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The Tale of Lanen Kaelar #3
Redeeming the Lost
The prophecies are coming true and the ancient race of the Kantri-or true dragons-have come back to the world of Men. It was through the actions of Young Lanen Kaelar that the Kantri were reminded of the larger world. It was bravery (and a mad belief in the old tales) that caused the young woman to start a perilous journey to find the great dragons of legend. In doing so, she found not only the reality of the myth but her own true love. He was the great Dragon King, an immensely powerful creature out of time who ultimately chose life over death, a puny mortal form rather than the power of a kingship to be with this most extraordinary woman. As he is Dragon in Man's form, the being known as Varien has risked much to stay by Lanen's side.
Their haven destroyed, the Kantri have chosen instead of seeking a new home to return to the land of their greatest defeat and to the fear of the people who rejected their aid so long ago. They bring ancient power and knowledge and the Kantri have come to see what the "littlings" have made of their world.
And much of what they find distresses them. For humans have squandered much of their heritage, the small dragons that were left behind are little more than cattle...and there are those who do remember the ancient ways...and have allied themselves with the race of demons who long to destroy all the world. The Kantri are disturbed and look to Varien and Lanen help them redeem what has been lost so long ago and make the world right again.
But Lanen is captured by the human demon-master Berys, who seeks to corrupt the ancient prophecy. He will try to use Lanen's new-found powers to gain control of the very fabric of the universe and in doing so, secure the demon forces of the otherworld and rule forever.
It is up to her true love Varien and one of the most unlikely alliances ever seen to rescue Lanen. And if Varien fails, not only will Lanen's life and the fates of his beloved Kantri hang in the balance. For the stage is now set for a confrontation between the forces of light and darkness...and if the good fail, not only will the Kantri fail but the human world will be doomed as well...
Their haven destroyed, the Kantri have chosen instead of seeking a new home to return to the land of their greatest defeat and to the fear of the people who rejected their aid so long ago. They bring ancient power and knowledge and the Kantri have come to see what the "littlings" have made of their world.
And much of what they find distresses them. For humans have squandered much of their heritage, the small dragons that were left behind are little more than cattle...and there are those who do remember the ancient ways...and have allied themselves with the race of demons who long to destroy all the world. The Kantri are disturbed and look to Varien and Lanen help them redeem what has been lost so long ago and make the world right again.
But Lanen is captured by the human demon-master Berys, who seeks to corrupt the ancient prophecy. He will try to use Lanen's new-found powers to gain control of the very fabric of the universe and in doing so, secure the demon forces of the otherworld and rule forever.
It is up to her true love Varien and one of the most unlikely alliances ever seen to rescue Lanen. And if Varien fails, not only will Lanen's life and the fates of his beloved Kantri hang in the balance. For the stage is now set for a confrontation between the forces of light and darkness...and if the good fail, not only will the Kantri fail but the human world will be doomed as well...
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
20 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Kerner
5 books197 followersElizabeth Kerner (1958–) is a fantasy writer. She is the author of Song in the Silence, The Lesser Kindred, and Redeeming the Lost, the initial trilogy of a series based upon humans re-establishing contact with dragons, who fled mortal lands thousands of years ago for reasons unknown.
An American by birth, she moved to Scotland in 1976 to attend the University of St. Andrews. She obtained an MA (Hons) in English Language and Literature in 1981. She has since lived in New Orleans, East Sussex, Edinburgh, Hilo (Hawai'i), Forest Grove (Oregon) and Edinburgh again. Her day jobs have included being apprenticed to a variety of folk (mostly in Hilo) — a gold-smith, a book binder, and a short career as an assistant furniture and artwork restorer. In 1995 she moved back to her beloved Edinburgh, since which time she has spent 6 years, on and off, as a copy-editor on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a cutting-edge astronomy journal. In 2002 she married Dr Steven Beard, continuing the astronomy connection. They presently live with two cats in a small town on the Firth of Forth.
She is currently working on the next three books in the Kolmar series, the first due out from Tor Books in 2011
An American by birth, she moved to Scotland in 1976 to attend the University of St. Andrews. She obtained an MA (Hons) in English Language and Literature in 1981. She has since lived in New Orleans, East Sussex, Edinburgh, Hilo (Hawai'i), Forest Grove (Oregon) and Edinburgh again. Her day jobs have included being apprenticed to a variety of folk (mostly in Hilo) — a gold-smith, a book binder, and a short career as an assistant furniture and artwork restorer. In 1995 she moved back to her beloved Edinburgh, since which time she has spent 6 years, on and off, as a copy-editor on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a cutting-edge astronomy journal. In 2002 she married Dr Steven Beard, continuing the astronomy connection. They presently live with two cats in a small town on the Firth of Forth.
She is currently working on the next three books in the Kolmar series, the first due out from Tor Books in 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
June 7, 2010
It was a little strange picking up this book after perhaps two years. I read the first when I was in high school (soon after it came out), then finally read the second just a couple of years ago.
