This was the first audiobook I requested from NetGalley. I loved it! I was very intrigued by the summary and I was not disappointed, I did speed up the audio to 1.5 because I felt it was a little slow for me. But I liked the narration very much. The narrator changes voices for the characters really nicely. I mostly listen to audiobooks while I drive and this story definitely had me hooked. So much so that I would sit in the parked car just to finish a chapter. I can’t wait for the next installment in the series.

“A fake fortune teller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.” At least according to Robert A. Heinlein in The Notebooks of Lazarus Long.

From that perspective, The Starless Crown is the story of Nyx, the authentic soothsayer – not that she would think of herself as such – receiving the full force of that kicking around. Deserved or not.

Definitely not – at least not in regards to anything that she personally has done. Not that she’s had a chance to do all that much when the story begins – as she seems to be just fifteen or thereabouts.

We meet her in school, in her astronomy class, as they study their “Urth’s” tidally locked rotation around the sun. A sun which they all refer to as the “Father Above,” the capital letters implied in the reverent way they speak of it. The Father Above is part of their pantheon of gods, along with the Mother Below (the Urth), the dark Daughter (the new moon) and the silvery Son (the full moon).

A catastrophe, shrouded in the mists of time, created the Urth that Nyx knows from the Earth that we now live on, locking our rotating world in a fixed position relative to the sun, so that only a relatively narrow circle is habitable for humans, in that relatively thin slice where the sun does not boil and its lack does not freeze. A circle that surrounds the Urth in just the same way that a crown surrounds the head of a monarch.

The story of The Starless Crown is Nyx’ story, as she breaks free of the shell she has been enclosed by her entire life. A story where she dreams of the destruction of her world – and the one thin chance where she might save something from the inevitable wreckage.

At a cost much higher than anyone is willing to pay.

Escape Rating A-: I listened to The Starless Crown from beginning to end. I enjoyed the listening – the narrator was very good and did an excellent job of differentiating the many, many voices of this story’s large cast.

At the same time, I didn’t feel compelled to finish it more quickly, so I didn’t pick up the ebook at all. The slower pace of listening worked better for me, because this is a slow burn kind of story. It takes a lot of chapters to get all the characters set up because they begin in far different locations under far different circumstances. We are seeing the plot come together from a great many disparate eyes.

And it takes a long time for all of those disparate – and sometimes desperate – parts to come together into the whole that is going to push this saga forward.

Part of my fascination with this story is that this is post-apocalyptic story that takes place in the far aftermath – an aftermath so far into the future that the people living it no longer recognize from whence they came – although we do.

Not that civilization as we know it wouldn’t break down and reform fairly quickly, messily and bloodily. In that sense it reminds me a bit of Aldiss’ Helliconia Trilogy, Stirling’s Emberverse starting with Dies the Fire, and the videogame Horizon Zero Dawn.

But the way the situation has evolved and devolved posits a corollary or an antonym to Clarke’s Law, the one that goes, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The Starless Crown is an example of something I’d want to call Harris’ Permutation if I were the person naming such things. Because this story is an example of a different principle, that “Any science sufficiently muddied by time or religious claptrap is indistinguishable from magic.”

They don’t know what they don’t know. Too much was lost in either the initial cataclysm or the long dark night that inevitably followed. What they’ve managed to find is now interpreted through a lens of religion, to which what we call science has become enslaved. And some of its methods are used to enslave others.

This is also a story of “Mother Nature bats last”. Whatever happened in the past that created the tidal lock, the coming moon fall feels like its inevitable result. The moon controls the tides. It can’t. So it keeps getting closer in order to try harder. Or something like that.

So we have a group that is not unlike the Fellowship of the Ring. A young seeress, a disgraced prince, a thief, an escaped slave, a living statue from the distant past on a quest to save their world – even if they don’t know it yet.

Arrayed against them are the forces of the powers that be. They’re not all evil, although some of them very much are. Some of them are willfully blind and some of them are just blind. There’s a lot of “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, but there’s a fair bit of “when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

But the villains are fascinatingly – if occasionally stomach turning-ly – twisted, the heroes are plucky to the max and the escapes are nail-biting, hair-raising, edge of the seat last minute scrapes. The reveal of the past, the fear in the present and the desperate hope of even a fractured future are handled in lush descriptions and buckets of regrets, recriminations and tears.

I have no idea how this band of misfits is going to get themselves and their world out of the mess they are in, but I look forward to finding out.

