Quick! Gut reaction: Well, I like the cover art.Short Summation This is third in a trilogy. My reviews for the first two are around here somewhere. We have to stop the Iezu, Calesta. That’s kinda like a demon. The Church is heavily involved, working separately from our main characters, Gerald and Damien. Also, we get to meet Gerald’s descendant, Andrys. Rah.Why this book? I read the first two. I was hoping for more entertaining exchanges between Damien and Gerald. I wanted to see Damien help Ge...

This book makes an unsatisfying conclusion to a good series. The most useless guy and the biggest whiner suddenly becomes the best hero.

I could not put this book down. All the work established in the second of the series culminated here (though book 2 can definitely stand on its own), and thoroughly engaged me. There were less world building reveals here, as befits a wrap-up, but plenty of pay-offs on things we've come to understand and appreciate. I will add that the reveals shown were very interesting in their overall impact, and served to show a side of the characters not fully exposed in previous entries.All in all, a fantas...

Yawwwwwwnnnn.I enjoyed the first book in the series, thought it had lots of potential. The second also kept my attention, though I was getting tired of the endless journeying that serves as plot in these novels.Unfortunately, the third failed to ignite. I've been slogging through it for weeks without finishing it, and ultimately I've lost interest. The bromance sort of fun, but it's not enough to keep this one afloat.

Crown of Shadows; Or: He's Just Not That Into You (Because He's a Vampire and also Heterosexual.)all the standards established by the prior two novels are in place for the grand finale of this fitfully entertaining trilogy.at times amazing ideas and a compellingly realized world? check!fascinating 200 page novel filled with those amazing ideas but force-fed nonsense until it bloats into a 500+ page novel? check!all the things a goth teenager would love in a genre novel: romantic despair, romanti...

My second fantasy trilogy read in English. I don`t want this series to be end, Because I LOVE COLD FIRE TRILOGY SO MUCH! I am fond of characters, setting,magic system etc...Especially Magic system Fae is an unique concept I have ever seen in other fantasy books. The main characters Demian and Gerald their friendship are truly fascinating. Especially Gerald Tarrant is a antihero(maybe evil itself). In first book black sun rising he feeds on human`s fear. He dismembered his family members to excha...

It's been a really long time since I last finished a fantasy book. I managed to read all 500+ pages of this book in a matter of weeks. I haven't read a trilogy with books this long since the Night Angel books I read in college. Gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised with Crown of Shadows. Like its predecessors, Crown of Shadows is primarily an adventure book with the two main characters, Damien and Tarrant, both trying to vanquish an evil enemy. This time, the enemy is Calesta, the demon who...

An interesting fantasy that intersects with a tinge of sci-fi. A tale of religious fanaticism and it's effect on the fae, the foundational and alien energy of Erna. However this was balanced by the ever ruthless primal perspective of the prophet, turned dark hunter, and immortal so long as he is able to feed off of fear and blood. The trilogy tells various tales in pursuit of preventing the ever increasing potential for global chaos wreaked by an Iazu, Calister, providing us with interesting cha...

Clearly the best of the trilogy. Pretty much no filler, and engaging from beginning to end.

The final book in this trilogy is a kind of mixed bag. The bits of Tarrant's history that are revealed, the Church lore, everything about Vryce and Tarrant's interactions, the revelations about the fae, the resolution of the plot - it was all great pay-off and I loved it. But it was interspersed with bits about one of Tarrant's descendants and about the Church's Patriarch that bored me to tears and that I now skip every time I re-read it. The key there is "every time I re-read it," which is many...

4.5 stars for this book but I'm reducing rating of previus books from 5 to 4 stars.More detailed impressions to come.

++SPOILERS++5 stars.This is the third, last and best book of the series.There were aspects that I didn't like due to personal perference of content and not writing, but I cannot in good faith, lower the stars because of that.The writing:Technically speaking was excellent. The beginning drew me right in and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire 500+ pages. There was good conflict from start to finish which kept the pace steady. I did not skim. I felt connected to all the characters...

*****Spoiler Alert****The first book was good, the next not bad, and the last was horrible and filled with information that had no business being there. Not to mention the timeline at the end of the book was off.My first issue with the book was the romance between Andrys and Narilka. The book could have done without it. This author sucks at making the romance between characters natural and believable. She did a bad job with Damian and Ciani and worse with Andrys and Narilka. The romance between

4.5 to 5.0 stars. Very satisfying conclusion to the Coldfire Trilogy after the excellent Black Sun Rising and When True Night Falls. I am a big fan of C. S. Friedman and this trilogy is a big reason why.

A good ending to a very dark fantasy trilogy. Damien Vryce must come to terms with his role in the Church--running around with its demonic founder, Gerald Tarrant, has damaged his reputation and made the Holy Father very, very angry. Apparently saving humankind on the planet Erna does not give him special dispensation to associate with the Hunter. What did amaze me was that after his visit to Hell to rescue his demonic pal, Vryce continues to bellyache about conditions all along the way as they

3.5 starsCrown of Shadows brings C.S. Friedman’s COLDFIRE trilogy to a close. (This review may contain spoilers for the previous books, which you really must read before beginning Crown of Shadows.)In the previous book, When True Night Falls, the unlikely allies Reverend Damien Vryce and undead vampire Gerald Tarrant battled their way across hostile foreign countries to combat the evil force that was threatening humanity. Just when they thought they were finished, they were essentially told: “Bu...

Crown of ShadowsBook 3 of The Coldfire TrilogyBy C.S. FriedmanA Retroview by Eric AllenI still can't believe that I had never heard of this trilogy until recently. It has been around for twenty years and I only just discovered it. Although, I do have to admit, that my younger self would probably not have been wise enough to pick up on a lot of the themes and subtlety involved, and may have come away bored by them.Crown of Shadows picks up several months after the previous book. Damien and Terran...

The story of Damien Vryce, the knight/priest of the One God, and Gerald Tarrant, the founder of Vryce's church who sold his soul for immortality, comes to a satisfying ending. These companions, who have become friends (due to their working together in common interests in the previous books) despite the fact that they should be mortal enemies, along with the help of Karril work to stop Calesta from dooming humankind on Erna. While this is all happening, the Patriarch leads Tarrant's only survivin...

Finally, I'm on the last book of this C.S. Friedman series, although now I'll be sad to leave this world and all of its compelling characters. Gerald Tarrent is one of the best and one of the more complex villains I've yet to encounter, even more so than the Shrike (from Dan Simmon's brilliant hyperion series). The Shrike was ultimately servile to a mysterious evil force and not necessarily autonomous, unlike Tarrent who is completely in charge of his awful destiny. The choices he makes are so h...

This is it, the final book. I read them all. I will admit, of all of them, this was the first book I wanted to give up on. I have no idea what the hell was happening in this book half the time. I don't think I ever will. Apparently the huge reveal is that the fae and mankind from many years ago created (mankind unknowingly created, mind you) a sentient being that can create it's own kind called Iszu which are half human half fae. Some Iszu have appeared throughout mankind and conversed with the