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The Starless Crown (Moonfall #1) by James Rollins

"Epic fantasy in every sense but a bit too epic at times. Though I liked most of the characters and Rollins was good at pacing at the beginning, for some reason, once they all reached Havensfayre, everything got kind of complicated, cerebral and hard to follow. I think there was too much happening to too many people all at once. It was an interesting read but by the end, I just needed it to be done."

2 Stars

Pros: I do always love the lax, underestimated underdog character like Kanthe/ Rollins didn’t pull any punches, he killed off characters left and right.

Cons: I felt like I learned more about the world than the characters, there were brief glimpses but it was overwhelmed with Nyx and her ability to "sing" to creatures, to "feel" them and "bond" with them/There was a lot happening all at once, to a bunch of different people, so it got confusing as to who was where/when/It went on for far too long.

Full Review

Nyx was abandoned at birth in the Myr swamps, a deadly and dangerous place for any human due to the highly predatory and venomous bats that dominate the air. Of course, unbeknownst to Nyx, she spent the first months of her life with the Myr bats, protected, nourished and cared for by them. She doesn't learn about this until years later, when another student at the Cloistery, tries to attack her and a Myr bat saves her life. 

Kanthe, is the second prince to the King of Halendii. He knows his brother will always be the shining star and he's more than content to let him have the spotlight. When he's ordered to accompany the party that's setting out to investigate the strange happenings at the Cloistery, he'll get his chance to be the hero. 

Rhaif is a slave, doomed to serve out his life in the Salt mines of Anvil. When he survives a cave in and discovers a strange, bronze vessel in which lies a beautiful statue of a woman, he realizes he's found something deeply powerful. He can't explain how he feels drawn to it but when the overseer mutters that all those with knowledge of the statue are to be killed, Rhaif takes the statue and runs.  

Graylin is the forsworn Knight. Banished from Halendii for falling in love with the King's favorite pleasure serf, he now lives on the very fringes and survives off what he can hunt. He's almost content in his solitude but that all changes when he receives a letter, asking him to meet them at Havensfayre. The letter is from Frell, Kanthe's teacher, who has taken it upon himself to get Nyx, Jace, Kanthe and himself to Havensfayre and make a plan. 

It was epic fantasy in every sense of the word but I think once the company got to Havensfayre, for some reason, my interest started to fade. The rest of the book was honestly, a struggle. It went for about 150 pages too long and by the end I was just glad to be done with it. I may check out the next book in the series but, for now, I'll take a break from the Moonfall series. 

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