It was a little difficult to get into at first, I think probably due to the fact that it really seems that book 2 and 3 were meant to be one long novel instead of two separate ones. It took a while to get back into the swing of things. I would definitely recommend to anyone who may be thinking of reading it that they should not leave a long break between books 2 and 3 as I did.
The build-up to the end was absolutely fantastic and really good. I could hardly put it down! The book brought me to tears more than once both in sad and emotional scenes.
I did feel in some ways that perhaps the ending was just a little bit too clean and perfect. Also it was difficult for me to really get into the heads of the villains when I had to read from their point of view. Sometimes it seemed like too much time was spent justifying what the villains were doing rather than just describing what was going on.
In the end though, it was a solid trilogy and one I'm glad to have read!
It was a little difficult to get into at first, I think probably due to the fact that it really seems that book 2 and 3 were meant to be one long novel instead of two separate ones. It took a while to get back into the swing of things. I would definitely recommend to anyone who may be thinking of reading it that they should not leave a long break between books 2 and 3 as I did.
The build-up to the end was absolutely fantastic and really good. I could hardly put it down! The book brought me to tears more than once both in sad and emotional scenes.
I did feel in some ways that perhaps the ending was just a little bit too clean and perfect. Also it was difficult for me to really get into the heads of the villains when I had to read from their point of view. Sometimes it seemed like too much time was spent justifying what the villains were doing rather than just describing what was going on.
In the end though, it was a solid trilogy and one I'm glad to have read!
February 7, 2024
Let me talk about magic systems. Its hard to compliment a magic system in a novel, because it is so often used to handwave away cliches, bad prose, or M/Gary Sues. While you don't have to explicitly detail every single in and out of a system, the general rules and limitations need to be outlined for the reader. A system with rules allows you to be consistent and clever. A system without rules is an asshole you can pull anything out of. I'll come back to this in a moment.
Redeeming the Lost is a hot mess of a book. Lanen remains mostly a spectator in her own story. Akhor continues to oscillate between extreme emotions, sometimes within the same paragraph or sentence. There's a lot of repetition from previous books as well as within this one - we are subjugated to the "I'm finally with with love of my life but I can't fly so my life is ruined" angsty argument on at least 3 more occasions, with no real resolution.
A lot of plot threads/ideas are introduced and either solved immediately or forgotten. Practically every healer in the land is taken over with a demon and told to sow chaos - murdering, stealing, etc. Think about what it would be like if every hospital was suddenly filled with Jasons and Freddys. Yeah. What we're shown are about 2 healers that say some mean things that get people upset briefly. Humans are suspicious of dragons...for about the length of a conversation. There's no public proof of Lanen's parentage, but when .
The Aiala/Lesser Kindred have been awakened, and they can all unambiguously see the future. They mention this future sight once and it is never mentioned or used again. They do not join any of the major battles, and only Salera has any lines. They are treated as a separate subspecies of dragon with a separate culture, meaning they also don't help the dying Katri breed we met in the first book. Salera's biggest contribution to the plot was to ask another character to share their feelings in the most awkward way possible, then exit stage right. As much as I like dragons, the Aiala could have been cut with no real loss to the plot, and would significantly tighten up the book. Everything they did could have been done by the other two dragon groups.
Then we have the Aral/Vilkas/Will storyline. Will does nothing in the book except pine over Aral. Aral does a bit more, but the majority of time is spent pining over Vil. Vilkas wallows in self-admonishment. Its just angst all the way down. Again, we get a lot of repetitive conversations about the love triangle. The actual resolution at the end is grossly unsatisfying. The love triangle is resolved by Aral immediately latching on to Will after Vilkas rejects her, despite both her and Will knowing she is settling/not really into him. I hate everything about this. Aral's entire personality is based on obsessing over men. Will's entire personality is to hover around a woman who he knows is not interested in him, creepily sniffing her hair and waiting for her to realize she should be with him - he is a Nice Guy. Will could be cut entirely from the book as well with no loss. Let's force Aral to let go of Vilkas and learn to be her own person instead. If the above cuts were made and the repetition removed, this would easily be a duology, with book one being Kolmar -> Dragon Isle, and book two being Dragon Isle -> Kolmar.
Let's get back to magic systems and the ending. The rules for healing are never really clarified. The rules for demon magic aren't really specified. None of them are. The whole ending is a series of deus ex machinas and random events. The Demonlord keeps saying how he's not really a demon...but this is never expanded on. Why did that matter? We never learn the limits of what can and cannot be done with healing powers, so when Vilkas and Berys face off, they are doing things we've never seen in previous books. Lanen stops Berys at one point using the 'voice of the lady,' which is never explained other than "yeah this totally happens but we've never discussed it until now, and no one knows what it means," and it never happens again. Akhor is but there is no explanation given for either event, other than "It must be the gods/winds!" Even then, the religions aren't even expanded upon. All we know about them is the name of the gods.
Ultimately, the ending ties up all the loose ends, but does so in a really unsatisfying way.
Redeeming the Lost is a hot mess of a book. Lanen remains mostly a spectator in her own story. Akhor continues to oscillate between extreme emotions, sometimes within the same paragraph or sentence. There's a lot of repetition from previous books as well as within this one - we are subjugated to the "I'm finally with with love of my life but I can't fly so my life is ruined" angsty argument on at least 3 more occasions, with no real resolution.
A lot of plot threads/ideas are introduced and either solved immediately or forgotten. Practically every healer in the land is taken over with a demon and told to sow chaos - murdering, stealing, etc. Think about what it would be like if every hospital was suddenly filled with Jasons and Freddys. Yeah. What we're shown are about 2 healers that say some mean things that get people upset briefly. Humans are suspicious of dragons...for about the length of a conversation. There's no public proof of Lanen's parentage, but when .
The Aiala/Lesser Kindred have been awakened, and they can all unambiguously see the future. They mention this future sight once and it is never mentioned or used again. They do not join any of the major battles, and only Salera has any lines. They are treated as a separate subspecies of dragon with a separate culture, meaning they also don't help the dying Katri breed we met in the first book. Salera's biggest contribution to the plot was to ask another character to share their feelings in the most awkward way possible, then exit stage right. As much as I like dragons, the Aiala could have been cut with no real loss to the plot, and would significantly tighten up the book. Everything they did could have been done by the other two dragon groups.
Then we have the Aral/Vilkas/Will storyline. Will does nothing in the book except pine over Aral. Aral does a bit more, but the majority of time is spent pining over Vil. Vilkas wallows in self-admonishment. Its just angst all the way down. Again, we get a lot of repetitive conversations about the love triangle. The actual resolution at the end is grossly unsatisfying. The love triangle is resolved by Aral immediately latching on to Will after Vilkas rejects her, despite both her and Will knowing she is settling/not really into him. I hate everything about this. Aral's entire personality is based on obsessing over men. Will's entire personality is to hover around a woman who he knows is not interested in him, creepily sniffing her hair and waiting for her to realize she should be with him - he is a Nice Guy. Will could be cut entirely from the book as well with no loss. Let's force Aral to let go of Vilkas and learn to be her own person instead. If the above cuts were made and the repetition removed, this would easily be a duology, with book one being Kolmar -> Dragon Isle, and book two being Dragon Isle -> Kolmar.
Let's get back to magic systems and the ending. The rules for healing are never really clarified. The rules for demon magic aren't really specified. None of them are. The whole ending is a series of deus ex machinas and random events. The Demonlord keeps saying how he's not really a demon...but this is never expanded on. Why did that matter? We never learn the limits of what can and cannot be done with healing powers, so when Vilkas and Berys face off, they are doing things we've never seen in previous books. Lanen stops Berys at one point using the 'voice of the lady,' which is never explained other than "yeah this totally happens but we've never discussed it until now, and no one knows what it means," and it never happens again. Akhor is but there is no explanation given for either event, other than "It must be the gods/winds!" Even then, the religions aren't even expanded upon. All we know about them is the name of the gods.
Ultimately, the ending ties up all the loose ends, but does so in a really unsatisfying way.
Read
February 20, 2016I'm not sure if anyone else experiences the need to read books about dragons on a regular basis, but I love dragon books and had gone too long without one.
I broke my usual rule of reading books in order because I picked this up at a used bookstore without checking to see if it was part of the series. Oops! I may have missed a few connections because of that, but I still enjoyed the story and the characters.
I love the world Kerner created and her dragon fighting and flying descriptions are great! Also the dragons sing. Because dragons are magical!
I'm keeping an eye out for the first two books in the series next time I make a book shopping run.
I broke my usual rule of reading books in order because I picked this up at a used bookstore without checking to see if it was part of the series. Oops! I may have missed a few connections because of that, but I still enjoyed the story and the characters.
I love the world Kerner created and her dragon fighting and flying descriptions are great! Also the dragons sing. Because dragons are magical!
I'm keeping an eye out for the first two books in the series next time I make a book shopping run.
January 8, 2024
Very good read in general that left me wanting for some of the more obvious answers.
Of the three books, this one was an interesting mixture of intense action and constant stopping to chat about stuff we know. When the plot was going, man did it go! But every time it had to catch its breath I found myself skimming. As well as noticing that changes of POV's became a bit ridiculous at times. Literally towards the end of the book, we see one pov change to Jamie's where he talks for one paragraph about how hard a battle it was as he was fighting. Was that needed? Not really...
