The Hollow Crown (Kingfountain Book 4)

When she was seven a mysterious attack by an invisible enemy had rendered Trynne Kiskaddon’s face paralyzed on the left side forever distorting her smile. She has felt somehow ugly and inferior ever since.As politics begins to heat up, with the threat of war looming between Ceredigion and one of its former client kingdoms, Trynne’s mother receives a vision from the Fountain of her husband, Owen Kiskaddon (the protagonist of the first three books of this series) being killed. This is mostly kept secret, but those who know about it are already beginning to mourn. Trynne wants to do something to keep this from happening. She begins to train in swordplay and other fighting skills with her personal guard.This book features a round table, not unlike King Arthur’s in purpose, but theirs is made from a slice of the trunk of a giant tree. Trynne decides that she would like a place at this table, and even has her own vision of herself sitting there.King Drew, Lord Owen, and King Iago IV of Atabyrion (father of Fallon Llewellyn, who Trynne has liked for years, half as a brother, half as a boyfriend) announce a plan for an ongoing contest to prepare the young men of the country for leadership in the ever-more-certain event of Ceredigion being attacked. They will call this the Gauntlet and will have it take place in the various duchies and subordinate kingdoms, with those who succeed in the lesser contests qualifying to compete in the capital for a seat at the round table. Trynne asks if she can compete but is laughed at.But the Fountain has other ideas. The Wizir Myrddin announces that he is needed in another realm and must leave them. When Trynne leaves to go home herself, she unexpectedly finds herself in an unknown place with Myrddin. He tells her about an ancient order of female warriors, the Oath Maidens who defended the country in the past and asks if Trynne would like to join them. She agrees despite the strict pledges she must make and is gifted with new Fountain-Blessed powers (plus, later on, with new armor). From then on, she can keep up with any male warrior. Which is a good thing, because it isn’t long before a distant country with even more than normal powers attacks them killing off so many of their warriors. Luckily, Trynne is there defending the King on the orders of the Fountain. Unluckily, this means she is not at home in Brythonica when a traitor invokes the storm magic of the silver bowl in the secret grove there calling Owen Kiskaddon back. When Trynne goes there looking for him, all she finds is a severed hand bearing a secret ring containing Fountain Magic. But is this ring the one that belonged to her father? Or have the traitors managed to replace it with something sinister?

Frankly the idea of continuing the story without the original protagonists didn’t appeal to me. In the past it has never worked. Still, I don’t think that this was the main downside of this book.What I disliked the most is the fountain as a guiding force. Frankly I expected the voice Owen heard in the previous books was myrrdir somehow. It was not. The problem is that the voice is not guiding now, it’s forcing events, dictating the script and adjusting the powers. It feels like the matrix where they could download any skill they wanted.So the fountain denies our protagonist the victory of achieving something on her own. She is in all practical purposes a glorified puppet. It looks like “the fountain” is an all mighty and omnipresent entity that decides who will suffer and how - with such power why let the bad guys roam ? They even share the fountains power.In this book for the first time the injustice of magic shows up - the contests are a sham, someone who can do magic as an unfair advantage for sure. No matter how much people strive, without magic they are not powerful.I also didn’t like the bad person that was revealed, it felt too fixed,appointed by the will of the writer and not by normal means.I find serious flaws on this book, hence my score, but this doesn’t mean that it’s not enjoyable. You want to read more and more and I will get on to the next. Just don’t expect something as good as the previous

What an awesome intro to the next generation. So hooked on this series. Just as great during the 3rd re-read.

Jeff Wheeler is my favorite author. This series is amazing.

This is the fourth book I have read in this series and it has been as well written and developed as the first. Many series I have read become more shallow and lose the original storyline. Anyone who enjoys classic fantasy will love this series and the discovery of the author.

