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The Final Dance Trilogy #2
In Stone's Clasp
Strength of stone, heart of ice . . .
Flame Dancer Kevla of Arukan seeks the missing elements -- Stone and Sea, Wind and Soul -- that must join to preserve their world from destruction. Sensing that the Stone Dancer, the master of Earth magic, would be found in the icy north, she and her dragon companion fly to a country mired in an unnaturally long winter. When at last they find Jareth, the Stone Dancer's own anger and pain make him reluctant to accept his destiny. His need for vengeance against the old gods who betrayed his people is powerful -- powerful enough to lead the group farther into the snows, searching for the legendary Ice Maiden, who may be responsible for the forced winter. But betrayal doesn't come only from the gods -- and the forces against them are vast. Before their quest is over, Kevla must realize that while Flame can break through the chill of the winter, Stone can withstand anything . .
Flame Dancer Kevla of Arukan seeks the missing elements -- Stone and Sea, Wind and Soul -- that must join to preserve their world from destruction. Sensing that the Stone Dancer, the master of Earth magic, would be found in the icy north, she and her dragon companion fly to a country mired in an unnaturally long winter. When at last they find Jareth, the Stone Dancer's own anger and pain make him reluctant to accept his destiny. His need for vengeance against the old gods who betrayed his people is powerful -- powerful enough to lead the group farther into the snows, searching for the legendary Ice Maiden, who may be responsible for the forced winter. But betrayal doesn't come only from the gods -- and the forces against them are vast. Before their quest is over, Kevla must realize that while Flame can break through the chill of the winter, Stone can withstand anything . .
457 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Christie Golden
170 books1,871 followersAward-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.
2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.
In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.
2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book
Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.
Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.
Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .
The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .
Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.
Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.
2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.
In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.
2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book
Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.
Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.
Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .
The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .
Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.
Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 20, 2008
Part of the Dancer series, it was such a good book I read it in a day and a half...If you are at this point in the series, know that the last two books have not been written/published, and that the third book is only available in electronic format! But as for this book- I loved all of the twists and turns.
October 19, 2019
That last 25% really picked up. Golden has a knack for manipulating the male/female dynamic into a metaphor for every angle of compassion, and it's my favorite thing about her work.
I'm afraid to say that the writing in this volume was incredibly amateurish, which came as a great surprise after reading the first book. On Fire's Wings is not only better as a story, but the writing style was far more competent, if not terribly memorable. Is this a worthy sequel? No. I did love some ideas in it, but the writing couldn't support them very well. It's possibly she just didn't have enough time to edit, since I know the publisher for this series was particularly troublesome and Golden is so prolific that maybe she didn't slate enough time for her original work.
Her contract didn't renew for the fourth and fifth book, and I think it prohibited her from publishing them on her own. Last I heard, it's expired, so she can publish them if she wants to, but I haven't heard from her on that. This will likely remain an unfinished series.
To be honest, I still want to read the third book--I'm riding on the magic of the first one, and the good moments in the second--but if it takes me as long to track down a copy of the third as it did the second, it might be another ten years.
I'm afraid to say that the writing in this volume was incredibly amateurish, which came as a great surprise after reading the first book. On Fire's Wings is not only better as a story, but the writing style was far more competent, if not terribly memorable. Is this a worthy sequel? No. I did love some ideas in it, but the writing couldn't support them very well. It's possibly she just didn't have enough time to edit, since I know the publisher for this series was particularly troublesome and Golden is so prolific that maybe she didn't slate enough time for her original work.
Her contract didn't renew for the fourth and fifth book, and I think it prohibited her from publishing them on her own. Last I heard, it's expired, so she can publish them if she wants to, but I haven't heard from her on that. This will likely remain an unfinished series.
To be honest, I still want to read the third book--I'm riding on the magic of the first one, and the good moments in the second--but if it takes me as long to track down a copy of the third as it did the second, it might be another ten years.
September 17, 2017
Yeah I know... I just ...
I can't explain and am a little embarrassed? Writing this now it's one of those times I wonder if I did suffer some brain damage from all those concussions?
... 50% in and Kevla has finally met a half wild Jareth and I just don't care. I was hoping Kevla found herself a NON INCESTUOUS romance but you know. No.
It was so slow and draggy and stupid flashbacks and emperor shit and just no. It wasn't even compelling and well written like most of book 1.
50% in and I'm done forever. Deuces.
F/DNF
I can't explain and am a little embarrassed? Writing this now it's one of those times I wonder if I did suffer some brain damage from all those concussions?
... 50% in and Kevla has finally met a half wild Jareth and I just don't care. I was hoping Kevla found herself a NON INCESTUOUS romance but you know. No.
It was so slow and draggy and stupid flashbacks and emperor shit and just no. It wasn't even compelling and well written like most of book 1.
50% in and I'm done forever. Deuces.
F/DNF
May 14, 2022
3/5 stars
See my review for the first book in the series here.
The northern country of Lamal is suffering under a perpetual winter and its people are starving, with once peaceful men either turning to banditry or disappearing from their villages into the woods. Jareth is the famous Spring Bringer, who was able to speak with the earth and the animals to call forth the changes in seasons until the unnatural winter had set in, leaving him as helpless as anyone else in the face of cold, hunger, and scarcity. After suffering a tragic loss during one of the constant snowstorms, he sets off to demand that the tiger gods of Lamal restore his life and his powers.