It just seems like this book was meant to be about the final fight and then how the world would deal with dragons suddenly thrust into it, and a woman with half-dragon children in it? But we don't get any of that. The tale ends with the dust settling from battle. It's a very open-ended end. If I didn't know any better I'd think this wasn't the finale even though it's suggested to be.
I enjoyed this trilogy immensely despite my beefs, and it's got a home on my shelf for a while yet.
Of the three books, this one was an interesting mixture of intense action and constant stopping to chat about stuff we know. When the plot was going, man did it go! But every time it had to catch its breath I found myself skimming. As well as noticing that changes of POV's became a bit ridiculous at times. Literally towards the end of the book, we see one pov change to Jamie's where he talks for one paragraph about how hard a battle it was as he was fighting. Was that needed? Not really...
It just seems like this book was meant to be about the final fight and then how the world would deal with dragons suddenly thrust into it, and a woman with half-dragon children in it? But we don't get any of that. The tale ends with the dust settling from battle. It's a very open-ended end. If I didn't know any better I'd think this wasn't the finale even though it's suggested to be.
I enjoyed this trilogy immensely despite my beefs, and it's got a home on my shelf for a while yet.
February 23, 2020
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, if only for the nostalgia factor (it was one of my favorite books as a kid). The sequel saw my interest dwindling. By this third installment, I was having a hard time pushing through.
The continued perspective switches I found grating--character voices often weren't distinct enough for me to remember whose perspective I was reading in once they'd gone on for a few pages, and I'd have to flip back to remind myself who was talking. I'd say Kerner was a bit too liberal with her dialogue tags. (Why are people always growling and snarling things? Please just give me some floating dialogue, I can infer from context what the tone is, I promise!)
Perhaps most annoyingly, this book felt the need to recap key plot points nearly every time we switched perspectives, and nearly every twenty pages or so for good measure. Yes, I know who the Lesser Kindred are! I know how they came to [SPOILER REDACTED]! I literally read it thirty pages ago! You don't need to tell me again! Your readers aren't stupid!
There was also more than a few instances of switching into the present tense for no discernible reason, which is a pet peeve of mine.
Also, while I'm all for villains who are just batshit evil, and I don't think every villain needs to be sympathetic, Berys felt almost cartoonishly evil. Reading from his perspective was jarring. He didn't feel like a believable person.
Lastly, though I loved Lanen and Varien's relationship, all of the other romances felt unnecessary, and I didn't really care about most of the supporting cast. My boy Vilkas should have been gay but that was tenuously implied at best.
Redeeming the Lost had a few touching moments that I enjoyed, and the ending made me smile, but I wouldn't read it again. I might pick up A Song in the Silence again some years down the line and just leave off the two sequels, though.
The continued perspective switches I found grating--character voices often weren't distinct enough for me to remember whose perspective I was reading in once they'd gone on for a few pages, and I'd have to flip back to remind myself who was talking. I'd say Kerner was a bit too liberal with her dialogue tags. (Why are people always growling and snarling things? Please just give me some floating dialogue, I can infer from context what the tone is, I promise!)
Perhaps most annoyingly, this book felt the need to recap key plot points nearly every time we switched perspectives, and nearly every twenty pages or so for good measure. Yes, I know who the Lesser Kindred are! I know how they came to [SPOILER REDACTED]! I literally read it thirty pages ago! You don't need to tell me again! Your readers aren't stupid!
There was also more than a few instances of switching into the present tense for no discernible reason, which is a pet peeve of mine.
Also, while I'm all for villains who are just batshit evil, and I don't think every villain needs to be sympathetic, Berys felt almost cartoonishly evil. Reading from his perspective was jarring. He didn't feel like a believable person.
Lastly, though I loved Lanen and Varien's relationship, all of the other romances felt unnecessary, and I didn't really care about most of the supporting cast. My boy Vilkas should have been gay but that was tenuously implied at best.
Redeeming the Lost had a few touching moments that I enjoyed, and the ending made me smile, but I wouldn't read it again. I might pick up A Song in the Silence again some years down the line and just leave off the two sequels, though.
April 2, 2018
The author wraps up everything nicely in this last book, though there are still great magical events happening with absolutely no explanation except that it must be the providence of the Lady (or the Winds). The story picks up where the second book left off, with Lanen in the hands of Berys and the dragons having safely completed their homecoming to Kolmar.
Much of the book is focused on efforts to rescue Lanen and subsequently to bring down Berys and the revived Demonlord. The resolution to both story is decently satisfying but nothing surprising; we've known for a while that Lanen is the Demonlord's weakness. I wish there had been more of a clever twist to how the Demonlord was defeated as the actual ending was fairly anticlimactic for me.
The author finally introduces Maran to the story, and we learn her whole history including why she left Lanen and Jamie with Hadron. The long awaited reunion between Maran and Lanen went as well as expected, and I'm happy to see that they're making the effort to forge new bonds. I will admit, I didn't really understand the author's reasoning for keeping Jamie with Rella. Maran has loved Jamie her whole life and never taken any lover after Hadron, and obviously Jamie still has some of his feelings for her as well. How does his new relationship with Rella (which seemed to come out of the blue for me) supercede all this history, especially when Jamie practically raised Lanen?
