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10th out of 13 books
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8 voters
My rating:
add to my books
The Born Queen (Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone #4)
by
Greg Keyes
In The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Greg Keyes has crafted a brilliant saga of magic, adventure, and love set against a backdrop of clashing empires and an ancient, reawakened evil. Now, with The Born Queen, Keyes brings his epic to a masterly close, gathering the strands of plot and character into a stunning climax that both completes and transcends all that has gone befor...more
Hardcover, 512 pages
Published
March 25th 2008
by Del Rey
(first published 2008)
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Series review for genrebusters.com:
...throughout the entirety of (this) series, Keyes maintains (the story) with informed craft. The story rarely lags over its thousands of pages, and the many plot elements that he concocts are largely settled by the conclusion. He keeps a good handle on his principal characters and develops them with at a pace that both fits the story well and feels natural. In particular, his treatment of the maturation of Anne Dare, who begins as a spoiled adolescen...more
...throughout the entirety of (this) series, Keyes maintains (the story) with informed craft. The story rarely lags over its thousands of pages, and the many plot elements that he concocts are largely settled by the conclusion. He keeps a good handle on his principal characters and develops them with at a pace that both fits the story well and feels natural. In particular, his treatment of the maturation of Anne Dare, who begins as a spoiled adolescen...more
Excellent ending to a FANTASTIC Quadrology? I really enjoyed this series, and if I skimmed a bit through a few of the characters, I PORED over others. Yes, some of the plot points became inevitable, but for a sprawling epic fantasy in the vein of George RR Martin, I can only wholeheartedly recommend it!
With 'The Born Queen,' Greg Keyes provides a suitably epic finish to his engrossing, endearing 'Kingdom of Thorn and Bone' books. Lush with well fleshed characters, mysterious figures and fantastic monsters, this series engrossed me since the start, and the conclusion was satisfying, fulfilling and poignant.
Anne Dare's quest to become empress is coming to a close, but she still must face off against her direst foes: her uncle Robert continues to make trouble, and Hansa continues to ...more
Anne Dare's quest to become empress is coming to a close, but she still must face off against her direst foes: her uncle Robert continues to make trouble, and Hansa continues to ...more
I was terrified he couldn't do it, but Keyes managed to wrap up an incredibly complex plot and bring all the strands home, comprehensibly, in a fairly short space. A splendid book, a splendid series--I recommend it to anyone who likes world-sweeping, complex fantasy involving powers not always friendly to humans, intricate characters, and thundering plots, not to mention strong women and men!
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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After I read the first book in this series, The Briar King, I literally bought the next three together and read them straight through.
My feeling is - in spite of the fact Mr Keyes is no stranger to quadrologies - that he intended to write a six book series or maybe even something longer but either got bored with the premise and characters (seemingly unlikely) or the publisher for some reason put the kibosh on a longer series because all of sudden, his terrificly clear - if labyrinthi...more
My feeling is - in spite of the fact Mr Keyes is no stranger to quadrologies - that he intended to write a six book series or maybe even something longer but either got bored with the premise and characters (seemingly unlikely) or the publisher for some reason put the kibosh on a longer series because all of sudden, his terrificly clear - if labyrinthi...more
The finale of the series doesn't really come up to the long build-up that raised expectations. I found the sudden change in some characters (most notably Stephen but also Anne and Austra) unconvincing and a bit forced. To me it felt like Keyes was holding back for too long, aiming to make the final revelations all the more breathtaking, thereby making the transition hasty and not very subtle. Considering the slowness of plot-development up to the finale, that is unnecessary. There was enough roo...more
Gosh. What an annoying ending to a really charming and unique quartet. A lot more of this one seemed disjointed. Some of the major plot points needed a little more fleshing out, particularly with regard to the thrones and how one character is actually three people. Very imaginative, I'm sure, but would it really have made the book so much longer if the central conflict were explained a little better?
