Elven Winter (The Saga of the Elven Book 2) Kindle Edition

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 awhile since you read The Elven, I would HIGHLY recommend re-reading it before diving into Elven Winter though. I didn't and immediately regrettd it as I found myself tyring to remember back two years ago to figure out where it places in the vast timeline of The Elven.So in the end, of course I'm going to recommend reading Elven Winter! But do realize that this book does end abruptly, and when I say that, I mean like a guillotine. No gradual slowdown, no hint of a mini-resolution. Just... BAM... and then you're stuck like the rest of us waiting for the next book to be translated, which will be who-knows-how-long.

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 want to wait a few years to read this one, but I certainly recommend going ahead and reading the original novel if you haven't already done so. This book is largely an independent story, so you can read the first book without worrying that you'll miss something essential if you don't then move on to this one.

This book has so much better reviews than The Elven but I found it difficult to get into. Admittedly that could be because I tried reading it right after The Elven and it is not a continuation. I may return later and edit my review, who knows.Most disappointing is that after seemingly taking forever, the plot ends when it's finally about to start. A number of reviews of The Elven complained that the Saga was too long - those people might like this. I don't care much for having to hunt down the rest of this story now - I prefer the Saga style to the multi-novel-single-plot style. Hopefully there's a boxset... that, I can tolerate.As for the characters- I didn't really care much for any of them like I loved the main characters of The Elven. Still, I do want to know what happens so if I can find the next part, I'll probably buy it. Took forever for the plot to develop, seems a shame to quit now.

The first book in this series, The Elven, began slowly and laboriously. Not this one. It is packed with action from beginning to end. My only complaint is the very abrupt ending, so abrupt that it seems you are missing the end pages of the book. Editors, what were you thinking! OK Bernhard.....the world is waiting for Book 3!

As The Elven was one of the best fantasy novels that i have read in a long time, I was excited when i saw a second come out in the same sites. Unfortunately, Elven Winter just doesn't have the same epic plot advancement. The characters remain rich and wonderful but this book just did not have the epic feel of the first. I will keep reading the series but i certainly hope that the next book will go further and have something more to it.

I read the first book in the series and I absolutely loved it! It spoiled me to the point that any book I read after it just didn't measure up. The characters in this book are just as well thought out as the 1st book but it left a lot of unanswered questions and way too many loose ends floating around for my taste. As my title suggests this book ends way too abruptly. It ends with a character breaking his leg. I tap for the next page, fully expecting a few more chapters, and there was nothing there. The end. For that I'm giving it 3 stars. It's too big of a flaw not to.

The story of the Elves continues with new and exciting tales that beg for a sequel. Alfadas is one of the heros of this tale and trolls are the antagonists.

This book was ok. I found out after I started it that no more of the books were translated into english. I loved the first one. It kept my attention and I thought a wonderful epic quest. This one, ended way too fast and didn't wrap up any of the story line. I was disappointed.

This book is terrible!! It just stops...there is a start...a middle...and a STOP. The author has taken a 900 page book (which he has already written) had 300 pages of it translated and transferring into this book... Can you guess what he's going to do with the rest of the original book. Well I for one won't be reading them. Complete and utterly rubbish!!!

This sequel to the novel Elven is in no way the book I was expecting. The major characters in that book jumped forward in time, this book fills in one of the gaps they had missed. The concept of doing that and the wonderfully descriptive, exciting and enthralling writing makes this a 5 star for me. In fact a 5 star plus if that were allowed. If you read and enjoyed Elven then this book is definitely for you. Fantastic work.

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...

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.

These are elves on a more human scale - not the perfect beings of Tolkien's world. There is a rawness to Hennen's writing - he writes vividly and with touches of humour, bringing the different races he describes to life. He makes you care about his characters enough to make it work when he puts them in constant and drastic peril. The only real criticism I have is that this is not an epic book in length - unlike the first Elven.