King's Dragon
core novel 1997 Crown of Stars
Record
| First published | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.81 (9,840 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| Page count | 636 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780886777272 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
King's Dragon is set in an alternate medieval Europe where sorcery and warring human and non-human forces threaten the fragile Kingdom of Wendar under the rule of the aging King Henry, whose authority is already contested by ambitious relatives and rival nobles. As raiders cross the kingdom's borders and dark portents mount, two very different young people are drawn into the unfolding conflict: Alain, a foundling raised by a merchant family who finds himself pulled toward a destiny far larger than his modest upbringing suggested, and Liath, a young woman burdened by a dangerous magical inheritance and hunted by powerful men who want to control the secrets locked inside her. Their separate paths through a kingdom sliding toward war set in motion the wider struggle that will occupy the rest of the series.
Where it sits
- Universe: Crown of Stars
- Series: Crown of Stars core; position 1 of 7 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Kate Elliott
Notes
- From the series record (Crown of Stars): A seven-volume secondary-world epic drawing on early medieval European history and astronomy/astrology, following a large ensemble cast across a single continuous conflict.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Crown of Stars: position 1 of 7: next Prince of Dogs (1998)
Sources
← Crown of Stars dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.