Finally, a new series that I've put off for so long. It felt very rewarding after reading all the past books that Wheeler wrote before it, chronologically in the books' timeline I mean. Awesome references galore, both to the book's past lore, and real world mythology (any guesses which Legend I'm referring to? No? There's King Arthur, Morgan le Fay, Round Table, etc.)Now I see why Wheeler recommended reading the Muirwood saga on his website after finishing the first Kingfountain trilogy.While set in the same world of Kingfountain, the cast feels new and fresh. I enjoyed the banter and antics between the new leads, gave me good laughs. I'm loving Trynne as the new main, even dealt with a facial disability she overcomes prejudice and becomes quite the badass, while retaining a strong sense of honor. I can identify with her, dealing with mental illness myself. Thank you Jeff, for giving a voice to those with disabilities.The feeling of the world felt a bit different too, less dark and intrigue with political machinations (but still there), and more magical. Probably because of the new Era, but I enjoyed this atmosphere, especially after the first Kingfountain trilogy. And yet the stakes have indeed increased, how exciting.Also, a certain new power player... does his name rhyme with one of the greatest leaders of the Crusades? This is why I love reading Wheeler's works, references to real world history and texts ahead.All in all, loving this new series, and ready for more.

So the focus on the children just didn't quite work for me. Neither did the reliance on prophecy related tellings and Fountain given gifts to push the story along. For the first point, the children are simply not as interesting as their parents. None of their characters gripped me in the same way and made me feel as though I had to be part of their story. This is perhaps because having spent three books with the parents they are, quite understandably, the focus of my attention... but they are not the authors.On my second point, there was far less of a reliance on people figuring things out for themselves; it is replaced by knowledge from the Fountain, or visions of the future. This really impacted on the character development as Wheeler no longer uses the Fountain to supplement his characters but actively changes his characters based on generic data dumps from either the Fountain or the visions. Whereas the Fountain gifts had previously been used with subtlety, here there was all the tact and subtlety of an adolescent moose.It's a lazy way of writing in short. In all of the previous novels, the people were more important than the powers. Here, the power changes the person completely. If you want your character to become a superb swordsman, then let her learn and train and damn well earn it... instead of getting to a middling level and then going the Fountain grants you awesomeness. It's a tactic that drives me mad when it is overly relied on, and it is relied on far too much here. There isn't any cleverness or wiliness to the characters and nobody has to work to get better at anything; the Fountain provides. There isn't any other description than this is lazy writing. This novel is the story of an author who has figured out how he can make a few more bucks from a story without being heavily invested in the characters. It reads in the way I would anticipate mediocre fanfiction to read, rather than a serious entry in a continued series.My final issue is that the story stops halfway through. Essentially you could condense the first half the book and then whatever the sequel is to be - and there is definitely a no. 5, no doubt about that - it should be the same book. This just stops rather than finishes and it shouldn't which is once more a sign of an author whose heart simply isn't in it. It leaves the story unfinished, closing on an inhale rather than an exhale. It's not even a proper cliff hanger, it just stops and leaves you dangling rather than hanging.

I've now read a dozen of his books; never read this genre before. But I've thoroughly enjoyed them all; it lets you escape this crazy world we all live in at the moment.Just a great read; especially like the way he links certain characters and events with real people/history.Enjoy...

Jeff Wheeler is an amazing writer. His detail and descriptions make it easy to imagine the world you're transported to. This book is no exception the tales of the parents were an amazing rollercoaster of intrigue secrets and thrills. Their relationships endearing passionate and a mix of good and bad. This book turns their story into the next chapter with the stories of their children who face challenges battles espionage and bravery. The old helping the young and the young introducing the new to the old embracing the future. All the ties of families and friends young and old journey through tradition secrets and a magic that binds all. All of which is superbly written .

Each book is an improvement on the previous book in this series, leaving me wanting more. I thought that I would never get the level of pleasure in reading the Harry Potter books again, but Jeff Wheeler has accomplished it with this series. Incredibly clever weaving of reimagined plots from English History such as the "War of the Roses" and classic tale "Camelot" is sheer genius. I can't wait for the next two books to complete the series! Thank you Jeff Wheeler and the very best wishes to you.

Really enjoying all th kingfountain books,this one seemed shorter than the others...or maby I just read it faster....absolutely fabulous &very exciting