Bernhard Hennen's Epic Fantasy Novel: Elven Winter - Book 2 of the Saga of the Elven Series

Amazon Customer: WAS HOPING FOR THE SAME QUALITY AS ELVEN BUT FALLS SHORT. SEEMS A SHADOW OF ITS PREDECESSOR. ON TO THE QUEEN.

United States on Apr 24, 2023

Paul J.J. McClellan: If you enjoyed the writing style of the first, it continues in the second. The story themes and characters are different than the major ones in the first, and the story takes paths to tell a very different story than the original. Some "backburner" characters in the original get more spotlight here and the lore is expanded. There are many many moments where it is just a joy to read the words from the writer & translator. I felt myself wishing some of the characters from the original were back, but it didn't stop me from enjoying this one. Overall, a fun read.

United States on May 15, 2022

Ron: An excellent mystery thriller worth keeping to read again.

United Kingdom on Mar 27, 2022

Di Farrell: I noticed some reviewers were dissatisfied that the story did not carry on, so to speak, but what it did do , seeing how the 1st book moves through time, was to fill in some of the interesting gaps. I found this book to be very entertaining as it filled in the larger picture of book one and was well written and for me an enjoyable read. I didn't find it disappointing as it gave more depth to the whole and was a good read

United Kingdom on Oct 03, 2021

John Mulhall: I have to say this is a good and engaging read thanks to the masterful craftsmanship of the novel. Where it looses stars is the storyline abruptly ending at the end of the novel and the actual story line itself. If you enjoyed the first of this series as much as I did, then jumping onto a storyline that parallels part of the storyline in book 1 (The Elven) was a bit of a let down. You know the fate of some key characters and you are denied the thrill of seeing the follow on plots develop from book 1. That said, I will read book 3 for completion and ask any future story timelines be linear to book 1...

United Kingdom on Apr 11, 2020

C A Olivier: The second book in this trilogy. The first book was an epic and I immediately ordered book 2. Many of the same characters re-appear. Another enjoyable read. I am already in to book 3.

United Kingdom on Mar 11, 2020

Kindle Customer: I loved the elven despite being a huge book and taking ages to read. The ending was dissatisfying but I was happy to leave the story there. This book felt unnecessary and I'm not sure adds anything to the original story. However now I have read it I am intrigued by the third book and kind of want to find out what happens. Does this book suffer from second book syndrome; where it doesn't live up to the first and is kinda the lull between that and the third?? I suppose I will only find out by reading the rest of the story.

United Kingdom on Feb 13, 2020

Rob Dorsey: This is the second book in this series I have read and as a sci-fi and fantasy novelist myself I cannot help but analyze any book I read.
What my analysis of this book reveals is that, like his other book, the author has a wonderful gift for story telling and I found myself caught up in the story and rich characters from the very beginning. This is a hard book to put down and I had to be very disciplined not to read too late, it’s that good.
However, the book just stops. I’m not criticizing the ending because there is no ending, it just stops. This appears to be a characteristic of the author’s style since I had the same criticism of the first book I read, “Elven “. It too just stops with no satisfactory conclusion. For this reason alone I could not award it a five star review. With a good ending, it would be perfect.

United States on Aug 17, 2019

Rich: I think it's important to note that while this is billed as "Saga of the Elven Book 2," it's not really a sequel to the first book. It's more of what Robert Jordan would have called an "outrigger novel," or perhaps a "companion novel" is a better way to put it. The first book focused on three primary characters and their saga. This book is set simultaneously with some events in the first volume but involves characters who were more on the periphery in the first book. This is a way to explore more of the world of the Elven and to get to know characters who weren't explored in the original story. If you've read the first book, you might expect this volume to pick up with one of the characters who was sort of "left behind" in the ending (I'm deliberately being vague there to avoid spoilers). If that's what you're expecting, you may be disappointed. I'd kind of like to know what happens to that character as well, but you won't find anything about that here.

I enjoyed this book, but I felt the first volume was stronger and more interesting. Also, as others have noted, this ends really abruptly and the next book is not yet translated into English. If that bothers you, you might...

United States on May 26, 2018

Kevin Scheiman: The Elven is probably my favorite book of all time since it had excellent character development and was its own story wrapped into a nice, 800 page package (not to mention the beautiful descriptions and the story itself). Elven Winter is also quite enjoyable, but once you get about halfway through it's quite obviously not a standalone novel.

Hennen has actually published 4 (4 on Amazon, 7 listed on Wikipedia) books in The Elven series, but only the first two have been translated to English, with the others only being in German (the "Die Elfen Saga"  Die Elfen: Roman (Die Elfen-Saga 1) (German Edition) ). Since it took about 2.5 years for the editors/translators to kick out Elven Winter after The Elven, I wouldn't necessarily keep your hopes up for getting the next two (Elven Light, and Elven Queen) or five (Elven Light, Elven Song, Elven Queen, Elven Worlds, and Elven Power) installments anytime soon .

All that being said, Elven Winter is still a must read for fantasy lovers. This story is completely different from the Elven as it does not focus on Mandred, Farodin, or Nuramon, but instead on the minor characters and expands on them quite nicely. If it's been...

United States on Mar 01, 2018