Helpful Score: 4
Bethral and Ezren were two very important reasons I loved "Dagger Star." I was intrigued from the very moment Bethral looked into bright green eyes and found herself smitten despite Ezren's tortured body and soul. I wanted so badly for them to have a happy ending and so, when the next book, "White Star," left off in a cliffhanger in which Bethral and Ezren are magically transported :::alone!::: to the Plains, I literally squealed out loud because I knew their story was finally going to be consummated. I waited impatiently for April 6 to arrive because I so wasn't going to wait until someone made it available on PBS. I wanted it NOW!
So of course life interfered and I wasn't able to read it as soon as it hit the bookshelves like I wanted. But I can tell you that once I sat down to read, I read voraciously. This book is deceptively simple and it flows rather nicely so you can't just read a couple of chapters and call it a night. You must read the whole thing in one go! At least that is how it is for me. I'm pretty sure I need to reread it in fact since I probably read it so fast I missed a lot of nuances. What can I say? I'm just so happy that Bethral and Ezren are together--finally.
Like the two preceding novels in the trilogy, "Destiny's Star" has it's own flavor and rhythm. "Dagger Star" read like a fantasy, "White Star" more like a traditional romance (with fantasy elements), and "Destiny's Star" reads more like an epic poem or story. I'm not sure if this was intentional but the latter is filled with stately sentences, epithets, and repetitions in syntax that would be familiar to anyone who is knowledgeable of oral tradition such as the Odyssey or the Iliad. Whether this is my own prejudices (and tendency to see Homeric influence in everything) coming to bear or not, it makes sense that Ezren's profession as a Singer (Bard) and the oral tradition of the people of the Plains would affect the tempo and style of the novel depicting them. In other words I think the writing itself subtly mimics the kind of epic storytelling that Ezren would awe his mostly illiterate audiences with.
My only real negative (and this is very minor indeed) is that I doubt someone could pick up this book without having read the two preceding novels in the series, and not feel like they are missing a huge chunk of the plot. More than most, this novel really builds upon the UST excruciatingly nourished over the previous books. This romance would not be nearly as strong without the history related in prior stories. For this reason only I worry that people will pick it up with no knowledge of it being the third in a trilogy and hate it because it might seem incomplete to them. I really enjoyed it but then I like when intriguing characters from other stories get their own book and not too much time is wasted on rehashing what happened before.
Also, it should be noted that this book acts as sort of a bridge between the WarPrize trilogy and the Star trilogy. It's a must to have read the previous novels in the Star trilogy to fully appreciate this story, but I enjoyed it just fine without having any knowledge of the Warprize trilogy. It took a bit of orienting, but it was very doable.
My advice is to grab all the books in the Star trilogy, find yourself a comfy place to while away an afternoon, and read all of them in a row. It's really a very powerful and unique series with strong women and non-traditional romantic motifs.
So of course life interfered and I wasn't able to read it as soon as it hit the bookshelves like I wanted. But I can tell you that once I sat down to read, I read voraciously. This book is deceptively simple and it flows rather nicely so you can't just read a couple of chapters and call it a night. You must read the whole thing in one go! At least that is how it is for me. I'm pretty sure I need to reread it in fact since I probably read it so fast I missed a lot of nuances. What can I say? I'm just so happy that Bethral and Ezren are together--finally.
Like the two preceding novels in the trilogy, "Destiny's Star" has it's own flavor and rhythm. "Dagger Star" read like a fantasy, "White Star" more like a traditional romance (with fantasy elements), and "Destiny's Star" reads more like an epic poem or story. I'm not sure if this was intentional but the latter is filled with stately sentences, epithets, and repetitions in syntax that would be familiar to anyone who is knowledgeable of oral tradition such as the Odyssey or the Iliad. Whether this is my own prejudices (and tendency to see Homeric influence in everything) coming to bear or not, it makes sense that Ezren's profession as a Singer (Bard) and the oral tradition of the people of the Plains would affect the tempo and style of the novel depicting them. In other words I think the writing itself subtly mimics the kind of epic storytelling that Ezren would awe his mostly illiterate audiences with.
My only real negative (and this is very minor indeed) is that I doubt someone could pick up this book without having read the two preceding novels in the series, and not feel like they are missing a huge chunk of the plot. More than most, this novel really builds upon the UST excruciatingly nourished over the previous books. This romance would not be nearly as strong without the history related in prior stories. For this reason only I worry that people will pick it up with no knowledge of it being the third in a trilogy and hate it because it might seem incomplete to them. I really enjoyed it but then I like when intriguing characters from other stories get their own book and not too much time is wasted on rehashing what happened before.
Also, it should be noted that this book acts as sort of a bridge between the WarPrize trilogy and the Star trilogy. It's a must to have read the previous novels in the Star trilogy to fully appreciate this story, but I enjoyed it just fine without having any knowledge of the Warprize trilogy. It took a bit of orienting, but it was very doable.
My advice is to grab all the books in the Star trilogy, find yourself a comfy place to while away an afternoon, and read all of them in a row. It's really a very powerful and unique series with strong women and non-traditional romantic motifs.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series but I read them in 2008 and 2009 respectively so when I started Destiny's Star I had no clear recollection of the previous stories other than knowing that I liked them. This book is not a stand alone and cannot be understood or enjoyed without first reading Daggerstar and White Star immediately receding Destiny's Star.
I couldn't follow what was going on at all and I suddenly didn't like either Bethral or Ezren and I liked them just fine in the previous books. Bethral is supposed to be this fierce warrior woman who protects the Queen and tossed here onto the Plains with Ezren she suddenly thinks she isn't good enough for a handicapped storyteller. WTH? Yeah I know it was supposed to be some sweet romance but it wasn't. It was just one confusing irritating event after another after another.
I guess it's possible if you read all three in a row to enjoy this book but if you haven't recently read the other two, don't bother with this one because you will not enjoy it.
I couldn't follow what was going on at all and I suddenly didn't like either Bethral or Ezren and I liked them just fine in the previous books. Bethral is supposed to be this fierce warrior woman who protects the Queen and tossed here onto the Plains with Ezren she suddenly thinks she isn't good enough for a handicapped storyteller. WTH? Yeah I know it was supposed to be some sweet romance but it wasn't. It was just one confusing irritating event after another after another.
I guess it's possible if you read all three in a row to enjoy this book but if you haven't recently read the other two, don't bother with this one because you will not enjoy it.