I was also really over all the angst between Lanen and Akor near the end of the story. When he finally stormed off because he couldn't bear to be around her a second longer, and those feelings were apparently also reciprocated by Lanen, I was mentally rolling my eyes at the unnecessary drama. I'm glad they resolved it by the end but I can't say I really agree with the method of resolution, even though I saw it coming.
Overall I'd probably rate this series somewhere between 2-2.5 stars. Wouldn't go back and reread but it was okay for a quick read.
Much of the book is focused on efforts to rescue Lanen and subsequently to bring down Berys and the revived Demonlord. The resolution to both story is decently satisfying but nothing surprising; we've known for a while that Lanen is the Demonlord's weakness. I wish there had been more of a clever twist to how the Demonlord was defeated as the actual ending was fairly anticlimactic for me.
The author finally introduces Maran to the story, and we learn her whole history including why she left Lanen and Jamie with Hadron. The long awaited reunion between Maran and Lanen went as well as expected, and I'm happy to see that they're making the effort to forge new bonds. I will admit, I didn't really understand the author's reasoning for keeping Jamie with Rella. Maran has loved Jamie her whole life and never taken any lover after Hadron, and obviously Jamie still has some of his feelings for her as well. How does his new relationship with Rella (which seemed to come out of the blue for me) supercede all this history, especially when Jamie practically raised Lanen?
I was also really over all the angst between Lanen and Akor near the end of the story. When he finally stormed off because he couldn't bear to be around her a second longer, and those feelings were apparently also reciprocated by Lanen, I was mentally rolling my eyes at the unnecessary drama. I'm glad they resolved it by the end but I can't say I really agree with the method of resolution, even though I saw it coming.
Overall I'd probably rate this series somewhere between 2-2.5 stars. Wouldn't go back and reread but it was okay for a quick read.
October 28, 2014
I did like the overall journey, but the first person/ past tense "journal" style of these books never did become less awkward to read (especially because it involves multiple POV), the villains were all idiots, the protagonists all broke out in to painfully whiny angst given half a chance, and the ending was a sickening sweet Happily Ever After that managed to gloss over the years afterwards and yet disappointingly failed to mention any major consequences or outcomes.
There are some dark moments in a classic Good vs Evil way, but they aren't really delved in to and in the end things never feel too perilous or particularly difficult even when we're told how bone weary everyone is. I come away with the impression that despite character deaths and an "epic" battle, the whole book is mostly fluff revolving around Lanen and Varien/ Akhor.
There are some dark moments in a classic Good vs Evil way, but they aren't really delved in to and in the end things never feel too perilous or particularly difficult even when we're told how bone weary everyone is. I come away with the impression that despite character deaths and an "epic" battle, the whole book is mostly fluff revolving around Lanen and Varien/ Akhor.
May 29, 2014
Finished this awesome series, finally. Overall, it was fun and romantic, and I only have small problems with it.
For being the end of the trilogy, it seemed to wrap up everything fairly nicely. While I wonder about certain characters, such as what happened to the young mercenary who quit while he was ahead, and any deals made with the Silent Service for horses, the big stuff was pretty resolved. I enjoyed how the few main characters were not only continually developed, but the newer side characters as well. Though I personally liked Will best, so I did wish there was a bit more about him. Still, he seems like he's got a real chance at his happy ending, so that's all right. The only real thing I feel was lacking was more examples of how the Kantri and the Gedri are getting along. Did the Aiala help that along perhaps?
The second novel had started to get me to become a bit annoyed with Varien and Lanen's relationship, but this novel kept their love true without overdoing it. While I felt the final battle dragged out forever when I was reading it, in retrospect, anything shorter would have made me feel cheated.
A very nice series I had a great time reading, and the trilogy has become part of my permanent collection of books because it was so enjoyable all around.
For being the end of the trilogy, it seemed to wrap up everything fairly nicely. While I wonder about certain characters, such as what happened to the young mercenary who quit while he was ahead, and any deals made with the Silent Service for horses, the big stuff was pretty resolved. I enjoyed how the few main characters were not only continually developed, but the newer side characters as well. Though I personally liked Will best, so I did wish there was a bit more about him. Still, he seems like he's got a real chance at his happy ending, so that's all right. The only real thing I feel was lacking was more examples of how the Kantri and the Gedri are getting along. Did the Aiala help that along perhaps?
The second novel had started to get me to become a bit annoyed with Varien and Lanen's relationship, but this novel kept their love true without overdoing it. While I felt the final battle dragged out forever when I was reading it, in retrospect, anything shorter would have made me feel cheated.
