The Hollow Queen

By: Elizabeth Haydon

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Haydon returns with a heartbreaking tale of love and valor in The Hollow Queen, the eighth installment of her USA Today best-selling Symphony of Ages series that began with Rhapsody.

Beset on all sides by the forces of the merchant emperor Talquist, the Cymrian Alliance finds itself in desperate straits. Rhapsody herself has joined the battle, wielding the Daystar Clarion, leaving her True Name in hiding with her infant son. Ashe tries to enlist the aid of the Sea Mages; within their Citadel of Scholarship lies the White Ivory tower, a spire that could hold the key to unraveling the full extent of Talquist's machinations.

Achmed journeys to the reportedly unassailable palace of Jierna Tal to kill emperor Talquist - all the while knowing that even if he succeeds, it may not be enough to stop the momentum of the war. As they struggle to untangle the web of Talquist's treachery, the leaders of the Cymrian alliance are met with obstacles at every turn. Rhapsody soon realizes that the end of this war will come at an unimaginable price: the lives of those she holds dearest.

©2015 Elizabeth Haydon (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Had to listen

It's the last book I saw, in the series. I couldn't imagine how it was going to have resolution. The story - after it was done- answered most questions and like the title, was a little hollow feeling. I can imagine it must be one of the greatest challenges of writers - to write a series and maintain the excitement of building a story. This final book does well enough. The entire series was absolutely great and worth the time to listen. The last book is ok but I had to listen. I'll miss the characters and hope the writer becomes inspired to write some of them into another tale - after a rest.

well written

this book has a plot and vast history filled with intrigue. well rounded characters that grab you and pull you into the world of dragons and magic. world bulding at its highest skill and expertly discribed. a fantastic read!

A wonderful ending to a stunning story

I enjoyed every minute of the series of stories, in spite of and sometimes because of grisly details. Love, humor, angst and war were appropriately portrayed and strong female characters are much appreciated!

a bit too much back story

I like the story and the way everything wrapped up. However, there was too much repetition of the other seven books that made it a little dry and Bland and boring when you wanted to get to what was happening instead.

series has great concepts, execution though...

So the series as a whole has been fairly good, these last couple book however have had some glaring problems. In these last few books which have already been shorter than the previous books, Haydon includes a copious amount of flashbacks, which are quite literally just huge sections copy/pasted from previous books.

The set up for this book seems a bit stale, we've already seen these characters live out their martyr complexes a few times, it's starting to get a bit predictable and the primary antagonist for this story arc is a pretty one dimensional.

The secondary antagonist was actually quite interesting though the Farron/Hrarfah story line was quite dynamic.

This particular book also had some editing issues that weren't present in the earlier books.

None of these problems are so bad I won't get the next book though, and Collins is a magnificent voice actor as always.

Positive and negative feedback

I was glad that the ending finally wrapped up most of the situations that dangled from one book to the next. She quoted from past books way too much. Good storyline and development of the main characters. Narration much improved over first book.

Great story

The story is amazing minus all the reminiscing. I have read all the books so far, no need to remind me for the ump-tenth time about the fall of the sleeping child that distorted the island. Could have been a 8-10 hour book otherwise.

Well...

God I cannot stand to hear this guy sing in this book. Other than that, not so bad.

great series

I have listened to each book in this series, and am more than happy with my purchases.

A rushed end to what started as an epic series

So dissapointed with this last book. It was a constant recap of the previous 6 books and so quickly tied up all the loose ends it lacked substance and depth. How many times can one book describe something ax Orgieastic? Listen to this book to find out.