Oof, this audiobook was so well done and I’m glad I consumed the story in this way. This new and unique world has so much to offer fantasy readers! The landscapes are as treacherous as they are beautiful, and the wildlife can turn on you in a heartbeat. There are environmental concerns in this world with major implications for everyone involved, which is really interesting to see. The Starless Crown s just a passionate, thrilling, and bold fantasy novel. One of my favorites I’ve read this year, without a doubt!
Full review to come on YouTube.

I really enjoyed the characters, but was hoping for more growth from them. The world building is pretty good, but I can see where it will be expanded in upcoming books. Overall story was very enjoyable. Narrator was easy to listen to.

I can't help but love a good audiobook. From the talent of the narrator to the way the story comes to life in your mind. I turn to this format more and more as my schedule gets crazier.

The Starless Crown by James Rollins was one of my highly anticipated releases for this month. A close bookish friend had me eager to give one of his books a try and learning there was an epic fantasy on the loose... well, you know how us crazy book folks get when we are excited. 😏

This journey did not dissapoint. The massive list of characters was easy to follow along with due to the way Rollins crafts his writing style. The plot unfolds delicately, and while it is a bit chonky, he delivers backstory and character depth fluidly.

This is under the high fantasy genre and delivers on the epic journey/quest trope fairly well. The journey itself was my favorite part. The descriptively deadly creatures, the alchemy and 'magic' and the world building all came together.

Narration is *chef's kiss * good! I mentioned a massive character list and each one came with a unique voice. The tone is accentuated by thoughtful emotion and narrative atmosphere.

This is a slow climber. It's high fantasy so you probably shouldn't expect less. Some facets of the plot were almost too over the top/modern for the era that I envisioned in my head. While I highly enjoyed this audio, I did take a long time to appreciate the majority of the characters. I found this to be a wonderous first read of Rollins' material but there is something that I can't pinpoint that held the storyline back. I believe readers who enjoy submerging themselves into deeply crafted world building with exciting action packed scenarios will find the escape they crave in this book.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest and unbiased review!

PS: The author introduction completely sets the vibe for story excitement.

Review in haiku

Too many people
Stereotypical props
Fleeing, fighting, blah

Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

James Rollins is known for his thrillers, but this is not his first time writing fantasy. He started his writing career as a fantasy author under the name James Clemens, granted it has been 15 years since he has written a fantasy book. I do not typically read thrillers, so I had no idea what I was in for. I am happy to be able to say that I enjoyed this book so much that I have picked up one of his books under James Clemens too.

This book is the first in what is expected to be a four-book series. Just like any first book, there is a lot of information given to you, but I did not find it too difficult to keep track of all of it. This story has an interesting cast of characters that come from different backgrounds. For approximately the first 45% of the book, I was much more invested in the chapters that involved Nyx and Prince Kanthe. I liked the chapters that focused on Rhaif and Shiva, but I just did not have the same pull towards them. When all of our characters come together around that 45% mark, I really saw the story take off.

This book has more of a classic fantasy feel to it. Essentially this is a quest to save the world which is not a new storyline, however, I enjoyed how he is going about it.

The only thing that I hope that is not drawn out in the next few books is the possible love triangle that is being set up. I am just glad that Nyx is not interested and has no time for it.

If you enjoy a good classic feeling fantasy, I say this one is a good one to pick up.

It takes 50% of the book to get the story set up. I Like fantasy but this book was a struggle to enjoy. The author is a vet by training and adds so much extra detail and animal focus that could have been edited out to tell them same story with the same feel. The narrator was very good. Did well with the material. Nice voice changes for the characters. I would definitnely listen to this reader but definitely another author. Not impressed.

VERY ODD but fascinating novel. I was absolutely not expecting this novel in an way, and I believe it ws a bit too long, but I enjoyed the world building, and the crazy plot. I would probably categorize this as more sci-fi, rather than fantasy, but it was a very interesting mesh between the two genres. Thank you so much for a copy of this one!

I have enjoyed some of the author’s thrillers. This is the first book of his new fantasy series. It had too much world building, too much description and too many action scenes for me. Since I wasn’t enjoying any of this, I know that I would never read the sequels. There was no point in my finishing this book. I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

The world of Urth has stopped rotating on its axis. One side always in the sun. One side always in darkness. But the moon’s fall draws closer and closer, guaranteeing complete disaster unless a solution is found.

While The Starless Crown unfolds through several viewpoints, it is really Nyx who is the true main character and heart of the story. She is found as a young baby almost completely blind. Growing up she’s had to deal with bullying and self-doubt, but she is loved by her adoptive family and has a kind and gentle soul. Nicola Barber does the narration for the book and does a lovely job by giving Nyx a very soft tone. In turn, this soft tone helps to enhance all the emotional scenes that Nyx goes through and helps make them memorable.