A very nice series I had a great time reading, and the trilogy has become part of my permanent collection of books because it was so enjoyable all around.
April 17, 2013
Like the previous book in the series, this one was good but held few surprises. You don't read this one to find out what's going to happen; it follows standard tropes and character arcs to the T. So the enjoyment is realized from reading how all these things come to pass.
Fortunately Kerner writes well and is particularly good at creating and maintaining believable character interaction. All of the relationships in the story make sense and people behave true to their characters, with no one suddenly having a personality shift for the sake of conflict.
The ending was a little weak, in my opinion. Not because it went on for a while; I prefer books that take time to wrap up character arcs rather than just having the protagonists kiss in the middle of the last battlefield with no thought to actual resolution now that the Major Conflict is resolved. But while Kerner tied off all of the character arcs, her method for doing so involved a lot of Deus Ex Machina, which was disappointing.
Fortunately Kerner writes well and is particularly good at creating and maintaining believable character interaction. All of the relationships in the story make sense and people behave true to their characters, with no one suddenly having a personality shift for the sake of conflict.
The ending was a little weak, in my opinion. Not because it went on for a while; I prefer books that take time to wrap up character arcs rather than just having the protagonists kiss in the middle of the last battlefield with no thought to actual resolution now that the Major Conflict is resolved. But while Kerner tied off all of the character arcs, her method for doing so involved a lot of Deus Ex Machina, which was disappointing.
May 19, 2023
Ugh. I want to give a three because I was so upset through most of the book. But I loved Lanen and Varian too much to give it what it probably deserves.
This book starts off with Lanen being captured by Berys. Like she was already in chains. Way to drop us in the action. And her father can hear true speech and knows she is pregnant but did not tell Berys yet. Thankfully she is rescued but everyone knows there has to be a showdown eventually. Merik and Berys will hunt Lanen forever.
Oh and Maran is back. She's an odd bird. She acts more like a father who went off to war than a mother. But she wants to be back in Lanen's life. Deep down Lanen wants that as well.
Obviously the Vil/Aral/ Will thing has to come to an ending. It was just as ugly and messy as Will guessed it would be. Though I'm sure he barely hoped for what happened after.
The death in the battle brought on such a weird effect that I was considering throwing the whole series away. Yeah I get carried away sometimes. I guess I needed Maran to slap ME across the face.
Anyway, the death not withstanding all is well at the end. If I could have been told how it ended, maybe I would have enjoyed the ride a little more.
This book starts off with Lanen being captured by Berys. Like she was already in chains. Way to drop us in the action. And her father can hear true speech and knows she is pregnant but did not tell Berys yet. Thankfully she is rescued but everyone knows there has to be a showdown eventually. Merik and Berys will hunt Lanen forever.
Oh and Maran is back. She's an odd bird. She acts more like a father who went off to war than a mother. But she wants to be back in Lanen's life. Deep down Lanen wants that as well.
Obviously the Vil/Aral/ Will thing has to come to an ending. It was just as ugly and messy as Will guessed it would be. Though I'm sure he barely hoped for what happened after.
The death in the battle brought on such a weird effect that I was considering throwing the whole series away. Yeah I get carried away sometimes. I guess I needed Maran to slap ME across the face.
Anyway, the death not withstanding all is well at the end. If I could have been told how it ended, maybe I would have enjoyed the ride a little more.
January 26, 2024
A book with many different perspectives from a variety of characters, even the dragons and villains themselves! I love Elizabeth Kerner's description of dragons flight, body features, and sharp details what the dragon is doing, their flaws, and actions. I'm a writer with a book that has dragons, mainly focusing on wolves, but the dragons are getting a turning perspective.
January 16, 2021
Very pleasant and fairly satisfying end to the trilogy. Not brilliant, but every enjoyable and well worth reading. Kerner hasn't written anything else, but is reported to be working on a sequel trilogy
December 16, 2022
A lovely end to a gripping story, with neat little bows around each story thread. My only complaint is that there seemed to be a lot of incidents of deus ex machina towards the last few chapters to make those bows that could warrant a lot more explanations- more to read in the future, maybe?
July 17, 2018
Wonderful conclusion to the series. I can never say "no" to dragons.
September 17, 2018
A brilliant classic yet different dragon fantasy. I'm so happy i found this series! I had been in a long drought full of 2-3 star fantasy books and Elizabeth pulled me out.
March 3, 2020
The second book was the strongest for me. I was a little bit dissatisfied with the ending to this series.
May 4, 2022
Average fantasy romp. Strong start, but by the end you are just waiting for it to end. Too many characters. Bad twist. Good dragons.
June 28, 2023
Unfortunately, I did not have access to the first two books of this series, so it took me a bit to learn the setting and characters, but once I did it was a fairly enjoyable read.
January 26, 2024
Good Series
August 26, 2024
Quite a thrilling conclusion to the trilogy! Dragons, magic.... magical 'dragons', souls! Loved it all!
