Queen of Fire (A Raven's Shadow Novel)

Concentrated and read every line for the first 25% of the novel and was completely bored ; then it picked up a bit for the next 10% and then it went downhill again ; decided at that point to just skim thru the balance of the novel, reading only when there was a double quote as that was when someone actually spoke.

I don't recall ever reading a trilogy where the first novel was so good and made you anticipate the next novel and what happens next ; but tragically its as though a new writer took over and just where off in a tangent.

Vaelin who you followed from his childhood was an afterthought in this final novel, a reversal in character and quite frankly, after caring about what happens next with him in book 1, you lose interest in him and the other main characters.

Incredibly disappointing

The first book in this series was amazing and the 2 follow up books just didn't keep my interest. I was somewhat suffering through them trying to find out what happens instead of enjoying them. Especially this book in particular. The ending just left a feeling of "Wait, that's it?".

Disappointointing. When I saw that this had been released I rushes to buy it, it had been about a year since I had dead anything by Ryan so some of the characters I was foggy on from tower lord and blood song. It was. Acimpletly differently paced book to bloodsong and even tower lord and my favouirte plot lines and characters get cut short in place of ones like Reva who honestly would have fit much better into the story if she had been with Veilin or Fenetris but instead she gets her own unfulfilling unimportant plotline that when you think back on it didnt even add anything to the books finalle other than a means of having her presnet. The empress who had grown into quite an interesting character and a welcomed addition to the series from tower lord was possibly one of the most disappointing villans ever of course though she still did outshine the Ally as he went from a character with a very interesting past and backstory to someone that was just pushed into the plot at the end as a fairly insignificant villan with boring movitivations and a boring death. The ending was unfufillig as I stated earlier but there were so many plot lines that where left untied that it made it so much worse. In terms of fantasy book endigs it wasn't as bad as the inheritance cycle but it does come close. Vaelin doesn't get enough story and he forgets about his previous love interest from bloodsong and tower lord mostly it seems because of convenience they could have at least re-imtroduced her into the plot to become a martyr but instead I remember one comment about her through the entire book and it only seemed to be an acknowledgement that she didn't exist in this book. The queen as a character didn't seem to develpoe and she didn't even have an open conversation with vaelin. Overall the book was a drag for the most part moving very slowly and cutting away to characters that could have been good like veniers but ultimately didn't do anything the entire book and had a rushed ending where you expected some grand scheme by the empress to fall into place and there be an epic finalle but instead she gets taken down by an ape and then 3 arrows. Sad ending could have been so much more but at least it brought the major plot points to some semblance of an ending as unsatisfactory as those endings where

A completely engrossing tale with a depth of structure and character development rarely encountered in fantasy novels. The many varied characters demonstrate uniquely vigorous personalities that complement the spellbinding plot.

First time experiencing a series with such an epic beginning take such a turn for the dumpster. Complete utter disappointment. It's almost as if Ryan hated the world he created and sought to end it with complete indifference for his characters.

A weak ending to an otherwise stellar trilogy. Queen of Fire's disjoint story tries to cover far to many separate plots, quickly feels predictable and rushed, and then concludes suddenly and unsatisfactorily.

The first two books in the Raven's Shadow trilogy were a refreshing addition to the pantheon of "classic" fantasy, well-written, with deep characters, plot twists, and an intricate, gradually revealed world. Indeed, the first book reminded me somewhat of the first book of GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire, with its detailed depiction of a pre-technological society. This last one feels like something where the author had far more ideas than would fit in one book, started to put them all in this one book, felt it necessary to wrap up all story lines, and was then forced into a rush publication without the hard editing necessary when an author turns in work below their usual standard.

You'll absolutely want to read this if you read the first two books in the trilogy, but it feels hollow by comparison to those earlier books, with little of their edge, suspense, or skillful pacing.

I was hoping the downward trend of the trilogy would not continue, but alas.....it did. The last book of the trilogy was so disappointing that I wish I hadn't read it and could leave the ending to my imagination.

Blood song OUTSTANDING Tower Lord was okay because I absolutely fell in love with the first book. Queen of Fire all I can say is what the hell did u do to Vaelin. First off I had a hell of a time even keeping up with who was who. Way too many characters. Even worse than Game of Thrones and that book had a lot of characters. But Queen of Fire was mind boggling in characters. I could of over looked that but then you destroyed Vaelin has a great hero. The story line was like huh and then re read and still huh. Clearly the same author who wrote BloodSong did not write this book.

Blood song OUTSTANDING Tower Lord was okay because I absolutely fell in love with the first book. Queen of Fire all I can say is what the hell did u do to Vaelin. First off I had a hell of a time even keeping up with who was who. Way too many characters. Even worse than Game of Thrones and that book had a lot of characters. But Queen of Fire was mind boggling in characters. I could of over looked that but then you destroyed Vaelin has a great hero. The story line was like huh and then re read and still huh. Clearly the same author who wrote BloodSong did not write this book.

Series has gone downhill quite a bit since a great first book. Too many characters flying in all directions here. Author doesn't seem clear on what he wants to do here and has lost my interest. So disappointing that I couldn't finish.

There are some reviewers way too harsh on this book. The issue becomes Mr Ryan started like a gun, his first book was sensational and all of the Fantasy reading community waited with bated breath. His second book, as all second book was a filler to the the grand conclusion which was the "Queen of Fire".
The Queen of Fire is still a good read, It wasn't a must finish immediate gratification but it was enjoyable. What Mr Ryan should have done was to take a page out of George R R Martin style, which is to keep them waiting and make sure that you are 100% per cent satisfied with what you produce. A couple of years could have done his second and final books a great deal. I wouldn't recommend the 6 to 7 years the GRRM takes, that's just contempt for his readership, but a couple of years could have made this series something special.

Overall, this book isn't terrible. However, the ending didn't seem all that exciting, it just sort of came to a VERY slow conclusion. It never really felt like there was any real danger at the end. Pretty great series, not so great finale.

This series started off so well, with Book #1 being superb. Book #2 was almost as good. Unfortunately, Book #3 starts exactly where Book #2 left off. Since there have several years to finish this trilogy (I assume it is a trilogy) and so many books since then, I have no memory of all of the current characters. So it starts confusing and remains confusing. Since #1 and #2 are so good, I've postponed reading Queen of Fire until I have re-read the first two and then Queen of Fire. Now I can understand why Ryan didn't clutter #3 with backstory, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So, IMHO, you will want to read the first two books and then read this.I'm pretty sure you'll then enjoy all three.

Like most of the other reviewers I somehow found Blood Song and it immediately went on my top 10 books of all time. I eagerly awaited Tower Lord and was mildly disappointed. I've now read it three times and I must admit it does get better with each reading. As to Queen of Fire, it's more disappointing even than Tower Lord. I'm going to give it a month and then read it again and see if it too improves with a bit of time seasoning.

There were enough loose ends with this that its easy to see a fourth book coming. But I'mmwondering if I would read it or not???

I enjoyed the first two books of this trilogy and looked forward to the final installment. It was a let down. Simply, 600 pages of battle details on various fronts is too much. I'm exaggerating a bit but not so much. It was full on campaign against an unbeatable opponent you knew would be defeated. The characters suffered in the process and many simply perished. Nothing more than attrition. The ending was unsurprising but a relief after too many pages of grim warfare.