Still, I have to hand it to the author, unlike a lot of speculative fiction writers, he...more
Still, I have to hand it to the author, unlike a lot of speculative fiction writers, he...more
2.5 stars
Not a completely satisfying end to the series, but I had suspected that the more I got into it. The first book was fairly good and made me want to keep reading to see what would happen. The next two slid downhill and seemed more a parade of the established characters--walking around and seeming to do stuff when they really were just going in circles. This last book DID resolve all of the loose ends, but almost every time, it was done in a way that was confusing, rushed, or j...more
Not a completely satisfying end to the series, but I had suspected that the more I got into it. The first book was fairly good and made me want to keep reading to see what would happen. The next two slid downhill and seemed more a parade of the established characters--walking around and seeming to do stuff when they really were just going in circles. This last book DID resolve all of the loose ends, but almost every time, it was done in a way that was confusing, rushed, or j...more
This is a very difficult review for me to write. On the one hand, I do not want to give you the impression that it is a bad book, it is not. On the other hand, I do not want you to go into expecting it to be like books 1-3, because it is not. This is where the whole preconception thing comes into play and in this case, preconception will hurt you. You need to go into this book with NO expectations, about anything. You also need to be prepared for an almost overwhelming flow of information, twist...more
Overall I thought this series started out with a lot of promise, but by the last book I was reading just to see what happened. I felt like the final resolution was rushed, and like the character development just stopped at the beginning of book 3, so I was hard-pressed to care too very much about what was going on. One bias I should mention is that, though I love sword-and-sorcery worlds, I am not actually big on descriptive battle scenes and tend to skip through them quickly. There are lots of ...more
Taken as a whole, FANTASTIC! Individually, they suffer a bit from continuity. The first book hooks you in and makes you care about some really incredible characters, then they wane a bit. Sadly, it feels like there should be another novella to explain some of the events in the Born Queen. It begins to feel a bit rushed half-way through and then...ends. And stuff happens. You get the idea. Worth the journey though and in fact have read the series several times now (twice just to make sense ...more
Book: 4/10 - 3/31/11
Series: 5/10 - 3/21/11
This is another series that started out well but ended terribly. The first two books were excellent - great fantasy with interesting and detailed characters; a good plot with an interesting world with a big back story. It kind of reminded me of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, but focusing on fewer characters with a less intricate plot. The third book was still solid, but there was less character and plot development...still intere...more
Series: 5/10 - 3/21/11
This is another series that started out well but ended terribly. The first two books were excellent - great fantasy with interesting and detailed characters; a good plot with an interesting world with a big back story. It kind of reminded me of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, but focusing on fewer characters with a less intricate plot. The third book was still solid, but there was less character and plot development...still intere...more
(This review is for the whole series)
This fantasy saga is fairly long and has a complicated plot, many characters, and a lot of different concepts and themes in play. It could have been a huge sprawling mess, but Keyes does a remarkable job of maintaining control of all his many and disparate threads. He has consistently snappy pacing, a good grasp of when to apply humor and when to apply poignancy, and a well-built world. There were some things that I would have liked a little more explan...more
This fantasy saga is fairly long and has a complicated plot, many characters, and a lot of different concepts and themes in play. It could have been a huge sprawling mess, but Keyes does a remarkable job of maintaining control of all his many and disparate threads. He has consistently snappy pacing, a good grasp of when to apply humor and when to apply poignancy, and a well-built world. There were some things that I would have liked a little more explan...more
This novel finishes up what has been one of the better series that I have read in this genre recently. I've rated all the books as four stars, but really I'd say the Briar King was a 4+, the middle two books are 4s, and the last book is a 4-.
The book is solid, and the stories of all the characters are moved forward to a conclusion. Unlike the other books, however, this one seemed a little 'busy'. I think this is because for most of the other books, multiple characters were travelin...more
The book is solid, and the stories of all the characters are moved forward to a conclusion. Unlike the other books, however, this one seemed a little 'busy'. I think this is because for most of the other books, multiple characters were travelin...more
Terence
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Keyes fans; general SF fans
Shelves:
sf-fantasy
I really don't have much to say about this book or the series as a whole except that it's very good escapist literature. Keyes is a good author who keeps the action moving and writes generally believable and interesting characters.
In this series (which started with The Briar King and continued with The Charnel Prince and The Blood Knight), Keyes tackles the problem of power, its use and how it corrupts the user. I was particularly impressed with his handling of Anne Dare and her gro...more
In this series (which started with The Briar King and continued with The Charnel Prince and The Blood Knight), Keyes tackles the problem of power, its use and how it corrupts the user. I was particularly impressed with his handling of Anne Dare and her gro...more
What a lackluster finish to a decent series. While the first few books were good, I felt the author dragged this out a lot longer than he originally intended. The storyline seemed to shift several times over the last couple of books as if he had no real end in sight. In my opinion, he could have ended it a book or two ago and called it good.
Series have to end at some point (someone tell this to Mr. RR Martin), but the endings in this one just didn't work for me. I won't reve...more
Series have to end at some point (someone tell this to Mr. RR Martin), but the endings in this one just didn't work for me. I won't reve...more
Andi
added it
This book was not QUITE as good as I was hoping for. Although I applaud an author who dares to make his characters flawed, it is always very uncomfortable when they start veering quite close to unlikeable.
Also, the end was simultaneously epic and anti-climactic which is an impressive and strange feat I've never seen before.
All in all, I enjoyed this series and this was a decent end to it, but I was hoping for something a bit more satisfying.
Also, the end was simultaneously epic and anti-climactic which is an impressive and strange feat I've never seen before.