February 16, 2016
The books rarely reach the masterpiece for me even when I do selective reading of the books. This book would have made it to that if not the evil was shown a little weak. The demon of this book was weak and truly easy to defeat. I would have enjoyed it more if the despair of battle was little more.
Maybe the author wanted to keep the creator as the most powerful and that is true as always so maybe it isn't a drawback but it can't be a masterpiece for me though.
The most important thing about this book is multiple point of view. Many writers keep book in a single pov but during a war we always need lots of perspective especially the evil ones bcs they are the ones who add fear to us.
Through the book we see mothers love. Father's love and despair of not able to hold your loved ones.
My heart weeps through many points in the book. It weeps for lady idai, will, Maran, shikar and our beloved pair of varien and lanen.
This book at the end touched my heart. It was fairly closed but with so many questions left unanswered. As the authors last lines says.." True stories never really end " bcs always there will be questions which will always arise bcs life never really ends.
"HEA happens in oly barid tales" it is so true. When I starteted reading the book 1 of the series I thought this one is a definitely a HEA but as the story went i came to knew it is very possibly the pov is from the one who rests with the wind alias dead.
When I realised that I just wished the ending be a happy one and I will not tell you whether it's a happy one or a sad one bcs that's the most twisting part. Some of you will say its a HEA but others will not agree to it bcs life is never fair.
I throughly enjoyed this book and still wonder why is this book has so less reads bcs it should definitely be one of the most reads.
I thank the author for providing me one of the best journey of my life.
Maybe the author wanted to keep the creator as the most powerful and that is true as always so maybe it isn't a drawback but it can't be a masterpiece for me though.
The most important thing about this book is multiple point of view. Many writers keep book in a single pov but during a war we always need lots of perspective especially the evil ones bcs they are the ones who add fear to us.
Through the book we see mothers love. Father's love and despair of not able to hold your loved ones.
My heart weeps through many points in the book. It weeps for lady idai, will, Maran, shikar and our beloved pair of varien and lanen.
This book at the end touched my heart. It was fairly closed but with so many questions left unanswered. As the authors last lines says.." True stories never really end " bcs always there will be questions which will always arise bcs life never really ends.
"HEA happens in oly barid tales" it is so true. When I starteted reading the book 1 of the series I thought this one is a definitely a HEA but as the story went i came to knew it is very possibly the pov is from the one who rests with the wind alias dead.
When I realised that I just wished the ending be a happy one and I will not tell you whether it's a happy one or a sad one bcs that's the most twisting part. Some of you will say its a HEA but others will not agree to it bcs life is never fair.
I throughly enjoyed this book and still wonder why is this book has so less reads bcs it should definitely be one of the most reads.
I thank the author for providing me one of the best journey of my life.
July 18, 2016
I read this trilogy for the second time, and as I couldn't remember much past the first book from my previous reading, here's my full review:
Amazing plot. The number of twists in these books, especially the last one, is astounding. You can never guess what happens next, and that makes this trilogy so interesting.
The characters are extremely well-made, they aren't your typical run-of-the-mill kind. You can't group these characters into categories, they each are so three-dimensional. By the end of the book, you come to know so much about each person, and what I love is how every character is so realistic. They all have major flaws, they all have major redeeming qualities, and they all get on each other's nerves at times, just like normal people. In fact, the shining point of this trilogy is the interaction between characters. They love
each other, argue, bicker and question themselves. Lanen and Varien are married and in love, but they still have their little fights. In fact what I love about this book is how the characters change towards each other. Lanen and Varien have moments where they both want different things. And after all their fights and make-ups, they face their problem, understand each other and realise their love will never be the same. They fully understand and accept that their story has sadness as well as love, and while this isn't the happiest thing a reader wants to read, its definitely more realistic and well-rounded.
Great language. It's nice to come across a book that uses new words and slightly different grammar. My vocabulary has certainly been all the better for reaing this trilogy.
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Review from 2009:
Such an amazing book! A great ending to a beautiful series!
Amazing plot. The number of twists in these books, especially the last one, is astounding. You can never guess what happens next, and that makes this trilogy so interesting.
The characters are extremely well-made, they aren't your typical run-of-the-mill kind. You can't group these characters into categories, they each are so three-dimensional. By the end of the book, you come to know so much about each person, and what I love is how every character is so realistic. They all have major flaws, they all have major redeeming qualities, and they all get on each other's nerves at times, just like normal people. In fact, the shining point of this trilogy is the interaction between characters. They love
each other, argue, bicker and question themselves. Lanen and Varien are married and in love, but they still have their little fights. In fact what I love about this book is how the characters change towards each other. Lanen and Varien have moments where they both want different things. And after all their fights and make-ups, they face their problem, understand each other and realise their love will never be the same. They fully understand and accept that their story has sadness as well as love, and while this isn't the happiest thing a reader wants to read, its definitely more realistic and well-rounded.