The basic story starts when Nyx is rescued from a male predator in an unexpected fashion. It isn’t long before the King learns about it and rather than being happy that she survived the attack and condemning all involved, decides that she should be taken away for research instead. The King then requests Prince Kanthe, who is the younger of the King’s twin sons, be part of the group to collect her. But once there, Prince Kanthe soon finds that his own life is in jeopardy. To escape, a small group is formed amongst their friends.

As I write this review I realize how much is really going on with this story both in total number of characters, but also in lore, flora and fauna, and activity. Other than Nyx and Prince Kanthe, there are two additional points of view: one is a thief who escapes prison with the help of a living artifact and the other an old soldier, who comes into the story around 45% in. The four main groups at times come together and then other times split apart. It made listening to this on audio a little tricky as I had to remember which character was where and with whom since I couldn’t view text on a page for reference. There are also multiple ‘bad guys’ too that you need to keep track of and can be daunting as well, but not as much as the main group.

Because the plot felt like one long escape plan, there were occasions I wished that the ‘escape’ had been reduced by several chapters. I know, I know…lore and world-building are what make fantasy novels unique and wonderful, but still, it felt unnecessarily drawn out.

Another struggle I had was how much Prince Kanthe’s twin brother felt one-dimensional. His reasons and justifications just didn’t ring true or make sense to me. He honestly didn’t need to do what he was doing, so why was he doing them? Nyx and Kanthe and all the others were so well thought out and display a range of emotions and purpose. But when it came to the royal family, they were like Disney villains and felt very very flat.

All in all it was nice, engaging story that had just a few bumps along the way. I might have even teared up at some of the death scenes….Maybe. I blame Nicola for that – for doing a really nice job narrating those moments.

Rating: 3.75 stars
Audio Book: 22 Hours, 5 Minutes

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copy audio book and opportunity to provide an honest review.

This was good. But the thing is, if I spend this much time invested in a book, I kind of want it to be great? And maybe it was just me, but I felt like a lot could have been edited out. I did like how all of the various characters were brought together fairly quickly to create a little team I could root for, and I thought they were all really well written. I did like the central storyline and the world building he did. So enjoyable for the most part! This just came out earlier this month, so I’m interested to see if I want to read the sequel when it’s released. I was so so thankful to have the audiobook -- it kept me going!

I am glad James Rollins decided to write a fantasy series (although I guess his career started with fantasy). This book takes place on a world that doesn't spin, so half is always in the light and the other half in the dark. Nyx is a promising student who is almost totally blind. After a violent incident, she begins seeing visions of the future. Nyx's companions include a prince, an exiled knight, a thief, and a bronze statue.

This indeed feels like classic epic fantasy. There is torture, death and violence, but at the heart it is a quest to save the world. Given fantasy is one of my favorite genres, of course I enjoyed it! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the introduction to this book!

I have to give Rollins full credit for his world development. He knows the details of seasonal festivals for small coastal villages in this massive work. As a reader, do I care about the season festivals of a small coastal village, not particularly, but Rollins shared them anyway. I feel as though there is a lot of good here, but it got lost in wanting to share every particular detail of world building. The world is lush and lavish, but those details come at the cost of the pacing. I am very aware that this is the first in a planned triology, and, unfortunately, Rollins is too This whole massive tome reads like the first third of a story. The tagline says that the book features a ragtag group of adventurers coming together for an epic quest, but that quest literally does not start until roughly the 90% mark. The whole group doesn't even meet until 78% (I checked)!! Until the very end, they are each fleeing something, not in search of anything. It hurts to see so many great parts arranged in such an inaccessible way.

Also, I need to rant about the female lead having major guilt trips about fleeing a beating and sexual assult. I despise the trope of "oh, if only I hadn't ran XYZ wouldn't have happen, so it's all my fault." NO, no it is not. Stop telling women to feel bad for not being raped. It's gross.

(3.25/5)

This one's a little tough to review, because I'm sure there are a LOT of people that will love this book. It's a well-written, expansive, multi-POV epic fantasy, with tons of detailed world-building and plenty of action to move along the 22 hours of well-narrated audiobook.

But I just couldn't get into it. I had trouble connecting to any of the numerous characters. Although they were all likable enough, they all felt rather one-dimensional to me, and the relationships and dialogue between them felt a bit flat. So from that indifference, it was really hard to get invested in the plot.

Honestly, if I hadn't gotten this from Netgalley I think I would've DNF'd it around 25% ... 22 hours is a pretty big time investment. I kept hoping to get drawn in, but this just wasn't for me. If you're a fan of the author and sprawling epic fantasy, then I'd definitely still recommend giving it a look though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC!

