The Starless Crown (Moonfall, 1)

I like a lot of readers here am a massive Rollins fan (read all his books), I was very excited about the change of pace from Rollins, particularly given how good his last venture away from sigma and his collaboration with Rebecca Cantrell was, I was also well aware that this was a first book of a new fantasy series. However.. This book is just awful, at over 500 pages it is easily 100 pages too long, I found myself struggling to keep reading as it was just so boring and tedious at times, far too much useless information and padding(it really does drone on at times), it progresses at a snails pace (until the last 60-70 pages). The chapters are far too long, and the story simply fumbles along with no direction and blind luck of the characters. There are far too many characters used repeatedly to make a connection with any of them, and I found myself having to check back as to who was who ( with the length of the chapters it could 40-50 pages before a character was mentioned again). The twists were far too predictable, with events unfolding without any explanation or partial insight into how or why. This won’t stop reading Rollins, as one bad book (I’m sure others will like it) doesn’t make a bad author, I just won’t be waiting on tender hooks for follow ups in this series.

The Starless Crown James Rollins High Fantasy Adventure In a world where their earth no longer rotates, leaving one side forever in the glare of the unforgiving sun and the other in icy darkness, there is a girl who was found in the marsh when she was a baby, an unneeded prince, a shunned soldier, a thief, and many others find themselves on a quest to stop moonfall, but the king and the eldest prince, influenced by their priests, do not believe the girl is the savior of their world but believe the girl will bring about the destruction. This is James Rollins' return to fantasy under this name instead of the pen of James Clemens, (which many are still waiting for the conclusion of the 'Godslayer Chronicles' written under this name, and this book/plot/characters do remind me of a combination of the Godslayer and his The Ban and the Banished series, both of which were the bomb). There are a lot of characters in this book, and I do mean a lot. The chapters are split between characters, to show their point of views, and this continues all throughout, even when the characters meet up. (This is common in Rollins/Clemens books.) It is a lot to keep track of, who is who, what they have to do with the story, etc. And there was just so much going on. While it was a somewhat fast read, it was boring. There wasn't a lot of action, just going from here to there with a fight or some drama, while concentrating more on world and character building instead of the characters. It wasn't a bad read, but there was just too much jumbled up, and it got overwhelming from time to time. Splitting it up into two books, separating the characters more, and giving the reader more of a chance to connect with the characters, would've helped a lot. I was expecting a lot more from this book, but there was just too much going on to enjoy it. (And I believe I have a pretty good idea where it's going in the future... if he finishes/publishes the rest of the books.) 3 Stars

I actually read what the story was about before I ordered it. It is a fantasy novel, I haven't read one of those in 20 or more years. For the people who gave it a bad rating because they expected a typical James Rollins action adventure instead of a new fantasy series, that's on you for not checking out what the storyline was about. You may want to keep that in mind since Stephen King has a fantasy story coming soon, you may want to steer clear. This book has great characters, its story is woven together over time and all comes together for a great finale. The language(s) take time to get use to but it's a fantasy world and that's usually how they go. My only complaint is the names of some animals and locations could be considered overly complicated for a larger audience. A tip for people who are going to read it, have the map handy and see where the characters are traveling to and from, it helps paint the picture. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I've been waiting for this series a long time, and this first installment was nothing short of amazing. Several moments made me shed a couple of tears, character development is solid and I am just disappointed I have to wait a while for the next book. I also have to say, it's hard to find great authors these days but James Rollins never disappoints. If you haven't read his other books, do yourself a favor and start NOW.