Great language. It's nice to come across a book that uses new words and slightly different grammar. My vocabulary has certainly been all the better for reaing this trilogy.
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Review from 2009:
Such an amazing book! A great ending to a beautiful series!
December 30, 2016
Elizabeth Kerner did a fine job in wrapping up the Tale of Lanen Kaelar. All of the different storylines came together nicely for a fantastic and heart-wrenching ending. Also, this final book had a quicker pace with more action and a headlong rush to the dramatic conclusion, with all of the forces of good cooperating to bring down the nearly unstopable demon master and his minions. The characters and interactions among them are all great, although some parts do get a bit sappy for my taste. The storyline is well-developed and comes to a satisfying ending without much in the way of loose ends. This book in particular stood out as the best of the trilogy to me because of the fast pace and conclusive ending.
However, it did seem to me that Kerner must have been told to trim down the story by editing out some of what she meant to include.. A war in the land is briefly mentioned a couple of times and never came into play (and none of the characters even seemed to be aware of it). And some parts of the ending came abrubtly and without much explanation at all, such as Varien's transformation during the last battle, and what about the Sun God Vilkas? But, overall I appreciated the conclusive wrapping up of everything in the last book.
However, it did seem to me that Kerner must have been told to trim down the story by editing out some of what she meant to include.. A war in the land is briefly mentioned a couple of times and never came into play (and none of the characters even seemed to be aware of it). And some parts of the ending came abrubtly and without much explanation at all, such as Varien's transformation during the last battle, and what about the Sun God Vilkas? But, overall I appreciated the conclusive wrapping up of everything in the last book.
August 26, 2012
I wonder if I might have enjoyed this more, had it not been years since I finished the second book in the set. I came back to it remembering the ending of the second book, and how annoyed I'd been that it was a cliffhanger. I remembered there were dragons and magic. That was about it.
It was good, and I thought her first few chapters caught me up beautifully on the events of the first two books in the series. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with Vilkas, but even he didn't seem to know so perhaps that was as it should have been.
I think my only real complaint is that the Lost were part of the title but were only involved in the book for a chapter or two. They didn't do anything significant, and none of them were fleshed out in any great detail. I think they were mostly there because the author had included a prophecy involving them in the first book - I don't know that they were at all necessary to the story. They felt like filler.
Otherwise, this was a reasonable end to the series.
It was good, and I thought her first few chapters caught me up beautifully on the events of the first two books in the series. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with Vilkas, but even he didn't seem to know so perhaps that was as it should have been.
I think my only real complaint is that the Lost were part of the title but were only involved in the book for a chapter or two. They didn't do anything significant, and none of them were fleshed out in any great detail. I think they were mostly there because the author had included a prophecy involving them in the first book - I don't know that they were at all necessary to the story. They felt like filler.
Otherwise, this was a reasonable end to the series.
February 13, 2017
After the last 2 books, I only read this just so I would have a ending. All in all the series is a waste of time and a huge disappointment.
October 28, 2014
Finally. I've waited no few years for the conclusion to the trilogy. I didn't bother to reread the first two, but I managed to keep up admirably well. The weaknesses I saw were mostly weaknesses in the prior books as well; namely the shifting first person point of view. Although it did give a lot of insight into characters, it also frustrated me to keep flipping back to remember whose head I was in this page. Many of the characters just weren't distinguishable enough by voice alone. I was rather irritated at a few of the deaths, although happy about what she did with the problem of the human dragon. It didn't try to tie everything up, which begs the question of a sequel series. Recommended for anyone who's followed the series this far. Anyone who hasn't should probably pick up the first two in order to really understand and appreciate what's going on.
January 30, 2010
For some reason, I liked Redeeming the Lost a lot more than the first two. There was a lot more action in this one, and I got into it more. The ending was brilliant. I would have been so mad if it hadn't ended the way it did, but it ended perfect. Three of my sisters have read this series and they all love it. I can't share their enthusiasm. The first two books just didn't catch my attention, then I read this book, and I perked up; in my opinion it was the best of the three, but still, not amazing.
May 25, 2015
All in all it was a good book that was hard to put down. The end disappointed me with Shikrar dying. I was hoping that Idai and him would either get together or die together, ending Idai's broken heart for Akor. She now has no hope for love in the future. I was guessing ever since Akor first turned into a man that a time would come where he could shapeshift at will... which is great... but i thought Lanen would be too. :\
There should have been a map as well like there was in the first book.
There should have been a map as well like there was in the first book.
December 21, 2014
A beautiful ending to the series. The imagery and emotional depth was amazing and gorgeous. The characters were wonderful (for the most part, I found the main character Lanen's attitude near the end a little selfish but still understandable). I wish that I could stay in this world longer, and know what comes next for the Kantri.
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