Author Stephen Zimmer creates a vivid and deeply imagined world in his Fires in Eden series, populating it with fascinating races and characters, and providing an enormous wealth of background history and culture. The evil Unifier, “[t]ruly... a vision of regality and grace, without equal,” is set to conquer all, with only a few small kingdoms still standing against him. A thoroughly convincing Saxon heritage, recreated in the Saxan people, would make a great, and wonderfully detailed, historical novel. But here be monsters, dueling semi-human species, and accidental invaders from the modern world, giving the whole a feel, and the length, of Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant chronicles.

Each of the modern day Americans has their own hangups, from Janus, who “loathed death,” to Mershad, whose blood relatives live in Iraq, to others struggling with “concepts of free will, gods, devils and destinies.” They make for an interesting crowd, and their travels and travails, in separated teams, feel oddly reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. There are hints of Game of Thrones too, in chapters told from the view-points of different characters. And there’s a D&D die-roll feel to quests and scripted meetings, making the story read like a well-watched, well-played game. Choose your own character, or play them all. Then as tension rises, readers, like the characters, will find themselves doubting that “any of the others had a slow heartbeat in the sharply heightened anxiety of the moment.”

The deceptive lure of peace, prosperity and order; the complex search for balance between free will and destiny; an almost seamless blend of religious symbols, ancient history, and modern fantasy; all lead to a long slow complex read, part one of a trilogy, well-plotted and slowly told for a long dark winter. Read a chapter a night perhaps, then sleep on it.

Disclosure: I heard about this in a blog tour, long ago, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get to read the book. ( )

Crown of Vengeance is book one in a new fantasy series called, "Fires In Eden".

When Lee, Ryan, Janus, Mershand, Ericka, Logan, Derek and a few others wish that something would happen in their lives that was extraordinary, they find themselves on a journey that promises just that.

The story sets out in modern times and each, for reasons of their own, is bored with life. When a unnatural and eery fog rolls in, each person soon realizes they aren't where they began and confusion and fear set in.

Each of them are now in another land, the land of Ave and in another time and they must use their individual abilities to survive. A few of them end up in the hands of the Onan, a tribe of the Five Realms and others arrive in the Saxan Kingdom. There is a war brewing as the powerful Unifer wishes to bring everyone under his one rule and destroy all those who oppose him.

The Unifer is determined to allow evil reign and with his charismatic appeal, it is hard to resist his charm as he uses all his resources to set a course of action that will bring many to their knees. The group of outsiders is a bane to his existence as they always seem to end up where they weren't needed and each, in their own way, work to divert the events that are occurring.

The war that is inevitable will be fought on land, in the air, water and even in other realms, as the Unifer works his silver-tongue and his magic to bring everyone to his heel. Will the group be able to set everything in order or will they be tempted to walk the path of the Unifer?

I had a hard time getting into this book. I didn't enjoy the long introduction to each of the characters, it took up almost half of the book. I thought there was a lot of useless information shared and felt that their introduction could have been simpler, for the information that was shared didn't help with the overall of the book's appeal.

However, whence the group travels through the fog, this is where things begin to pick up. The world building land of Ave was very well written. The people of Ave were believable and enjoyable to read and from there the stories flow picks up and you know longer feel the trudging pace of the modern day set up.

I loved the fantasy aspect of the novel, all the different types of creatures was fantastic, each explained with depth and clarity. I also enjoyed watching how each of the main characters interacted with the people of Ave, especially in the beginning when everything was new and proper etiquette had yet to be noted. Their confusion and fear is common place and each reacted as one should in their given situations. The elitist aspect of the book is something everyone can relate to, even in today's times and you cannot help but hating those who are in power.

The Unifer was a great antagonist. He was delivered in an intelligent and expressive way. The battle scenes were breath taking, allowing the reader to feel as if they were alongside the people, fighting their battle with them. And the overall outcome of the books plot left you begging for more. I am glad I continued to give this book my time, as I am now looking forward to reading Book Two in the Fires in Eden series. ( )

...There is a risk involved in walking down the well-trodden paths of epic fantasy. On the one hand it provides an author with a number of elements that obviously appeals to many readers. On the other hand, there is the risk of writing a cliché story. Challenging the staples of epic fantasy has given us two of the most exciting bit series in epic fantasy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, in which Steven Erikson challenges just about every epic fantasy cliché, and A Song of Ice and Fire, in which George R.R. Martin carefully avoids quests and black and white characterization. Zimmer tries to give his own twist to a classic epic fantasy tale and ends up with an unevenly paced and essentially unfinished first novel, full of characters insufficiently developed for me to really care about them. In short, I don't think Crown of Vengeance provides a solid foundation for a multi-volume fantasy series. I hope the author manages to solidify the story a bit in the second volume Dream of Legends. If not, this series is in big trouble.

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