All in all, I enjoyed this series and this was a decent end to it, but I was hoping for something a bit more satisfying.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This series is similar in style to the George RR Martin's Song of Fire & Ice books - the plot line follows a number of different characters in different places/situations; it's rather dark (although a little confusing at times too); lots of action and the series builds nicely to a great resolution. The ending didn't seem rushed and pretty much all of the loose ends were tied up. If you like Martin, you'll be a fan of this series as well :)
I almost didn't finish this book, but I have a really hard time doing that, so I trudged through. In this book, I didn't know which of the many plot lines were supposed to advance and which were supposed to end. Was Anne supposed to keep ruthlessly killing the Hansans wherever they appeared? Was the composer supposed to write the death song? Was the woodsman supposed to find the Briar King's home? Sometimes, the element of the unknown can make the book better, but it seemed so heavy-handed ...more
This book wasn't what I expected the series to end like, and I was pretty disappointed that there seemed to be no real winners in the story when everything is said and done.
The people that you care about through the whole series don't end up happy at the end, though the ending does fit with the rest of the story.
Not a great book, but well written and worth reading if you liked the previous books in the series.
The people that you care about through the whole series don't end up happy at the end, though the ending does fit with the rest of the story.
Not a great book, but well written and worth reading if you liked the previous books in the series.
I never really thought that I would get into this sort of book, but I was mailed the first of these four novels when I as part of a sci-fi/fantasy book club. I dug he first one so much that I spent what seemed like forever waiting for the entire series to come out. The whole things weaves a fantastic tale with magic and intrigue and a parallel world. I would recommend this to anyone who has ever enjoyed a fantasy novel.
Greg Keyes, what did you do?
This was a very clumsy wrap up to the series. It's as though the huge plot he controlled so well in book 3 just got away from him, and he allowed things to just sort of drift to an end. Things get clumsily wrapped up in an epilogue, and do not reach the epic clash we came to expect.
The kind of ending that makes you want to throw the book across the room.
This was a very clumsy wrap up to the series. It's as though the huge plot he controlled so well in book 3 just got away from him, and he allowed things to just sort of drift to an end. Things get clumsily wrapped up in an epilogue, and do not reach the epic clash we came to expect.
The kind of ending that makes you want to throw the book across the room.
Great ending in a series-- able to tie up all the lose ends, which is not easy given the number of plot threads going on at the same time. Skipping between plot threads in each chapter was a little distracting, and I ended up reading part-way through each plot thread through before picking up the next one. There was some real surprises which made going through the series worthwhile.
After reveling in the first two installments of Keyes' Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, and tolerantly working through the third, I was disappointed by the conclusion of this potentially great series. With a scramble of half-answered questions, and hinted at story lines, this final chapter left me feeling as if the author was simply in a rush to wrap things up. Bottom line? Keyes tried to cram too many ideas into this series... and fell short, when it mattered the most.
Finally finished the series and I think this book was the best of all of them. The first was really good but the next two not so much. This last one was great and I read 3/4 of it in one day. Couldn't put it down.
Throughout the series Keyes had switched rapidly between his characters/plot lines and it had been annoying. However, in this book it worked really well. It allowed us to put all the pieces together in a way the characters couldn't; clued us in without having one know-i...more
Throughout the series Keyes had switched rapidly between his characters/plot lines and it had been annoying. However, in this book it worked really well. It allowed us to put all the pieces together in a way the characters couldn't; clued us in without having one know-i...more
Like this whole series. Surprised I've not heard of it before in fact. Epic, but not 15 books epic. Not that I don't love long series', but sometimes you just don't want that big of a commitment. Magic system was different enough to keep it interesting, and I liked the variety of characters. I must admit I was lost through the first book at least. Keyes is one of those authors that doesn't really set the world or characters up in the beginning, just throws you in there and lets you learn a...more
This was a great book, not as good as the first three, but still good. I didn't like how it ended, but I can see how it was a good ending and did derive well from who the characters were (except Anne, but he wanted her to have that change, that was the whole point, I just didn't like it).
AH! It's over? Man. *snaps fingers* LOved it to the very end. Kinda wished that it didn't end! I wish there was more to the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone books. Like a book 5. But no. Every good thing comes to an end. Read these books. Starting with the book The Briar King. READ IT!!!
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Gregory Keyes is a writer of science fiction and fantasy who has written both original and media-related novels under both the names J. Gregory Keyes and "Greg Keyes".
Greg Keyes was born in to a large, diverse, storytelling family. He received degrees in anthropology from Mississippi State and the University of George before becoming a fulltime writer.
He lives in...more
More about Greg Keyes...
Greg Keyes was born in to a large, diverse, storytelling family. He received degrees in anthropology from Mississippi State and the University of George before becoming a fulltime writer.
He lives in...more
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Jul 12, 2008 10:49am
updated Jul 12, 2008 03:46pm
Jul 12, 2008 04:24pm