanned journey, with a cousin he doesn’t trust, into a kingdom supposedly at war. What he finds is a river with no water. A temple to the stars. And a princess. More hazardous than even the demon within.

The Eunuch’s Heir, Elaine Isaac’s sequel to The Singer’s Crown, is a wild, haphazard journey with a hundred threads, all hanging in suspense for the final 150 pages of unraveling. Plenty of action, fantasy-world development, and danger. And more than one encounter with a ferocious wild cat. But I especially appreciated the relationship between Wolfram and his father.

Note: The Eunuch’s Heir features a separate main character and a different generation than The Singer’s Crown, but I would recommend reading The Singer’s Crown first, both because it is a good read and because it lays much of the groundwork for the second novel.

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got this as a digital rental. After reading to 20% I just never went back to it. I'm a fast reader and it took me forever to get that far, well not, but it certainly felt like forever.

Did not start on a good note and I just don't care to see if it gets any better.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's tough to shake the impression that this fantasy, with a fairy-tale level of complexity, is a bit by-the-numbers.

[Tori · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only reason I read this is that I promised the author I would. I wanted to like it, and there is nothing wrong with the story or writing--I'm sure many other people would enjoy this--but it is entirely the wrong book for me. It is filled with lies, secrets, and betrayal, and the only character I really liked in her world dies. As I generally avoid reading any book that has the word betrayal on the cover, you can see why this distressed me. Worse, while I certainly felt sympathy for the main character and was satisfied with the ending, I did not like him nor want to spend time with him. It was hard reading when the lies just went on and on and on and supposedly good people kept doing the wrong things for stupid reasons--over and over and over. AAaaarrrggghhh!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first 75 pages or so of this book I wanted to claw my eyes out while reading it. I think it was the entire premise of the book, with Wolfram going overseas with Melody and the whole religions clashing thing - I hated it.

But, because I had nothing else to read I stuck with it and slowly got sucked into the plot, although it was probably only when they got back from Faedre's land that I really got interested.

So, the last half of the book was better than the first book, but the first half of this book made the last half not as good. What does that amount to? A mediocre 3-star book that is only a touch better than the previous one.

[Tucker]

This is a follow-up to The Singer's Crown in which the main character is a eunuch. In this book, The Eunuch's Heir, the eunuch seems to be already deceased--thus there are no eunuchs in the book, based on some cursory page-flipping. My understanding from The Singer's Crown was that the eunuch had two sons, of a sort--one by adoption, and one by some kind of superstitious assumption or actual magic.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I actually read it twice.. the 2nd time I had forgotten until about half-way through.... but kept reading anyway. Fantastic characters I could sympathize with and fall in love with.

[Sue Klasing · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a good book but a little too deep for me. I think the younger generation would enjoy this more than I did.

[Jocelynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The characters were memorable and I felt for them.

[Carla Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accidentally read this book first, but everything was still pretty easy to follow. I really hope to see another book from Isaak.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a random library find and it was a very decent find. I was irritated that there was a previous book but dispute that the book was good.