The Hidden Stars: Book One of the Rune of Unmaking

by Madeline Howard

Book Overview

Extraordinary new talent Madeline Howard begins an epic trilogy of magic and power, hidden birthrights and prophecies, with The Hidden Stars , the first book of The Rune of Unmaking. In a world... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060575875
• ISBN13: 9780060575878
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

an excellent novel

a book steeped in the mythology of an invented world that is one of the best high fantasy book that I have read this year. Too many writers of fantasy maeke the fatal mistake of inventing a threadbare world that has little or no history ofits own and in such cases it becomes impossible for the reader to sufficiently believe in the imagined world. Fortunately this author manages to avoid this problem by creating a mythology and a history for her world that she reveals in tantalising bits that makes the reader feel like as if he or she is actually reading two stories simultaneously, the former being the strory blurbed in the back cover and the latter being the fascinating invented history of her fantasy universe. An exquisite novel that in no way feels like a debut. Very highly recommended

The Hidden Stars

I feel I should start this review by stating that I'm not as a rule a fan of this genre. This book however is quite an exception and has caused me to rethink my overall opinion. Perhaps, as a few others have stated many of the themes and the style aren't entirely original, but isn't that what makes a 'genre'? The Hidden Stars by my estimation is an excellent novel, the writing is fluid, the scenes engrossing, the characters well established and constantly growing and evolving as they confront new obstacles. The writer draws you into this world with subtlety, piquing ones curiosity and causing one to linger over passages in an attempt to grasp the vivid imagery that she has spun. The depth and true individuality of each character inspires empathy and desire to see them through their quest. Upon finishing this book, I briefly entertained the idea of hunting Madeline Howard down and 'persuading' her to relinquish the second installment of this trilogy in what ever state it might be to satiate my curiosity as to what happens next! All in all, a very enjoyable read, with just the right amount of magic and otherworldly appeal. I look forward to her future works.

The Hidden Stars

Madeline Howard's debut fantasy novel is very impressive. She manages, within only about 400 pages (very short for a fantasy novel!) to create a foreign world, populate it with convincingly three-dimensional characters, and create the framework for a trilogy that promises to be the traditional epic fantasy we all know and love, with a twist of something indefinably new and clever to make it stand out. Howard's characters are her greatest asset- here, her story-telling really shines. Her heroes are not always heroes, but often walk around with chips on their shoulders. Her villain is terrifying in the extreme, but has a truly sympathetic and honorable son. Her female characters are strong without being brats, and hold their own firmly in a cast of brilliant men. Howard creates a world already steeped with hundreds, even thousands of years of history- all of it fascinating. She creates languages and cultures and gives all of these a sense of history, too. One can only imagine the amount of effort and work that went into making the background for this story, before delving into the plot itself. The Hidden Stars is a book that would appeal to any fantasy lover- young adult or old adult :-) It promises a strong trilogy of books that are set in an engrossing world.

Great book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had a lot of familiar, expected fantasy elements, but still held plenty of surprises. Things didn't usually go the way I expected. The characters were fresh and interesting. The background plot (world created) was very thorough and detailed, but the information wasn't all dumped at once--it was doled out through out the story. I can't wait for the next books in the series. I highly recommend it. The only thing I missed was a pronounciation guide (the names were rediculous) and a map (I couldn't figure out the geography at all).

Old-Fashioned Fantasy With A New Twist

In a world overloaded with "literary fantasy" that makes no sense (What happen to story? What happened to adventure? Why are they publishing so many depressing novels in which Nothing Happens?), it is so refreshing to find a novel that actually tells a story using fantastical language and takes old-fashioned storytelling to new heights. Howard's debut is on my "highly recommended" list. There is magic and mayhem as an evil sorceress seeks to dominate a world while searching for the one child who could bring about her demise. Battles, worldbuilding and characters here are built in rich detail. I look forward to the rest of the series.