The Starless Crown is the first book in a new high fantasy series by James Rollins. Released 4th Jan 2022 by Macmillan, it's 560 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a very well written epic adventure featuring a group of misfits from wildly disparate backgrounds, thrust together in a desperate attempt to prevent the destruction of their world and all life on it. It's full of complex magic and a well built up background system and peopled by genuinely three dimensional characters who live and breathe. Rollins is a masterful writer and having turned his pen back to writing fantasy (he discusses this in the introductory author's foreword) it's apparent that he still has a flair with the genre.

This is a *dense* novel. It's got a lot of gravitas. Although there is a lot of action (and pathos, and some humor along the way), it reads like what it is: a deeply written first volume in an epic high fantasy series. It moves slowly and comprehensively, building up layer by layer. There are foreshadowings and doom-laden nightmares aplenty, evil cultish magician necro-priests, ancient artifacts, prophecies, a magical blind foundling baby, and all the good ingredients one would expect from solid "doorstop" fantasies.

Sensitive readers should be aware that there are some quite graphic depictions of violence and murder. The evil necro-priest cultists especially are quite evil and necro-ish. There's a death early on in the book which was quite explicit and made me briefly consider whether I should continue or not, but I'm glad I did.

This one will likely be a great fit for fans of Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss. It's absolutely not derivative, there are a lot of fascinating and worthy originalities which I'm quite looking forward to exploring, but it does definitely have the same sense of scope and endless horizons which both of the aforementioned authors are well known for.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run-time of 22 hours and 5 minutes and is capably narrated by Nicola Barber, with an appearance by the author himself. The sound and recording quality and production values are high throughout.

Four stars. I'm looking forward to finding out what comes next.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I have read a decent amount of Rollins' books before and liked them for what they were: fun, fast paced, packed with cinema style action. His take at SFF was a bit of a miss for me. It was decent, but there were tons of the tropes (and not done in any kind of fresh way), and lots of descriptions and characters that were somewhat unnecessarily bulking up the book. I ended up enjoying the action and some of the world building, but overall, I wasn't very invested in the characters, so it made it hard to connect with the story and stay engaged, especially for such a long book.

She may be young. Her sight might be restricted, but her vision is clear. An apocolypse is coming and she will do her best to warn as many as possible, even if it means her very life. On the run she is not alone. In fact, there are others who are running, even if for different reasons. One is a prince determined to prove himself. Another is a thief who has escaped the bond of prisons. Then there is a soldier who thought he left war for good. These prove to be a team of misfits who might be the last chance for this world.

Nothing is safe for this unlikely team. They do have some advantages, including magic and alchemy, but will even those special things be enough?

Who are the players in this exciting story by James Rollins. Meet Nyx, fourteen years old with near blindness but visions and dreams that foretell the end of the world. Then we have Rhaif, the thief that is now part of the small group. There is also Prince Kanthre, second born son of a king and Graylin sy Moor, former knight and a man who has been in exhile. Unlikely combination to be sure, but their options are few and life on the run is soon paired with the need for trust and mysteries that need unraveling.

Listening to this book was very intriguing. I chose to listen to it for a few hours each day so that I could absorb myself in this unique world. While the characters most certainly led different lives before, now they must work together towards a common goal, facing danger at every turn. James Rollins did a fabulous job of bringing everything together, page after page, all while setting up excellent world building, thus setting readers up for what promises to be an enthralling series.

Many thanks to Tor Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Absolutely beautiful narration and storytelling. The Starless Crown is a crown jewel among books. I love the depth of story that the author brings to life with his world building and the characters that are included. It was almost impossible to stop listening, though I did get lost a couple times during character changes. But the story, ah, the story was amazing. Having never read anything by this author before, I had no idea what I might be getting into, and I'm so glad I took a chance on this one. I'll be going back to read his backlist, like, right now. I couldn't get over the character development and the way the story flowed between characters. There is a lot happening, but the pace is just right to keep the reader engaged and pressing on.

An alliance embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of the distant past and save their world...

I found this story to be initially very interesting but it lost me around the 20% mark. By that point not only had I not met all of our main characters, but I was just bogged down by so much world building and story telling that I was finding it hard to be part of the story.

I liked the characters (for the most part). There was one prince in particular that I couldn't stand, but I think the author did a good job of making them all diverse and feel like they have different voices.

I was also interested in the world and this quest that everyone was going to go on (although it really takes a while for this to even start).

It really came down to paragraphs upon paragraphs of info-dumping that left me not wanting to keep reading through most of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.