FANTASY BOOK REVIEW: FEAR THE STARS: BOOK FOUR OF THE CHAOS QUEEN QUINTET BY CHRISTOPHER HUSBERG

Fear the Stars: Book Four of the Chaos Queen Quintet
Author: Christopher Husberg
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN: 9780802775887
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

With the ending of Game of Thrones we would have thought everyone would have had their fill of fantasy series or novels set in a world that sets out to subjugate its people, but as Husberg already has a significant readership from his previous three books, the need for fantasy novel series has never been more in demand.

In the aftermath of Blood Requiem, Triah is the place where the Chaos Queen and the Empress are destined to fight while others try to save their people from the Chaos Queens evil plans. Knot, Astrid and Cinzia ate all who can fight against the queens cruelty and from reading the previous three novels I wondered if they were enough. While most strive to find acceptance in a cautious world, the three of them seem to find a common ground even if they don't always see eye to eye.

All of them have exceptional abilities and even though Asyrid is a young vampire, they treat her without prejudice even though there are some who find the sight of s nine-year-old sharpening her tools strange, frightening even. In this series you would think a vampire alone would cause enough of a stir, but all the while daemons lurk waiting to strike. They are more fearsome than any vampire and more destructive.

There is an issue of allegiance in this novel, but also one of who the characters can put their trust in. Astrid and Cinzia must wonder if they can trust Knot as he seems to pine for his wife, the now Chaos Queen Winter. And as Knot is desperate to find her again, there are others who want to capture him and use him to get to her.

Fear the Stars concludes with questions answered and loose ends tied though the main focus of the story are the whys of each of the characters, mainly Winter and I felt these were the hardest for Husberg to write. Fear the Stars is the sort of epic novel series to rival George RR Martin and Tolkien as it has the story, characters and world building expected from a dark fantasy novel.