Monday, August 26, 2013

A Cast of Stones: the story of a supporting character



I really loved A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr. I hadn’t even started it until Saturday afternoon, but I finished it that night. It was just so good, that it wasn’t even a problem just to read straight through.

The book reminds me of Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles, but where I felt like Rothfuss was never getting to the gist of his story, Carr moves the action along at an excellent pace.

The point of view of this novel allows us to follow Errol’s journey from the town drunkard to a highly respected young man of many talents. He has had such a rough beginning, and has such a low opinion of himself, it is fantastic to see him excelling at the staff to the point where he is invited immediately into the Watch. With his ability to read lots and his ability to feel the spirit the herbwomen talk to, it seems that he has great things in store.

The characters in the story are truly excellent. Errol’s transformation would have been impossible without the host of characters who helped him along: Pater Martin and Luis who helped him through his first night of withdrawals in a truly touching scene of the administration of the Lord’s Supper; the farmer Rale who teaches him the staff; Ru, who imprisons him and forces him to fight his way through the guards; even Liam, who provides a great foil character.

The change in Errol culminates in him being presented to the king. Liam, Cruk, Luis, and Martin tell of his journey, and Errol is overcome by emotion.

The conflict in the story comes from a somewhat vague source. There are evil spirits involved who are taking over people, and a reader who has created a circle so that he can just about read Errol’s mind. A whole host of people are out to kill Errol, and we still don’t really know why.

Errol was supposed to be a supporting character in Liam’s story, but events seem to be revolving around him more than anyone else. Add to all of this the fact that the lots are now tied between Errol and Liam being king, and I can’t wait to read the second book.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

See other reviews here: 
Julie Bihn
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Laure Covert
Pauline Creeden
Emma or Audrey Engel
April Erwin
Nikole Hahn
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Chawna Schroeder
Jojo Sutis
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Loved it as well!

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  2. I am glad I wasn't the only one who found the conflict vague! I thought The Hero's Lot was more clear in that regard, which made it a better story.

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    1. I just started the second one. Very excited to see what happens.

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  3. I have put off reading The Hero's Lot due to other commitments, but I look forward to clarification of many things! I do wish the 3rd book would be coming out sooner to give me closure - which I crave in a good story.

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    1. I agree. This is the sixth trilogy that doesn't have the third book out that I've read in the past few months, so I have a lot of endings that I'm waiting for.

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