The second book in The Final Dance series opens from where we left off in On Fire’s Wings, following Kevla and the Dragon as they seek the Stone Dancer in distant Lamal. I liked the expansion of the Dancers’ world, taking us from a desert extreme to one of winters and mountains. The new characters that were introduced, Kevla’s helpers in the search for Jareth, are sympathetic and I did feel sorry to leave them at the end, just like most of the people in Kevla’s life that we met in her home country of Arukan. The author is good at building empathetic relationships between Kevla and the seemingly ordinary people she meets along the way. It remains to be seen whether Jareth will be able to do the same in the next book. Of particular interest is the twist with one of the Lamal characters that introduces a new angle to the standard trinity of Dancer, Companion, and Lorekeeper which will certainly have consequences for the Dancers in their battle against the Shadow. It’s too bad we’ll likely never see a novel beyond the third book to know how it all plays out in the end.
The main weak point of the novel for me was the villain, as he continues to be written as both simplistic and mysterious - we still don’t know anything about the Emperor’s motivations for opposing the Dancers, and the plot he came up with to defeat, or just slow down, the Stone Dancer was unnecessarily convoluted, especially given he seems to have a whole empire, some kind of magic powers, and a shadowy mage at his beck and call.
See my review for the first book in the series here.
The northern country of Lamal is suffering under a perpetual winter and its people are starving, with once peaceful men either turning to banditry or disappearing from their villages into the woods. Jareth is the famous Spring Bringer, who was able to speak with the earth and the animals to call forth the changes in seasons until the unnatural winter had set in, leaving him as helpless as anyone else in the face of cold, hunger, and scarcity. After suffering a tragic loss during one of the constant snowstorms, he sets off to demand that the tiger gods of Lamal restore his life and his powers.
The second book in The Final Dance series opens from where we left off in On Fire’s Wings, following Kevla and the Dragon as they seek the Stone Dancer in distant Lamal. I liked the expansion of the Dancers’ world, taking us from a desert extreme to one of winters and mountains. The new characters that were introduced, Kevla’s helpers in the search for Jareth, are sympathetic and I did feel sorry to leave them at the end, just like most of the people in Kevla’s life that we met in her home country of Arukan. The author is good at building empathetic relationships between Kevla and the seemingly ordinary people she meets along the way. It remains to be seen whether Jareth will be able to do the same in the next book. Of particular interest is the twist with one of the Lamal characters that introduces a new angle to the standard trinity of Dancer, Companion, and Lorekeeper which will certainly have consequences for the Dancers in their battle against the Shadow. It’s too bad we’ll likely never see a novel beyond the third book to know how it all plays out in the end.
The main weak point of the novel for me was the villain, as he continues to be written as both simplistic and mysterious - we still don’t know anything about the Emperor’s motivations for opposing the Dancers, and the plot he came up with to defeat, or just slow down, the Stone Dancer was unnecessarily convoluted, especially given he seems to have a whole empire, some kind of magic powers, and a shadowy mage at his beck and call.
October 24, 2013
I enjoyed this book a bit more than the last one, perhaps because I knew the writer's pattern of switching the story midway. I was prepared for it this time, and it was not as abrupt a change. Though I liked the first part of the first book best over all, I rated this book higher because I liked it as a whole better than the first. The story was good and kept me guessing to the end. Unfortunately I have discovered that the series is incomplete and appears to stop after 3 books instead of 5. For this reason, this is where I get off the ship. I don't know why you would create a storyline that requires 5 parts, but only finish 3. But there you have it. I don't know if it was the author, or, likely, the publisher, but I have little respect for that.
February 8, 2010
It took me awhile to warm up to the hero. Jareth was obnoxious and had too much of old skool romance hero in him. But Kevla thawed him a bit. And Golden once again did great world building. I was in this icy world and had to read it bundled up. I love how this series has enough heartbreak to pull you in and make you grieve but also leaves enough hope for things to get better. Nice change from Kevla's firery world. I loved the extreme opposites in these two, Kevla and Jareth as well as their worlds.
Read
July 11, 2014This book is fascinating and draws you into a world like and yet unlike ours. The only shame is that it is the middle of a series and the publisher refused to print any more after this. I have followed the author since then, and she is on a quest to get these works published, but it is taking time. I hope to one day be able to finish reading the tale started in the first of this series and know what is to happen in the future!
dnf
October 17, 2012I'm just not in the mood for reading this at this point. Maybe I'll have another go later. I really enjoyed the first one (On Fire's Wings) but struggled to get enthused by this one. However, my feeling is that it is me rather than the book itself.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]
April 20, 2016
This was a really great book that does what a good fantasy book does which is expand and to the lore of the world while also developing the previous characters. And I hope Christie Golden does eventually get the rest of the series published.
March 14, 2008
Has bits that should be edited.
April 23, 2013
read and liked
November 12, 2013
it was a great read. anyone in the family from ages 13up can read it and they would love it.
March 18, 2015
Good story well written a page turner
November 3, 2014
more bizarre than entertaining...
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews