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Green Rider #4
Der Pfad der Schatten
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fantasy (2011)Die magischen Reiter sind die letzte Hoffnung
Die Lehrjahre sind für die tapfere Karigan vorbei: Längst gehört sie zur Reiterbrigade des Königs, die das Reich nach allen Seiten hin vor dem Bösen verteidigt. Schon glaubte Karigan, nach den ewigen Zeiten des Kampfes würde endlich Frieden herrschen. Doch dann suchen sich die dunklen Mächte ein neues Einfallstor: Im finsteren Blackveil Forest erwachen Geschöpfe zum Leben, die seit über tausend Jahren darauf lauern, den dünner werdenden Grenzwall zu durchbrechen. Und Karigan und den übrigen magischen Reitern bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als sich in den Wald aufzumachen, um das Schlimmste zu verhindern. Sie werden bereits erwartet ...
Die Lehrjahre sind für die tapfere Karigan vorbei: Längst gehört sie zur Reiterbrigade des Königs, die das Reich nach allen Seiten hin vor dem Bösen verteidigt. Schon glaubte Karigan, nach den ewigen Zeiten des Kampfes würde endlich Frieden herrschen. Doch dann suchen sich die dunklen Mächte ein neues Einfallstor: Im finsteren Blackveil Forest erwachen Geschöpfe zum Leben, die seit über tausend Jahren darauf lauern, den dünner werdenden Grenzwall zu durchbrechen. Und Karigan und den übrigen magischen Reitern bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als sich in den Wald aufzumachen, um das Schlimmste zu verhindern. Sie werden bereits erwartet ...
896 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
About the author
Kristen Britain
28 books3,238 followersKristen Britain grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where she started her first novel - an undersea fantasy featuring herself and her friends - at the age of nine. She published her first book, a cartoon collection called Horses and Horsepeople, at the age of thirteen. After completing her degree in film production at Ithaca College in 1987 she made the logical (?!) leap from cinema to the National Park Service. Her many years as a park ranger enabled her to work in a variety of natural and historical settings, from 300 feet below the surface of the Earth to 13,000 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide; and from the textile mills of the American Industrial Revolution to the homes of Americans who changed the course of history.
Currently she lives in a log cabin in Maine where she writes full time and pursues interests reading, guitar playing, and cartoon illustration, supervised by a cat and a dog. She enjoys exploring the magical places around her and can often be found paddling a canoe in stillwater, ambling through the woods to mountain summits, or sitting along the rocky shore listening, watching, and daydreaming. This is her fantasy, at least.
Currently she lives in a log cabin in Maine where she writes full time and pursues interests reading, guitar playing, and cartoon illustration, supervised by a cat and a dog. She enjoys exploring the magical places around her and can often be found paddling a canoe in stillwater, ambling through the woods to mountain summits, or sitting along the rocky shore listening, watching, and daydreaming. This is her fantasy, at least.
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February 16, 2011
Okay, that's IT! I officially HATE KRISTEN BRITAIN! She has joined my hitlist alongside other eminent i'm-going-to-die-before-my-series-is-over greats, George R. R. Martin and Robert Jordan (who did, in fact, die before his series was over, damn him!).
An offering from the I Hate Kristen Britain society
I once told my friend Megan that when I was the queen of the world and got to make my own rules, I would make sure that nobody could get the first book of any series published until they had written the entire series. Oh boy, I wish I was queen of the world RIGHT NOW!
Joe Abercrombie is my hero. The man wrote a tight, compact, hard-hitting fantasy trilogy, and he wound it up in three years. Book 1 came out in 2006, book 2 in 2007 and by 2008, all his fans were satisfied and madly in love with him. That, my friends is a professional writer! (You listening, George? Kristen?)
My once-friend Kristen, though, published the first book in the Green Rider series in 1998. Now, almost 13 years later, she is only four books down, without the faintest idea of how many more there are to go. And considering the fact that Kristen takes between 3-4 years to complete one damn book, I'm going to be waiting a long time for the fifth book, I'm guessing. This would not, perhaps, be so disheartening if she had not used that cheapest of all cheap tricks for a slow writer - yes, it is The Dreaded Cliffhanger! In case, I haven't conveyed my emotion strongly enough, I HATE YOU, KRISTEN BRITAIN!!!
**Rant ends here**
**Review begins Here**
Why do I like Kristen Britain's books so much? Truth be told, they're not very good. But they are addictive. Like nicotine, you know? You know it smells foul and it's bad for you, but once you take that hit, you're pretty much lost. There is nothing terribly original in Britain's world. It is a Tolkein-esque, Potter-ish medley of fantasy worlds that never actually plagiarises, but resonates dimly with the memories of all the high fantasy you've ever read. Her heroine, Karigan, is not a Mary Sue, but she is a little too good to be true. But none of these truths are enough to stop me from falling headlong into Britain's books.
There is undoubtedly an addictive quality to Britain's writing. Her ideas are simplistic, although a little more wordy and complex plot-wise than the general run of young adult fantasy. I'm actually not sure whether the Green Rider series is technically categorised as YA, but it is, in my opinion, a book tailored for the tweeny crowd. There is a battle between good and evil, with the larger forces such as gods and destiny at play, and the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of one super-speshul Green Rider.
A quick summary. Karigan gets called to the Green Riders, the King's Messenger service when she runs away from school and stumbles upon a grievously injured Green Rider in the woods. The Rider charges her with delivering an important message to the King and subsequently dies.Frodo Karigan, then sets off on a journey with Sam the Rider's horse to warn Elrond the King of the threat to the kingdom posed by the revival of Sauron Mornhavon the Black. She also takes an object of power, a ring brooch that allows her to fade, and, later in the series, travel the thresholds between space and time. Karigan is willy nilly inducted into the Messenger service and manages to save the kingdom and consequently the world, about three or four times, at last count. In the process, her heroic yet humble demeanour draws the attention of the king, and the two of them fall in love.
Okay, I know it is not cool to love this series. Even I can see that it is chock-full of formulaic cliches. But I can't help myself. Kristen Britain is a powerful story teller, even if she is not a very original one. Like the bards of old, she sucks you into the story until you are turning the pages with frantic speed, holding your breath at points, tearing your hair out at others and forgetting that the rest of the world exists. I read a 672-page novel in about eight hours, with no sleep, and quite possibly no blinking either. Or breathing.
Kristen refers to the romance angle in her series as a mere 'subplot', but she's kidding herself. The tortured, star-crossed Karigan and Zachary are the USP of this book. I have literally pounded my fists with each twist and turn in their fates, each obstacle to their path of true love. I'm not saying the rest of the book is not important or entertaining. But I'm reading the books to know what happens to Karigan and Zachary; otherwise, given Britain's sporadic output,I would have given up on this series a long time ago.
In Blackveil, the story moves on from where it last left off, with Grandmother, the leader of the rebel Second Empire forces, making her way through Blackveil Forest in a mission to awaken the Sleepers. In the meantime, Karigan and five other Sacoridians are also deployed to Blackveil to accompany an expedition of Eletians who are going back to see what remains of their beloved Argenthyne. This is not a filler book, thankfully. Far from it. A LOT happens in this book; some of it, like Alton's new relationship, and Lord Amberhill's mysterious quest, is cool. Most of the book, though, is an exercise in frustration, like the developments in Zachary's life, and that BLOODY ENDING! (No, I don't want to spoil the unpleasant surprise!) Britain is, without doubt, an evil sadistic genius who likes to torture her characters and, through them, her readers. There were so many points in this book when I was going, 'Whaat? Noooooo!' It's like eating gooseberries - the sour tang of the berry is, in fact, part of the pleasure.
This book was everything I now expect from a Kristen Britain novel - gripping, entertaining, emotionally draining and frustrating as hell. There are about a million loose threads flapping breezily and brazenly in my desperate face, and I have no choice but to wait until the Great Britain (get it, get it?) deigns to publish another novel in the series. What I would really like, though, is for her to at least throw me a crumb and tell me how many books there are in the series altogether, so that I can look up the life expectancy of the average American woman and start calculating frantically whether Britain will be able to finish this series before she dies.
An offering from the I Hate Kristen Britain society
I once told my friend Megan that when I was the queen of the world and got to make my own rules, I would make sure that nobody could get the first book of any series published until they had written the entire series. Oh boy, I wish I was queen of the world RIGHT NOW!
Joe Abercrombie is my hero. The man wrote a tight, compact, hard-hitting fantasy trilogy, and he wound it up in three years. Book 1 came out in 2006, book 2 in 2007 and by 2008, all his fans were satisfied and madly in love with him. That, my friends is a professional writer! (You listening, George? Kristen?)
My once-friend Kristen, though, published the first book in the Green Rider series in 1998. Now, almost 13 years later, she is only four books down, without the faintest idea of how many more there are to go. And considering the fact that Kristen takes between 3-4 years to complete one damn book, I'm going to be waiting a long time for the fifth book, I'm guessing. This would not, perhaps, be so disheartening if she had not used that cheapest of all cheap tricks for a slow writer - yes, it is The Dreaded Cliffhanger! In case, I haven't conveyed my emotion strongly enough, I HATE YOU, KRISTEN BRITAIN!!!
**Rant ends here**
**Review begins Here**
Why do I like Kristen Britain's books so much? Truth be told, they're not very good. But they are addictive. Like nicotine, you know? You know it smells foul and it's bad for you, but once you take that hit, you're pretty much lost. There is nothing terribly original in Britain's world. It is a Tolkein-esque, Potter-ish medley of fantasy worlds that never actually plagiarises, but resonates dimly with the memories of all the high fantasy you've ever read. Her heroine, Karigan, is not a Mary Sue, but she is a little too good to be true. But none of these truths are enough to stop me from falling headlong into Britain's books.
There is undoubtedly an addictive quality to Britain's writing. Her ideas are simplistic, although a little more wordy and complex plot-wise than the general run of young adult fantasy. I'm actually not sure whether the Green Rider series is technically categorised as YA, but it is, in my opinion, a book tailored for the tweeny crowd. There is a battle between good and evil, with the larger forces such as gods and destiny at play, and the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of one super-speshul Green Rider.
A quick summary. Karigan gets called to the Green Riders, the King's Messenger service when she runs away from school and stumbles upon a grievously injured Green Rider in the woods. The Rider charges her with delivering an important message to the King and subsequently dies.
Okay, I know it is not cool to love this series. Even I can see that it is chock-full of formulaic cliches. But I can't help myself. Kristen Britain is a powerful story teller, even if she is not a very original one. Like the bards of old, she sucks you into the story until you are turning the pages with frantic speed, holding your breath at points, tearing your hair out at others and forgetting that the rest of the world exists. I read a 672-page novel in about eight hours, with no sleep, and quite possibly no blinking either. Or breathing.
Kristen refers to the romance angle in her series as a mere 'subplot', but she's kidding herself. The tortured, star-crossed Karigan and Zachary are the USP of this book. I have literally pounded my fists with each twist and turn in their fates, each obstacle to their path of true love. I'm not saying the rest of the book is not important or entertaining. But I'm reading the books to know what happens to Karigan and Zachary; otherwise, given Britain's sporadic output,I would have given up on this series a long time ago.
In Blackveil, the story moves on from where it last left off, with Grandmother, the leader of the rebel Second Empire forces, making her way through Blackveil Forest in a mission to awaken the Sleepers. In the meantime, Karigan and five other Sacoridians are also deployed to Blackveil to accompany an expedition of Eletians who are going back to see what remains of their beloved Argenthyne. This is not a filler book, thankfully. Far from it. A LOT happens in this book; some of it, like Alton's new relationship, and Lord Amberhill's mysterious quest, is cool. Most of the book, though, is an exercise in frustration, like the developments in Zachary's life, and that BLOODY ENDING! (No, I don't want to spoil the unpleasant surprise!) Britain is, without doubt, an evil sadistic genius who likes to torture her characters and, through them, her readers. There were so many points in this book when I was going, 'Whaat? Noooooo!' It's like eating gooseberries - the sour tang of the berry is, in fact, part of the pleasure.
This book was everything I now expect from a Kristen Britain novel - gripping, entertaining, emotionally draining and frustrating as hell. There are about a million loose threads flapping breezily and brazenly in my desperate face, and I have no choice but to wait until the Great Britain (get it, get it?) deigns to publish another novel in the series. What I would really like, though, is for her to at least throw me a crumb and tell me how many books there are in the series altogether, so that I can look up the life expectancy of the average American woman and start calculating frantically whether Britain will be able to finish this series before she dies.
January 20, 2022
4 Stars
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
September 6, 2017
Here's the links to the episode on Fantasy Explorations fully dedicated to a non-spoiler review of the series, in case you are wondering if this would be a series for you!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/39AQ...
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast...
I confess it took me a while to get to this book primarily because I saw there were some negative reviews focusing on how "YA" the series became with this installment. The reviews resonated so much with me that I pushed the read as far as I could.
I am just glad that the reference to those elements that would make the book more "YA" did not affect me in the least. I blitzed through the book and I enjoyed as the installments before.
Karigan is a bit immature in this book here and there (yet she tends to be every now and again and I do not mind because it tends to be contained); but her story is just so good, as it has been so far. Maybe the journey in Blackveil was a bit short but I enjoyed it very much; yet, what I loved the most is the Eletian presence and it was just a great interaction. Yet again we face death in the story - and this time it really hurt.
I loved King Zachary and Lady Estora story too. It makes the book more "political", more court intriguing and realistic to some extent.
There were also three "minor" stories, the D'Yer wall that keeps being in great peril but it seems there is a bit of progress - but at what cost! -; Amberhill is responding to the call of the ring (and it makes me wonder if we are getting a Circe-like story now?); and Grandma and Lala who keep being incredibly normal despite being a powerful couple of witches (for lack of better words) serving the Second Empire.
In essence, another great installment of the story. It keeps having the "lighter" tone that I associate with this series while tackling very grim-dark topics and scenes with a less gruesome way. And those cliffhangers are just the best and worst of all! Yet I am so committed to the story that I bought the next two books - and I am widely considering starting with book #5 right now!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/39AQ...
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast...
I confess it took me a while to get to this book primarily because I saw there were some negative reviews focusing on how "YA" the series became with this installment. The reviews resonated so much with me that I pushed the read as far as I could.
I am just glad that the reference to those elements that would make the book more "YA" did not affect me in the least. I blitzed through the book and I enjoyed as the installments before.
Karigan is a bit immature in this book here and there (yet she tends to be every now and again and I do not mind because it tends to be contained); but her story is just so good, as it has been so far. Maybe the journey in Blackveil was a bit short but I enjoyed it very much; yet, what I loved the most is the Eletian presence and it was just a great interaction. Yet again we face death in the story - and this time it really hurt.
I loved King Zachary and Lady Estora story too. It makes the book more "political", more court intriguing and realistic to some extent.
There were also three "minor" stories, the D'Yer wall that keeps being in great peril but it seems there is a bit of progress - but at what cost! -; Amberhill is responding to the call of the ring (and it makes me wonder if we are getting a Circe-like story now?); and Grandma and Lala who keep being incredibly normal despite being a powerful couple of witches (for lack of better words) serving the Second Empire.
In essence, another great installment of the story. It keeps having the "lighter" tone that I associate with this series while tackling very grim-dark topics and scenes with a less gruesome way. And those cliffhangers are just the best and worst of all! Yet I am so committed to the story that I bought the next two books - and I am widely considering starting with book #5 right now!
February 3, 2011
I've always enjoyed the Green Rider series until now. Waiting 3-4 years for each book was painful, but you usually got a good book in the end.
Not this time.
The book drags and it's darker than any of the other books. I'm majorly disappointed in the way some of the plot lines developed. But what really honked me off were two things:
1. A main character gets raped.
2. The book ends with a horrendously bad cliffhanger ending.
I could maybe deal with one, but not both. Having to wait another 3-4 years to find out what happens next? Totally not worth it.
I'm done with this series. It's a shame, because Kristen Britain can really write a good yarn.
Not this time.
The book drags and it's darker than any of the other books. I'm majorly disappointed in the way some of the plot lines developed. But what really honked me off were two things:
1. A main character gets raped.
2. The book ends with a horrendously bad cliffhanger ending.
I could maybe deal with one, but not both. Having to wait another 3-4 years to find out what happens next? Totally not worth it.
I'm done with this series. It's a shame, because Kristen Britain can really write a good yarn.
December 16, 2012
I can't believe this is happening. I've been a fan of this series for so many years. It's one of the only series of it's type- fantasy adventure of the old school model with a female lead. I used this to con so many teenagers into fantasy. But this series went downhill in a big way. My husband got to the point where he strait up asked me to quit since it was making me so miserable which meant I was making him miserable. Yay marriage! Here are my problems:
Karrigan- once upon a time she was a flawed heroine with a lot of growth potential. Now she has a giant stick up her butt because:
Morality of prostitution- Seriously, I really don't care about your political stance on prostitution. Really. The face that the character of a an early twenties age girl who is not a prostitute herself is highjacked over this- in a really high handed and moralizing way- is freaking weird. Plus it spanned most of the last book and the first quarter of this one.
Characters flip flopping- Did Kristin Britain just give up? So many characters acted in ways that did not fit the way they'd been set up. And this is not nostalgia talking since I just reread the series. Captain Mapstone is a prime example. She does things that are very, very weird for her for the sake of Plot.
The romance- Oh my gosh shoot me now. Yes, I was a huge Karrigan and Zachary shipper. But that got squelched in book two and they had almost no interaction in book three. Then it gets resurrected here just to screw with Karrigan. Reality check: I really doubt Zachary can lurve Karrigan all that much when he talks to her twice a year. Just saying. This is the worst handled romantic subplot I have ever read.
Bad guys- One of the things I loved about book one was the different types of villains. There were even some loyal opposition that surprised me. The big bad of the series has been dispatched to some point in the future and now their just fighting minions. All of these are of the mustache twirling, cackling in a cape variety. Seriously, what happened?
Amberhill- oh boy. This is a secondary character in the third book who is high jacking the series. I don't like him, he doesn't interest me, and I wouldn't read a series about him. But I'm pretty sure he has close to the same screen time as Kerrigan. Seriously, get your own book.
Bloated prose- The most recent three books are twice the size of the first with half the plot. Seriously, these books go on and on and nothing is happening. Why?
Future events: Reading up on what happens later in this book and in the next one leaves me cold. Rape isn't okay. Miscarriage for Plot Reasons sounds awful. Plus having the fifth book be 'it was all a dream' is exploitive in the extreme.
So I'm done. I don't know when the last time DNFing a book bothered me so much, if ever. I can't believe such a good series went down the tubes like this.
Karrigan- once upon a time she was a flawed heroine with a lot of growth potential. Now she has a giant stick up her butt because:
Morality of prostitution- Seriously, I really don't care about your political stance on prostitution. Really. The face that the character of a an early twenties age girl who is not a prostitute herself is highjacked over this- in a really high handed and moralizing way- is freaking weird. Plus it spanned most of the last book and the first quarter of this one.
Characters flip flopping- Did Kristin Britain just give up? So many characters acted in ways that did not fit the way they'd been set up. And this is not nostalgia talking since I just reread the series. Captain Mapstone is a prime example. She does things that are very, very weird for her for the sake of Plot.
The romance- Oh my gosh shoot me now. Yes, I was a huge Karrigan and Zachary shipper. But that got squelched in book two and they had almost no interaction in book three. Then it gets resurrected here just to screw with Karrigan. Reality check: I really doubt Zachary can lurve Karrigan all that much when he talks to her twice a year. Just saying. This is the worst handled romantic subplot I have ever read.
Bad guys- One of the things I loved about book one was the different types of villains. There were even some loyal opposition that surprised me. The big bad of the series has been dispatched to some point in the future and now their just fighting minions. All of these are of the mustache twirling, cackling in a cape variety. Seriously, what happened?
Amberhill- oh boy. This is a secondary character in the third book who is high jacking the series. I don't like him, he doesn't interest me, and I wouldn't read a series about him. But I'm pretty sure he has close to the same screen time as Kerrigan. Seriously, get your own book.
Bloated prose- The most recent three books are twice the size of the first with half the plot. Seriously, these books go on and on and nothing is happening. Why?
Future events: Reading up on what happens later in this book and in the next one leaves me cold. Rape isn't okay. Miscarriage for Plot Reasons sounds awful. Plus having the fifth book be 'it was all a dream' is exploitive in the extreme.
So I'm done. I don't know when the last time DNFing a book bothered me so much, if ever. I can't believe such a good series went down the tubes like this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2011
Okay, so Kristen Britain is getting a lot of grief over a certain scene in "Blackveil" that has the K/Z Fandom outraged (no spoilers, I promise!). Let's admit it, it's a doozy whether or not you're rooting for Karigan! Some are enraged, some disgusted, some pleased, some confused ... that's the point! A good author will throw curve balls at her readers in order to generate a reaction - any reaction. Whether it's positive or negative, it tends to have the effect of baiting the audience into sticking around for the next book. It also gives us a romance that isn't just sugar and sunshine (a strong literary relationship needs some speed bumps to shake things up and keep things interesting). P.S. I'm a K/Z Fan too, so stick with me here.
As for the length of time we have to wait in between books: yes, I agree that it is AGONIZING!! It won't stop me from continuing to buy the books or suggesting them to friends, though. So long as Kristen comes up with another great read, I think it's worth the wait.
Finally, the CLIFFHANGER. Yes, like that certain scene I mentioned already its a doozy (it deserves to be referred to in capital letters). In proper die-hard, can't-put-it-down fan fashion I promptly screeched at the top of my lungs when I found that there were no more pages after that last sentence. It killed me. I wanted to rip the book to shreds and track down Kristen so that I could kick her. I cried ... but what an ending, ladies and gentlemen! Let's face it, "Blackveil" is a middle-of-the-series book. It isn't going to let us off the hook or feel satisfied. Someday (hopefully) Kristen will publish the last book in the Green Rider series and all those fascinating, irritating, nail-biting plot lines will converge and we will be able to let out a collective (and long-held) sigh of relief.
Stick with it, everyone! If the future books are comparable in quality to what we've gotten out of her so far, Kristen will make it worth it.
As for the length of time we have to wait in between books: yes, I agree that it is AGONIZING!! It won't stop me from continuing to buy the books or suggesting them to friends, though. So long as Kristen comes up with another great read, I think it's worth the wait.
Finally, the CLIFFHANGER. Yes, like that certain scene I mentioned already its a doozy (it deserves to be referred to in capital letters). In proper die-hard, can't-put-it-down fan fashion I promptly screeched at the top of my lungs when I found that there were no more pages after that last sentence. It killed me. I wanted to rip the book to shreds and track down Kristen so that I could kick her. I cried ... but what an ending, ladies and gentlemen! Let's face it, "Blackveil" is a middle-of-the-series book. It isn't going to let us off the hook or feel satisfied. Someday (hopefully) Kristen will publish the last book in the Green Rider series and all those fascinating, irritating, nail-biting plot lines will converge and we will be able to let out a collective (and long-held) sigh of relief.
Stick with it, everyone! If the future books are comparable in quality to what we've gotten out of her so far, Kristen will make it worth it.
March 21, 2011
Well, I can't same I'm surprised by the fact that this book was total fantasy drivel. Okay, it could have been worse. HOWEVER reading the author's website FAQs made me sort of hate her guts. Seriously? She had to put up a point that she's too busy taking FIVE YEARS to write one book that she asks her fans not to bother her with mail, you know, full of their little writerly attempts and dreams? And then the question of "why do you take so long to write" she answers by going into a bizarre description of the publishing process. Stephen King cranks out longer books twice a year, thus making her stupid rambling null and void.
Okay, I guess I"m just annoyed. Or tired. The point is that I could get behind these books if they came out once a year, but waiting 4 years for something and having it still pretty much suck/make no sense in some parts just strikes me as silly.
Yeah yeah, I'll still read the next one...
Okay, I guess I"m just annoyed. Or tired. The point is that I could get behind these books if they came out once a year, but waiting 4 years for something and having it still pretty much suck/make no sense in some parts just strikes me as silly.
Yeah yeah, I'll still read the next one...
March 1, 2011
I was so excited for this book latest book in the Green Rider series. I was disappointed. The author had written an amazing series that was full of intrigue, romance & strong characters. Sadly, she joined the bandwagon that so many authors are on where they think that they will impress their audiences more by including sexual scenes in their books. FYI -- you ruin a story with such descriptions. For me, sex scenes in movies or books are a big message that the writer is trying to sell their book without using their talent. I hope she keeps her next book clean...or there might be one less reader of the series.
February 4, 2011
Warning #1- This is NOT the end of the series. The book leaves you in an even less satisfying place than #3 did.
Warning #2- The author seems to have gone the way of Anne McCaffrey. A few exciting clean books in a series that unexpectedly turns inappropriate. Personally, I do not need detailed sexual encounters in my YA fantasy novels. Especially not when one of the concerned parties is in a coma.
Now I'm grumpy that I've lost another series.
Warning #2- The author seems to have gone the way of Anne McCaffrey. A few exciting clean books in a series that unexpectedly turns inappropriate. Personally, I do not need detailed sexual encounters in my YA fantasy novels. Especially not when one of the concerned parties is in a coma.
Now I'm grumpy that I've lost another series.
February 20, 2012
wtf, Kristen Britain?! What are you doing to your formerly awesome series? It's heartbreaking. Like many others, I totally fell in love with the first book of the Green Riders series. At book two I was still highly impressed. By book three I was starting to get worried. And this: book four, sat next to my bed a long time before I actually had the courage to pluck it up and read it. I had a bad feeling the author was going to take the plotlines in a direction I would not be happy with. At all. And, alas, my worst fears were realized!
Yes, I was totally sickened by the Zachary/Estora relationship. Britain keeps foreshadowing that Karigan and Zachary are going to be together (ex. Karigan falling asleep in the high queen's tomb in book 3, the vision she had of Zachary through the magic telescope in Professor Berry's library in book 1), and likewise that Estora and Amberhill are meant to be a couple (ex. Amberhill and Estora being the couple Karigan sees behind the masks while she's in the trasitional world in book 4). But Britain messed everything up so thoroughly in this book, I just wanted to throw the damn thing across the room!
The book does not flow well, I feel like the author is often just filling up pages with whatever now so as to drag the series out for as long as possible. The Amberhill chapters were especially wearisome and felt unnecessary.
Also, if you are going to produce an installment in your series about as often as a leap year comes around, for god's sake don't leave the book at a bizarre cliff hanger!
Yes, I was totally sickened by the Zachary/Estora relationship. Britain keeps foreshadowing that Karigan and Zachary are going to be together (ex. Karigan falling asleep in the high queen's tomb in book 3, the vision she had of Zachary through the magic telescope in Professor Berry's library in book 1), and likewise that Estora and Amberhill are meant to be a couple (ex. Amberhill and Estora being the couple Karigan sees behind the masks while she's in the trasitional world in book 4). But Britain messed everything up so thoroughly in this book, I just wanted to throw the damn thing across the room!
The book does not flow well, I feel like the author is often just filling up pages with whatever now so as to drag the series out for as long as possible. The Amberhill chapters were especially wearisome and felt unnecessary.
Also, if you are going to produce an installment in your series about as often as a leap year comes around, for god's sake don't leave the book at a bizarre cliff hanger!
February 2, 2011
Not sure how long this review is going to be but we will see. After a long 4 years, the author finally released the 4th book in the Green Rider series. I have been a die hard fan since book 1 and have been anxiously awaiting the release of the current volume. After the last book, she definitely had a lot of questions to answer. Did she? Yes, but not all of them. Are there more questions? Absolutely! And now I have another 4 years (average spacing between books) to brood over them.
Open ended questions from last time:
Are King Zachary and Karigan ever going to get together? Well it looks highly unlikely at this point, since he is now married to Lady Estora. But he still loves her and she still loves him, so right now it is a toss up.
What about Amberhill and that ring? Well it turns out that the ring belonged to the sea kings (which the Berry sisters told him), but we get a little history on the sea kings (thank you Zachary and Estora for growing up on the coast). It also turns out, to no ones surprise that the ring possesses magical powers. Now Amberhill is stranded somewhere in the North Sea on an island, with the Sea Witch Yolandhe? In my opinion this can only end in trouble.
Do the Eletians still want to kill Karigan? No, which is helpful since they traveled through most of the Blackveil forest together on the way to Argenthyne. And while she was at it saved a hole bunch of their sleeping elders from being corrupted by the Forest.
What is on the other side of the wall? A really nasty forest. One with trees, animals and insects of all types that have it out for anything that moves. Lots of old ruins. Sleeping Eletians, that when poisoned by Blackveil become incredibly strong fighters with no rational thought. Oh did i mention that their whole drive is centered on killing things. Not good. Fortunately the 'spirit' of Laurelyn protected a grove of them in a removed slice of time until Karigan could come escort them to Eletia and meet King Santanara. Unfortunately, the Grandmother and her little group of Second Empire people, including the totally creepy Lala were also present. And the Grandmother wanted to wake them up because her God (which turns out the be Morhavon) tells her to. The bad part about this is that they turn into those crazy, killing machines I mentioned earlier and since they are Eletians they can access the towers and therefore get out of the forest.
Are we going to see the Berry sisters again and will their house 'regrow'? Likely, but no word of them so far.
Is Abram Rust ever going to chop down that tree so Karigan can go back into the past and save the world, probably as part of a team? Still no word, but with all her travelling back and forth it could still happen.
New unanswered questions:
Where is Karigan? My guess is that she has found herself back in one of the tombs, likely even the queens tomb.
Will Karigan ever finish her swordmastery training? not if she dies in whatever box the author put her in ;) But this is very likely, but she is unlikely to be a full weapon.
How did Mornhavon travel through time and what happened to him when Karigan broke the mask?
Will Karigan ever 'find a man'? Seriously this book was all about relationships (not really but it felt that way sometimes).
Will any of the original Green Riders make it to the end of the series? We lost at least one more in this book. Poor Yates, what a terrible way to go being possessed by Mornhavon.
What is going to happen to the 3 advisors King Zachary 'fired' because of his forced marriage to Estora? Not sure, but I am really hoping to see the Weapons Island and really curious to see who takes their place, I place my bets on Fastion being one of them.
Enough questions. This book made me cry for the first 50 pages or so (I am a ballbaby) and kept me awake and intrigued until I finished at 2:30 in the morning. I was hopelessly devastated to find that it ended (shocker, I know), especially with so many open ended questions (also a shocker for a series with no prescribed length). I think my least favorite part of the book was the ongoing moralizing about Karigan's father and the brothel. I don't agree with them either, but I am not sure what, if anything, it adds to the story except as an excuse for her to go home? And she would have gone there anyway. Also the same for Estora's disgust for having witnesses at the consummation and hypocrisy of making the readers (and poor Ben) be subject to the scene as well. So five stars well earned. One other thing I forgot, is that it takes FOREVER for them to actually get to Blackveil, easily over half the book. Most of this is purely because there are so many people involved in it at this point. A tad annoying. But once I got past it I forgot I was annoyed, go figure. I will be rereading again shortly, just as soon as I get done rereading The Name of the Windin preparation for the release of book 2The Wise Man's Fearnext month. For now however I must take my dog for a walk.
Open ended questions from last time:
Are King Zachary and Karigan ever going to get together? Well it looks highly unlikely at this point, since he is now married to Lady Estora. But he still loves her and she still loves him, so right now it is a toss up.
What about Amberhill and that ring? Well it turns out that the ring belonged to the sea kings (which the Berry sisters told him), but we get a little history on the sea kings (thank you Zachary and Estora for growing up on the coast). It also turns out, to no ones surprise that the ring possesses magical powers. Now Amberhill is stranded somewhere in the North Sea on an island, with the Sea Witch Yolandhe? In my opinion this can only end in trouble.
Do the Eletians still want to kill Karigan? No, which is helpful since they traveled through most of the Blackveil forest together on the way to Argenthyne. And while she was at it saved a hole bunch of their sleeping elders from being corrupted by the Forest.
What is on the other side of the wall? A really nasty forest. One with trees, animals and insects of all types that have it out for anything that moves. Lots of old ruins. Sleeping Eletians, that when poisoned by Blackveil become incredibly strong fighters with no rational thought. Oh did i mention that their whole drive is centered on killing things. Not good. Fortunately the 'spirit' of Laurelyn protected a grove of them in a removed slice of time until Karigan could come escort them to Eletia and meet King Santanara. Unfortunately, the Grandmother and her little group of Second Empire people, including the totally creepy Lala were also present. And the Grandmother wanted to wake them up because her God (which turns out the be Morhavon) tells her to. The bad part about this is that they turn into those crazy, killing machines I mentioned earlier and since they are Eletians they can access the towers and therefore get out of the forest.
Are we going to see the Berry sisters again and will their house 'regrow'? Likely, but no word of them so far.
Is Abram Rust ever going to chop down that tree so Karigan can go back into the past and save the world, probably as part of a team? Still no word, but with all her travelling back and forth it could still happen.
New unanswered questions:
Where is Karigan? My guess is that she has found herself back in one of the tombs, likely even the queens tomb.
Will Karigan ever finish her swordmastery training? not if she dies in whatever box the author put her in ;) But this is very likely, but she is unlikely to be a full weapon.
How did Mornhavon travel through time and what happened to him when Karigan broke the mask?
Will Karigan ever 'find a man'? Seriously this book was all about relationships (not really but it felt that way sometimes).
Will any of the original Green Riders make it to the end of the series? We lost at least one more in this book. Poor Yates, what a terrible way to go being possessed by Mornhavon.
What is going to happen to the 3 advisors King Zachary 'fired' because of his forced marriage to Estora? Not sure, but I am really hoping to see the Weapons Island and really curious to see who takes their place, I place my bets on Fastion being one of them.
Enough questions. This book made me cry for the first 50 pages or so (I am a ballbaby) and kept me awake and intrigued until I finished at 2:30 in the morning. I was hopelessly devastated to find that it ended (shocker, I know), especially with so many open ended questions (also a shocker for a series with no prescribed length). I think my least favorite part of the book was the ongoing moralizing about Karigan's father and the brothel. I don't agree with them either, but I am not sure what, if anything, it adds to the story except as an excuse for her to go home? And she would have gone there anyway. Also the same for Estora's disgust for having witnesses at the consummation and hypocrisy of making the readers (and poor Ben) be subject to the scene as well. So five stars well earned. One other thing I forgot, is that it takes FOREVER for them to actually get to Blackveil, easily over half the book. Most of this is purely because there are so many people involved in it at this point. A tad annoying. But once I got past it I forgot I was annoyed, go figure. I will be rereading again shortly, just as soon as I get done rereading The Name of the Windin preparation for the release of book 2The Wise Man's Fearnext month. For now however I must take my dog for a walk.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2011
I love the Green Rider series. I fell in love with it six years ago when my best friend handed me Green Rider and told me that I would probably be done with it the next day. She was right. Blackveil, however, just wasn't up to par for me.
What I liked:
The suspense is terrific and I am greatly enjoying how the overall storyline is progressing. Once again, Britain creates a world that I can just grab onto and completely immerse myself in. Blackveil is deliciously horrific and I am glad she held nothing back when it came to making it the scariest forest you could possibly imagine.
One of my FAVORITE parts about this book was that we got to learn a little bit more about Kariny, Karigan's mother. She is a character I have always been interested in, and I think the wait was worth it. Even though she's not alive in these books, she is still a complex character that I find myself caring for very much.
What I didn't:
I said I liked the progression of the overall storyline, however, the storyline of the individual novels is getting a bit formulaic -- there's danger, Karigan dives into it headfirst, and then almost kills herself.
Also, for me, this book was drawn out. It was one of those novels where when it's good, it's really good, but getting to the good parts takes some effort. One of the things I disliked the most was all the indirect inner dialogue. What I mean by that is that we got a lot of "Bob was sure Nancy did that because (insert reason here)." I don't like being told characters' motivations very much, especially when they're through a different perspective. Did Nancy do that because of that reason? Maybe not. Bob thinks so, but it may not be true. Honestly, I don't think this sort of information adds anything to the story. It's much more interesting to incorporate Nancy's background and characteristics throughout the story, have her do the action, and then leave it up to the reader to decide why she did what she did. It's more of a creative process for both the reader and writer and allows for good discussions and debates to arise, which is one of the joys of reading.
Conclusion:
Do I recommend this book? For fans of the series, I certainly do. However, if you haven't read it yet, I suggest waiting and reading some other books on your "to read" list. This book has a ridiculous cliffhanger and considering that there was a 2 year gap between the third book and this book, answers aren't going to be coming anytime soon.
Will I continue reading? Absolutely. I still love the characters and the world Britain has built. I just hope it ends soon, because I've pretty much had enough of Karigan getting herself into trouble. If it isn't wrapped up by the sixth book, I'll probably quit this series.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
What I liked:
The suspense is terrific and I am greatly enjoying how the overall storyline is progressing. Once again, Britain creates a world that I can just grab onto and completely immerse myself in. Blackveil is deliciously horrific and I am glad she held nothing back when it came to making it the scariest forest you could possibly imagine.
One of my FAVORITE parts about this book was that we got to learn a little bit more about Kariny, Karigan's mother. She is a character I have always been interested in, and I think the wait was worth it. Even though she's not alive in these books, she is still a complex character that I find myself caring for very much.
What I didn't:
I said I liked the progression of the overall storyline, however, the storyline of the individual novels is getting a bit formulaic -- there's danger, Karigan dives into it headfirst, and then almost kills herself.
Also, for me, this book was drawn out. It was one of those novels where when it's good, it's really good, but getting to the good parts takes some effort. One of the things I disliked the most was all the indirect inner dialogue. What I mean by that is that we got a lot of "Bob was sure Nancy did that because (insert reason here)." I don't like being told characters' motivations very much, especially when they're through a different perspective. Did Nancy do that because of that reason? Maybe not. Bob thinks so, but it may not be true. Honestly, I don't think this sort of information adds anything to the story. It's much more interesting to incorporate Nancy's background and characteristics throughout the story, have her do the action, and then leave it up to the reader to decide why she did what she did. It's more of a creative process for both the reader and writer and allows for good discussions and debates to arise, which is one of the joys of reading.
Conclusion:
Do I recommend this book? For fans of the series, I certainly do. However, if you haven't read it yet, I suggest waiting and reading some other books on your "to read" list. This book has a ridiculous cliffhanger and considering that there was a 2 year gap between the third book and this book, answers aren't going to be coming anytime soon.
Will I continue reading? Absolutely. I still love the characters and the world Britain has built. I just hope it ends soon, because I've pretty much had enough of Karigan getting herself into trouble. If it isn't wrapped up by the sixth book, I'll probably quit this series.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
September 2, 2020
I now have a YouTube channel for Bookreviews and am talking about the Green Rider series here (spoiler-free): https://youtu.be/tXNJTVDH1a8
I’m so glad I’m rereading this series again. I’ve forgotten so many details (or maybe am realizing them for the first time?).
Where book two and three in this series were the character and world building books, book four is the jump into the deep end. It’s dark, it’s exhausting, and we see very different sides of many of the characters. Political intrigue is waiting around every corner. Journeys are stressful and while they are helping with character growth, they are also straining our characters, making their lives miserable.
This book is definitely high up in my favorites of this series, right behind the first book. It’s just so different. Book one was very innocent, book four is most definitely not.
In full Kristen Britain manner, this ends in a huge cliff hanger. I’m just glad book five is already out, so I can continue my journey immediately.
I’m so glad I’m rereading this series again. I’ve forgotten so many details (or maybe am realizing them for the first time?).
Where book two and three in this series were the character and world building books, book four is the jump into the deep end. It’s dark, it’s exhausting, and we see very different sides of many of the characters. Political intrigue is waiting around every corner. Journeys are stressful and while they are helping with character growth, they are also straining our characters, making their lives miserable.
This book is definitely high up in my favorites of this series, right behind the first book. It’s just so different. Book one was very innocent, book four is most definitely not.
In full Kristen Britain manner, this ends in a huge cliff hanger. I’m just glad book five is already out, so I can continue my journey immediately.
December 11, 2012
I liked the first three in this series, but had to stop this one after a particularly distasteful scene. Like, it is okay for a character to have to make a political marriage. I can like the character, and the spouse, because you know, it’s not like it is someone’s FAULT or something. Except for like, the kingdoms themselves or something. But to have the one guy character make the political marriage while he is unconscious (!!) and then he and the spouse are given a date rape drug so they will have sex, and then he thinks it’s his OTP and the spouse thinks he really does love her, and ugh. Like, could that be more unpalatable? Poor guy, poor girl, poor OTP who is meanwhile fighting for her life. I mean, I like me some angst, but that seems too icky for me to keep reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2024
Just as enjoyable reading it the second time! Forgot what an excruciating cliffhanger it ends on...
March 11, 2011
The infamous Mornhavon the Black has been transported into the future. This has brought Sacoridia time, but that doesn't mean that the present is without it's perils. The Eletians have announced that they want to take advantage of Mornhavon's absence and travel to the ancient city of Argenthyne, located in the perilous forest known as Blackveil. King Zachary, suspecting that there is more to their mission, decides to send six Sacoridians to watch over them. Karigan, who has already survived the horrors of Blackveil, is quickly recruited against the King's wishes. Karigan and her companions soon find themselves traveling through a dangerous realm where nothing is as innocent as it seems.
The biggest strength of The Green Rider Series has always been it's likable cast of characters, and Blackveil is no exception. I was so happy to be able to reacquaint myself with my favorite players, including Laren Mapstone, King Zachary, and Karigan herself, who remains one of my favorite fantasy heroines. For the most part, Blackveil has a slightly darker tone than previous Green Rider books, but it's not all dreary moments. There are some truly humorous ones as well (including a scene where Karigan must find a last minute outfit for a masquerade ball that had me giggling). Once Karigan leaves for Blackveil, there are some very satisfyingly scary scenes that feel as if they could have been plucked out of a well-done horror film. Interestingly, for all of the intense moments in Blackveil, they really can't compare with a couple of the shockers that take place in the capitol.
Before writing this, I skimmed over a few other reviews to get an idea of other people's reactions. There are a lot of people that are very upset that the larger plot lines (mainly The Second Empire storyline, and romantic tension between Karigan and Zachary) see so little development. I agree that I would have liked to see a little more development on the Second Empire plot throughout the book, instead just chapter after chapter of Grandmother and her companions wandering through the woods. It does get a little repetitive after a while. As far as the romance goes, given the context of their love (and the fact that Karigan spends most of the novel away from Zachary), it isn't really surprising. I don't think I'm out of line when pointing out that Blackveil is not a romance novel. An HEA isn't a given here. One thing I did have an issue with personally is that the ending feels haphazardly thrown together, which both surprised and disappointed me.
I was really chomping at the bit to get my hands of Blackveil, and was thrilled when my local library obtained a copy. I guess that's what happens when it takes four years to release the next book in a series. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the book, despite a few issues I had with it. I look forward to continuing the series, and hope I don't have to wait quite so long for book five!
The biggest strength of The Green Rider Series has always been it's likable cast of characters, and Blackveil is no exception. I was so happy to be able to reacquaint myself with my favorite players, including Laren Mapstone, King Zachary, and Karigan herself, who remains one of my favorite fantasy heroines. For the most part, Blackveil has a slightly darker tone than previous Green Rider books, but it's not all dreary moments. There are some truly humorous ones as well (including a scene where Karigan must find a last minute outfit for a masquerade ball that had me giggling). Once Karigan leaves for Blackveil, there are some very satisfyingly scary scenes that feel as if they could have been plucked out of a well-done horror film. Interestingly, for all of the intense moments in Blackveil, they really can't compare with a couple of the shockers that take place in the capitol.
Before writing this, I skimmed over a few other reviews to get an idea of other people's reactions. There are a lot of people that are very upset that the larger plot lines (mainly The Second Empire storyline, and romantic tension between Karigan and Zachary) see so little development. I agree that I would have liked to see a little more development on the Second Empire plot throughout the book, instead just chapter after chapter of Grandmother and her companions wandering through the woods. It does get a little repetitive after a while. As far as the romance goes, given the context of their love (and the fact that Karigan spends most of the novel away from Zachary), it isn't really surprising. I don't think I'm out of line when pointing out that Blackveil is not a romance novel. An HEA isn't a given here. One thing I did have an issue with personally is that the ending feels haphazardly thrown together, which both surprised and disappointed me.
I was really chomping at the bit to get my hands of Blackveil, and was thrilled when my local library obtained a copy. I guess that's what happens when it takes four years to release the next book in a series. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the book, despite a few issues I had with it. I look forward to continuing the series, and hope I don't have to wait quite so long for book five!
October 14, 2011
Updated review:
I reread this for the first time in years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like each book gets better and better, and I'm loving them even more the second time around.
This book definitely gets darker and creepier and more gruesome, which matches the theme of the story circulating around Blackveil. I totally forgot about the ending 😳
I loved the tension and buildup throughout the book and characters. The very intentional interweaving of stories together was very well done. While there are few chapters that drag a little more than others, they are short.
Can't wait to get to my reread of Mirror Sight, and then it's on to the next two books which will be brand new to me!
I reread this for the first time in years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like each book gets better and better, and I'm loving them even more the second time around.
This book definitely gets darker and creepier and more gruesome, which matches the theme of the story circulating around Blackveil. I totally forgot about the ending 😳
I loved the tension and buildup throughout the book and characters. The very intentional interweaving of stories together was very well done. While there are few chapters that drag a little more than others, they are short.
Can't wait to get to my reread of Mirror Sight, and then it's on to the next two books which will be brand new to me!
October 24, 2015
Long, but quite good.
Read
November 15, 2019DNF @ 50%
No I can't do it anymore, there are in the beginning of war, they are about to do incredibly dangerous things, and she keep on thinking how she's in love with a man who apparently loves her back but they can't be together because of their status and of course because he's already bethrothed to someone else.
For a while I thought I was against romance but that's not quite the case as long as it makes sense and the timing is right (check your priorities a little), and here everytime her impossible love is mentionned, it's just pissing me off!
An other exemple, that one man who is in "love" with the MC, and then her friend show up to where he is posted, he starts having doubts about his feeling and then he realizes he built it up in his mind without any concern for what she wants, so he "let's go" of the idea and even of his feelings for the MC, and a few hours later (maybe less) he's kissing her friend, well, maybe he'll stick it up with that one *eye roll*
I love the story, well, at least the premise of the Green Rider, the king's messenger who have some magic abilities and incredible horses, I really do, but i'm getting tired of the "execution", it's filled with judgmental jabs, there are just annoying and I feel like I don't care about the book any more (even the whole serie), so yeah I think I'm done and I'm seriously disappointed :(
-----------------------------------------------
So I've read a couple more chapters because I wanted to see the reunion between the MC and guy I mentioned, well, it was even worse than I anticipated, and now I'm really done with their bullshit!
No I can't do it anymore, there are in the beginning of war, they are about to do incredibly dangerous things, and she keep on thinking how she's in love with a man who apparently loves her back but they can't be together because of their status and of course because he's already bethrothed to someone else.
For a while I thought I was against romance but that's not quite the case as long as it makes sense and the timing is right (check your priorities a little), and here everytime her impossible love is mentionned, it's just pissing me off!
An other exemple, that one man who is in "love" with the MC, and then her friend show up to where he is posted, he starts having doubts about his feeling and then he realizes he built it up in his mind without any concern for what she wants, so he "let's go" of the idea and even of his feelings for the MC, and a few hours later (maybe less) he's kissing her friend, well, maybe he'll stick it up with that one *eye roll*
I love the story, well, at least the premise of the Green Rider, the king's messenger who have some magic abilities and incredible horses, I really do, but i'm getting tired of the "execution", it's filled with judgmental jabs, there are just annoying and I feel like I don't care about the book any more (even the whole serie), so yeah I think I'm done and I'm seriously disappointed :(
-----------------------------------------------
So I've read a couple more chapters because I wanted to see the reunion between the MC and guy I mentioned, well, it was even worse than I anticipated, and now I'm really done with their bullshit!
July 25, 2011
I've been a fan of the Green Rider series since 1998 when the first book came out. I was so excited for this book and looked forward to getting to see the characters lives play out further-And while the characters remain well written-the story was underwritten but at the same time overwritten.Too much was not touched on enough and too much was just too drawn out. It was frustrating and I found myself skimming through filler wanting to get to the good parts-and the good parts were SOOO good. I feel like it could have been edited into a shorter and much more entertaining story.
I read almost the entire book in one sitting and was furious at the ending which really made me feel cheated, as a reader-the cliffhanger did not leave me wanting more-it made me want to not even pick up the next sequel which most likely wont be out for another 3 or so years.
I was looking forward to a great story wrapped up in a great ending. but it looks like it will be drawn out ..and out....and out...and out....
I read almost the entire book in one sitting and was furious at the ending which really made me feel cheated, as a reader-the cliffhanger did not leave me wanting more-it made me want to not even pick up the next sequel which most likely wont be out for another 3 or so years.
I was looking forward to a great story wrapped up in a great ending. but it looks like it will be drawn out ..and out....and out...and out....
July 10, 2015
2023:
We are left at a cliffhanger, but I moved right into the next book of the series.
2015:
Darker and a bit slower than the other books so far in the series. The ending leaves our different characters at different points, but all waiting for the next piece of the story. A bit of a cliffhanger in all instances.
We are left at a cliffhanger, but I moved right into the next book of the series.
2015:
Darker and a bit slower than the other books so far in the series. The ending leaves our different characters at different points, but all waiting for the next piece of the story. A bit of a cliffhanger in all instances.
October 16, 2010
1998-2011 and still no HEA for Karrigan.
I am done with this author and this series.
I am done with this author and this series.
September 1, 2014
An Opinionated Look At:
Kristen Britain's Blackveil
By Eric Allen
And here we come to the fourth book in the Green Rider series. So far, this book, I'm sorry to say, has the least reason to exist out of the four that I've read. I'll get into that later, so on with the review.
The winter has passed, the crisis at the wall has been dealt with for the time being, though it was only a stopgap measure, and the realm is looking forward toward the king's wedding. Second Empire is beyond the wall and the Eletians are sending an expedition into Blackveil to find their ancient and forgotten city to see if any who were left behind still live. Karrigan and a group of others are sent to join them in a journey that can only lead to confrontation in the wild and unpredictable Blackveil Forest.
Meanwhile, an assassination attempt has the king very near death, and everyone around him begins plotting to keep the line of succession whole and unbroken under the uncertainty of the king having named an heir. And Amberhill exists... for some reason... I guess...
The Good? It was awesome to finally see Blackveil in all it's glory. Up to now we've not really seen much of the place, except for the monsters that come out of it through the breech in the wall, and a few small snippets here and there. But in this book we actually get a group heading in with the intention of exploration, which was kind of awesome.
The book is well written, and the writing has improved somewhat since the previous book in the series.
The Bad? This is not a story that really needed to be told. Nothing of real importance or relevance to the series really happens here. It's 700 pages of almost pure and complete fluff. I mean, for the entire first half of the book before the Blackveil expedition leaves I can't even name one single specific event that took place. Why? Because none of it really mattered all that much. It was about things unimportant to the rest of the series. It didn't really need to be there. It just took up space, leaving very little of value for the reader afterward. There's some character development in there, but not really enough to justify, really, the existence of the book at all.
Amberhill... why does this character exist? Seriously. Why? He took up quite a bit of this book, and what did he do? Absolutely NOTHING important to the plot whatsoever. He just took up space. You could remove every chapter about him completely and not even have to change a single word of the rest of the book to make up for the absence. When you can remove something from the book without even noticing it's missing, YOU SHOULD!!! Either that or you need a better bridge between it and the rest of the book to make it more relevant. Britain seems to be banking on her having made such an impression with the character in the previous book that we, her readers, absolutely have to know what he's doing during this one. We don't. We really, REALLY don't. He was boring and pointless in this book taking up quite a bit of space to little point or purpose. I thought he was needlessly tacked on to the previous book, but he was even more so here.
Again, Karrigan relies on the power of Deus Ex Machina to solve all her problems in the end. Out of the four books I've read in this series, three of them had Deus Ex Machina endings. I'm kind of getting sick of it. Can't the character use her own abilities and intelligence to win in the end like she did in book 2? Does she HAVE to constantly rely on others, or some inexplicable new power gifted to her just so she can do this one thing at the end of this book and then give it up? And no, I'm not counting the end of book 2 as Deus Ex Machina, because she used something that was cursing her against the one who cursed her with it. Yes, she was possessed by the first rider at the time, but it was her plan that the first rider was following. She came up with the solution to the problem on her own, and used what the antagonist was using to corrupt her against him. Why can't they all end like that? Every single other book in this series ends with "here take this magic sword" or "here let the god of death possess you and not remember it afterward" or "here let the ghost of a long dead elf chick use your inexplicable, latent power (which was already previously established to be a result of the wild magic that no longer infects her)to do everything for you". Getting kind of ridiculous if you ask me.
I really liked the whole assassination subplot, but I felt as though it was stretched out far beyond what it should have. It just kept going, and going, and going, and going, on, and on, and on, and on. Someone really needed to take a pair of hedge clippers to this book and trim out all the irrelevant crap, and needlessly long junk.
All in all, I felt that this was the worst book of the series thus far. It really doesn't have much reason to exist at all. You can pretty much skip this book entirely, I think, and not be lost at all upon picking up book 5. There really isn't much that goes on here that's worth taking the time to read about. Again, Karrigan is more of a side character in her own story, there's huge long stretches of absolutely nothing important happening, and characters that have served their purpose to the plot that keep hanging around like we care about what they're doing now. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one was pretty mind-numbingly dull and pointless, I'm sad to say. There is one single event in the entire book that has any relevance to the plot of the series, and it happens at the very end, and could VERY easily have been bumped to the beginning of the next. This was a book that did not need to be written. I don't really recommend skipping it, as it does have some fun parts hidden within all the hundreds of pages of meh, but you wouldn't be missing much if you did.
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Kristen Britain's Blackveil
By Eric Allen
And here we come to the fourth book in the Green Rider series. So far, this book, I'm sorry to say, has the least reason to exist out of the four that I've read. I'll get into that later, so on with the review.
The winter has passed, the crisis at the wall has been dealt with for the time being, though it was only a stopgap measure, and the realm is looking forward toward the king's wedding. Second Empire is beyond the wall and the Eletians are sending an expedition into Blackveil to find their ancient and forgotten city to see if any who were left behind still live. Karrigan and a group of others are sent to join them in a journey that can only lead to confrontation in the wild and unpredictable Blackveil Forest.
Meanwhile, an assassination attempt has the king very near death, and everyone around him begins plotting to keep the line of succession whole and unbroken under the uncertainty of the king having named an heir. And Amberhill exists... for some reason... I guess...
The Good? It was awesome to finally see Blackveil in all it's glory. Up to now we've not really seen much of the place, except for the monsters that come out of it through the breech in the wall, and a few small snippets here and there. But in this book we actually get a group heading in with the intention of exploration, which was kind of awesome.
The book is well written, and the writing has improved somewhat since the previous book in the series.
The Bad? This is not a story that really needed to be told. Nothing of real importance or relevance to the series really happens here. It's 700 pages of almost pure and complete fluff. I mean, for the entire first half of the book before the Blackveil expedition leaves I can't even name one single specific event that took place. Why? Because none of it really mattered all that much. It was about things unimportant to the rest of the series. It didn't really need to be there. It just took up space, leaving very little of value for the reader afterward. There's some character development in there, but not really enough to justify, really, the existence of the book at all.
Amberhill... why does this character exist? Seriously. Why? He took up quite a bit of this book, and what did he do? Absolutely NOTHING important to the plot whatsoever. He just took up space. You could remove every chapter about him completely and not even have to change a single word of the rest of the book to make up for the absence. When you can remove something from the book without even noticing it's missing, YOU SHOULD!!! Either that or you need a better bridge between it and the rest of the book to make it more relevant. Britain seems to be banking on her having made such an impression with the character in the previous book that we, her readers, absolutely have to know what he's doing during this one. We don't. We really, REALLY don't. He was boring and pointless in this book taking up quite a bit of space to little point or purpose. I thought he was needlessly tacked on to the previous book, but he was even more so here.
Again, Karrigan relies on the power of Deus Ex Machina to solve all her problems in the end. Out of the four books I've read in this series, three of them had Deus Ex Machina endings. I'm kind of getting sick of it. Can't the character use her own abilities and intelligence to win in the end like she did in book 2? Does she HAVE to constantly rely on others, or some inexplicable new power gifted to her just so she can do this one thing at the end of this book and then give it up? And no, I'm not counting the end of book 2 as Deus Ex Machina, because she used something that was cursing her against the one who cursed her with it. Yes, she was possessed by the first rider at the time, but it was her plan that the first rider was following. She came up with the solution to the problem on her own, and used what the antagonist was using to corrupt her against him. Why can't they all end like that? Every single other book in this series ends with "here take this magic sword" or "here let the god of death possess you and not remember it afterward" or "here let the ghost of a long dead elf chick use your inexplicable, latent power (which was already previously established to be a result of the wild magic that no longer infects her)to do everything for you". Getting kind of ridiculous if you ask me.
I really liked the whole assassination subplot, but I felt as though it was stretched out far beyond what it should have. It just kept going, and going, and going, and going, on, and on, and on, and on. Someone really needed to take a pair of hedge clippers to this book and trim out all the irrelevant crap, and needlessly long junk.
All in all, I felt that this was the worst book of the series thus far. It really doesn't have much reason to exist at all. You can pretty much skip this book entirely, I think, and not be lost at all upon picking up book 5. There really isn't much that goes on here that's worth taking the time to read about. Again, Karrigan is more of a side character in her own story, there's huge long stretches of absolutely nothing important happening, and characters that have served their purpose to the plot that keep hanging around like we care about what they're doing now. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one was pretty mind-numbingly dull and pointless, I'm sad to say. There is one single event in the entire book that has any relevance to the plot of the series, and it happens at the very end, and could VERY easily have been bumped to the beginning of the next. This was a book that did not need to be written. I don't really recommend skipping it, as it does have some fun parts hidden within all the hundreds of pages of meh, but you wouldn't be missing much if you did.
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April 7, 2024
While this book wasn't without flaws and for a very long time it was a solid 4-star read, the ending redeemed it for me
(I do have to say that the plot with the King and Estora is something that I hope gets explored more in the next book or 2 but I don't think it will be. There are some things that need to be smoothed out and called out, but again, I don't think they will be)
(I do have to say that the plot with the King and Estora is something that I hope gets explored more in the next book or 2 but I don't think it will be. There are some things that need to be smoothed out and called out, but again, I don't think they will be)
February 14, 2023
Well, I'm kind of shocked after that one. After enjoying the first three books so much, this felt like a slap in the face, and I'm kind of dazed and confused.
I listened to this one, but I almost wish I would have read it because it would have been easier to skim through the lengthy backstory segments. These most often occurred when a familiar character from past books would walk onto the page for the first time, and they'd have some sort of recollection in which we had to hear the Reader's Digest version of their past adventures, which added a lot of heft to an already-lengthy book (that doesn't even come to a satisfying conclusion), and were unnecessary in my opinion. It made settling into this one's story very difficult right off the bat. I also am not exactly enthralled with Ellen Archer's narration. She has always sounded vaguely wooden and reminiscent of the female voiceover in TikTok videos to me. In addition to that, she gave many of the Eletians this lofty, airy-fairy voice that sounded really hoaky, and many of the male characters had the same gruff, husky voice that made distinguishing between them challenging.
But even if I had read it, there still were a number of problematic plot points and character developments that drastically tarnished my enjoyment of this series:
- I get it, romance vs. love vs. duty makes for low-hanging fruit when it comes to creating conflict in your stories that feature royalty falling in love with commoners. I also get that the thing that gets people coming back to this series is the whole Karigan-Zachary subplot. Okay, whatever. What bothered me about it this time, though, was that Karigan basically friend-zoned Alton for this whole entire series, and then when she finally figured out that she wasn't going to be able to land the actual king, she decided she was going to see if Alton still liked her. Surprise surprise, he had moved on because he could tell he was camped out firmly on her back burner. Did Karigan say, "Oh, well clearly that makes sense, because I had shown no interest in him, so obviously I should be okay with the fact that he lost interest"? 'COURSE NOT! She pouted and moped and refused to talk to him or even look at him. It was even worse because she was headed out to her potentially deadly mission, and she intentionally gave him the silent treatment so that in case she died, he would feel bad. This was such a childish move, so beneath her usual strength of character, that I could hardly believe it was the same character.
- Speaking of all the subplots surrounding romantic couplings, I have some major issues here. TRIGGER WARNING: pedophilia, incest, rape Kristen Britain is usually very restrained in her dealings with this sort of thing, but she took the gloves off big time in this installment. We have one of the story's villains leering at a pre-pubescent girl and bemoaning the fact that once women reach maturity, their figures no longer interest him. We have a man fantasizing about raping his cousin. And we have a sex scene that felt very nonconsensual considering one of the people involved was heavily drugged and unaware of what was happening (while someone sat in the corners of the room and watched). None of this even approaches okay, and it doesn't matter to me that it was the villains engaging in this behavior. There are ways you can write good villains without venturing into such disgusting territory.
- I get bored and annoyed with the trope of making God the bad guy.
- On a far more minor note, the reason I was excited about this series to begin with was that it was horse-based fantasy. The horses were basically removed from this story, making scant appearances in the first half of the book and disappearing almost entirely in the second half. I missed them a lot. Without the horses, it didn't even feel like it was set in the same world.
I just want to know what happened. How did such a likeable fantasy series turn into this? I'm willing to give it another book considering I liked the first three so much. I'm hoping this one was just a misstep. If I don't enjoy book #5, though... I don't know. These books are way too long to commit to if I'm not going to like them.
I listened to this one, but I almost wish I would have read it because it would have been easier to skim through the lengthy backstory segments. These most often occurred when a familiar character from past books would walk onto the page for the first time, and they'd have some sort of recollection in which we had to hear the Reader's Digest version of their past adventures, which added a lot of heft to an already-lengthy book (that doesn't even come to a satisfying conclusion), and were unnecessary in my opinion. It made settling into this one's story very difficult right off the bat. I also am not exactly enthralled with Ellen Archer's narration. She has always sounded vaguely wooden and reminiscent of the female voiceover in TikTok videos to me. In addition to that, she gave many of the Eletians this lofty, airy-fairy voice that sounded really hoaky, and many of the male characters had the same gruff, husky voice that made distinguishing between them challenging.
But even if I had read it, there still were a number of problematic plot points and character developments that drastically tarnished my enjoyment of this series:
- I get it, romance vs. love vs. duty makes for low-hanging fruit when it comes to creating conflict in your stories that feature royalty falling in love with commoners. I also get that the thing that gets people coming back to this series is the whole Karigan-Zachary subplot. Okay, whatever. What bothered me about it this time, though, was that Karigan basically friend-zoned Alton for this whole entire series, and then when she finally figured out that she wasn't going to be able to land the actual king, she decided she was going to see if Alton still liked her. Surprise surprise, he had moved on because he could tell he was camped out firmly on her back burner. Did Karigan say, "Oh, well clearly that makes sense, because I had shown no interest in him, so obviously I should be okay with the fact that he lost interest"? 'COURSE NOT! She pouted and moped and refused to talk to him or even look at him. It was even worse because she was headed out to her potentially deadly mission, and she intentionally gave him the silent treatment so that in case she died, he would feel bad. This was such a childish move, so beneath her usual strength of character, that I could hardly believe it was the same character.
- Speaking of all the subplots surrounding romantic couplings, I have some major issues here. TRIGGER WARNING: pedophilia, incest, rape Kristen Britain is usually very restrained in her dealings with this sort of thing, but she took the gloves off big time in this installment. We have one of the story's villains leering at a pre-pubescent girl and bemoaning the fact that once women reach maturity, their figures no longer interest him. We have a man fantasizing about raping his cousin. And we have a sex scene that felt very nonconsensual considering one of the people involved was heavily drugged and unaware of what was happening (while someone sat in the corners of the room and watched). None of this even approaches okay, and it doesn't matter to me that it was the villains engaging in this behavior. There are ways you can write good villains without venturing into such disgusting territory.
- I get bored and annoyed with the trope of making God the bad guy.
- On a far more minor note, the reason I was excited about this series to begin with was that it was horse-based fantasy. The horses were basically removed from this story, making scant appearances in the first half of the book and disappearing almost entirely in the second half. I missed them a lot. Without the horses, it didn't even feel like it was set in the same world.
I just want to know what happened. How did such a likeable fantasy series turn into this? I'm willing to give it another book considering I liked the first three so much. I'm hoping this one was just a misstep. If I don't enjoy book #5, though... I don't know. These books are way too long to commit to if I'm not going to like them.
May 26, 2013
So lets get real here most people are reading these books because of firstly Karigan and second Karigan's romance with King Zachary. So i think this part happened in the third book or this book i dont really remember, but anyways Karigan confronted Zachary and the told her he for sure was gonna marry Estora but he can still keep seeing her on the side. I was like wow really thats the best you can do you could have agreed peace without marrying Estora and you could have made a law that lets you marry Karigan.
Anyways besides that scene i get where Zachary is coming from but they just need to get together.
Okay so i know a lot of people have talked about the rape scene but honestly im having some issues believing that even though Estora was drugged she didnt take advantage of the king.
So first of all if you have been poisoned you will be sweating,pale and delusional, but for some people they will be thrashing around and basically unaware of their surroundings. Now when some one is slipped a date rate drug their inhibitions are lowered and they dont really put up a fight a lot of the times they have to lay down or there is not a whole bunch of movement. Now when you combine a person whose poisoned and a drugged they are basically not moving if you think about it logically. So hes not suppose to be moving and shes supposed to be kind of out of it and slow. But if she was slow then she wouldnt be forcing the sex and they wouldnt have been raped. So either she didnt really drink to much of the drugged wine or she was basically acting like a horny drunk even with the aphrodisiac put in the wine, but im trying not to put the blame on her, key word being try. Because she was acting like a ditz and made them get married cause she so weak and helpless. This would have never happened if Karigan was there. Im like almost a hundred percent sure in real life the king wouldnt have been able to function at all the drug combined with the poisoned really should have like almost killed him not made him be able to have that kind of sex with here like come on really. I hope she dosent get pregnant but we all know she will. Ive never liked her in the whole book series, even from the start.
Overall i think Karigan needs to get out from where shes trapped and then king Zachary will be like im sorry baby im gonna get a divorce or have it annulled cause they didnt have my permission when i got married and were gonna get married and have babies.
seriously that should happen . Like that better happen, seriously it better happen
Anyways besides that scene i get where Zachary is coming from but they just need to get together.
Okay so i know a lot of people have talked about the rape scene but honestly im having some issues believing that even though Estora was drugged she didnt take advantage of the king.
So first of all if you have been poisoned you will be sweating,pale and delusional, but for some people they will be thrashing around and basically unaware of their surroundings. Now when some one is slipped a date rate drug their inhibitions are lowered and they dont really put up a fight a lot of the times they have to lay down or there is not a whole bunch of movement. Now when you combine a person whose poisoned and a drugged they are basically not moving if you think about it logically. So hes not suppose to be moving and shes supposed to be kind of out of it and slow. But if she was slow then she wouldnt be forcing the sex and they wouldnt have been raped. So either she didnt really drink to much of the drugged wine or she was basically acting like a horny drunk even with the aphrodisiac put in the wine, but im trying not to put the blame on her, key word being try. Because she was acting like a ditz and made them get married cause she so weak and helpless. This would have never happened if Karigan was there. Im like almost a hundred percent sure in real life the king wouldnt have been able to function at all the drug combined with the poisoned really should have like almost killed him not made him be able to have that kind of sex with here like come on really. I hope she dosent get pregnant but we all know she will. Ive never liked her in the whole book series, even from the start.
Overall i think Karigan needs to get out from where shes trapped and then king Zachary will be like im sorry baby im gonna get a divorce or have it annulled cause they didnt have my permission when i got married and were gonna get married and have babies.
seriously that should happen . Like that better happen, seriously it better happen
February 23, 2013
The Green Rider series started off as relatively self-contained novels that merely had common characters and some larger plot elements. At some point during the previous book that changed and while reading Blackveil it becomes clear that Britain isn't even trying to tell a complete story.
Not only is there a major sub-plot which barely starts, but the book leaves us on a cliffhanger regarding the central character as well.
Unlike some people I'm actually okay with cliffhanger endings to books, but this does feel a bit like a bait and switch since the books haven't ended this way previously
To make matters worse it definitely feels as though elements are being added to the story now that were not part of the original outline. Padding popular series is a good way to lose my interest in them.
The plot of the book, such as it is, is fine. Though you would think more might be accomplished in 600+ pages. But I have to say that the character of Karigan G’ladheon is becoming increasingly annoying. She behaves like a spoiled brat and is spectacularly judgemental considering her own failings. And yet everyone treats her like she's the most wonderful woman on earth.
She's also apparently the solution to every problem besieging this country. Can you say Mary Sue?
Some of the secondary characters are really far more fun to follow. But of course most of them don't get as much time as Karigan does.
The Green Rider series was a competent if rather derivative bit of fantasy with a capable fantasy heroine. Now it just seems bloated and that competent heroine is a whiny teenager.
Not only is there a major sub-plot which barely starts, but the book leaves us on a cliffhanger regarding the central character as well.
Unlike some people I'm actually okay with cliffhanger endings to books, but this does feel a bit like a bait and switch since the books haven't ended this way previously
To make matters worse it definitely feels as though elements are being added to the story now that were not part of the original outline. Padding popular series is a good way to lose my interest in them.
The plot of the book, such as it is, is fine. Though you would think more might be accomplished in 600+ pages. But I have to say that the character of Karigan G’ladheon is becoming increasingly annoying. She behaves like a spoiled brat and is spectacularly judgemental considering her own failings. And yet everyone treats her like she's the most wonderful woman on earth.
She's also apparently the solution to every problem besieging this country. Can you say Mary Sue?
Some of the secondary characters are really far more fun to follow. But of course most of them don't get as much time as Karigan does.
The Green Rider series was a competent if rather derivative bit of fantasy with a capable fantasy heroine. Now it just seems bloated and that competent heroine is a whiny teenager.
March 3, 2011
I do not know how many of you, like me have waited for the next thrilling episode, chapter and book of this wonderful story. As Feb. 2011 came 'round, I was excited because it was finally being released! I got it, but I think the author lost this story in Blackveil.
After 300 pages and 2 other books (read in the mean time just to keep my sanity), I have yet to find more than 2 scenes that held my attention. This wonderful, exciting story has turned to a romance novel. A romance novel that hardly even follows the main character at that. I keep waiting, and waiting. Flipping ahead just to see what the future holds, and sadly, it appears not much.
We are used to long waits from the Kristen Britian, 4-7 years at a shot. This as been acceptable to me because the final result was stellar, though most every time I had to read the other because I had forgotten what it was about. This one completely missed the mark with no turn for the better in the near future. I'll muddle thru and offer a final review, soon. If anyone else is sharing my misery let me know.
After 300 pages and 2 other books (read in the mean time just to keep my sanity), I have yet to find more than 2 scenes that held my attention. This wonderful, exciting story has turned to a romance novel. A romance novel that hardly even follows the main character at that. I keep waiting, and waiting. Flipping ahead just to see what the future holds, and sadly, it appears not much.
We are used to long waits from the Kristen Britian, 4-7 years at a shot. This as been acceptable to me because the final result was stellar, though most every time I had to read the other because I had forgotten what it was about. This one completely missed the mark with no turn for the better in the near future. I'll muddle thru and offer a final review, soon. If anyone else is sharing my misery let me know.
October 1, 2010
I have really enjoyed the Green Rider series but this book tortured me. I got into this series because of a friend and luckily she had all three copies and I only had to wait a few months for the 4th book. But this author likes to wait 3-4 years for the next one to come out. What is with that? TORTURE! And her characters are going through it too. I was sadden by so many things some of the characters went through. And then she killed someone who I had really started liking, ugh. I wish the author could get the next book out faster. I feel like authors should end a storyline after maybe 3 books and then do a new storyline from the same world. But please give some peace to this characters, it is dragging. I want some happiness for them and ME.
September 11, 2014
Blackveil is the follow up to The High King’s Tomb, and though I found it more enjoyable than its predecessor, it was still plagued with a lot of the same problems—“telling” instead of “showing,” bad pacing, and strangely dark events for a young adult fantasy. But what is most awful in Blackveil is the truly horrendous romances that have completely surpassed my suspension of disbelief. Despite all of this, I really enjoyed parts of the novel, namely the expedition into the Blackveil forest.
Blackveil is definitely the darkest entry in the series so far, which seems very at odds with the high school—realistically more like middle school at most times—atmosphere of the Green Riders. Not only is there a very nonconsensual and alarming sex scene, this is putting it lightly—it is clearly a rape—but readers are also forced to read from the perspective of a pedophile on multiple occasions. Both of these instances left a really bad taste in my mouth, and were completely jarring and out of place, especially in light of other characters’ simplistic and unbelievable behaviors.
For instance, I was absolutely horrified when Captain Mapstone, a Green Rider with twenty years of experience, decided to leave the door open when discussing Zachary’s romantic feelings with Karigan, something she believes is a huge threat to the well-being of not only Karigan, but also national security, for some reason. Of course, this conversation is overheard by an eavesdropper, despite the fact that Zachary should have Weapons guarding him and preventing this eavesdropping and you know, a care for the vitality of discretion. I was absolutely unable to believe that either Captain Mapstone or Zachary would be this stupid to discuss something this pivotal where anyone can hear, but they absolutely are.
As if it weren’t already hard enough for me to believe that Zachary and Karigan are “in love” in the first place. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of the series, Karigan and Zachary have almost zero interaction, so I don’t understand how these two managed to fall in love. Sure, there’s lust and attraction, but the series proclaims time and time again that the two are in love. And the romance doesn’t get any better on any other fronts, as Karigan decides out of nowhere to have a fling with Alton, who is perhaps my least favorite character in the entire series, because she is sad that Zachary is marrying Estora. Not only is this a horrible way to treat a friend that she doesn’t seem to even like, let alone harbor romantic feelings for, but it is almost hilariously thwarted in the blink of an eye.
Alton meets Estral, who comes to the wall, and a paragraph after he questions Estral if Karigan mentions him and still has feelings for him, Alton throws away three previous books worth of pathetic and unrealistic pining for Karigan, and decides he actually likes Estral instead. Karigan, who merely wanted to rebound with Alton and doesn’t even like the guy, takes news of their romance extremely poorly—she doesn’t want Alton, but she doesn’t want anyone else to have him. This whole romance reflects extremely poorly on Karigan, who acts like a brat. Plus, the entire romance between Estral and Alton has almost zero build up before it actually happens, and definitely seems like something out of a middle school love affair—”do you like me, circle yes or no.” I wish Karigan could form an actual relationship, complete with a realistic time of her getting to know her love interest, and with friendship and mutual rapport, instead of how the series likes to form their relationships, which honestly seems to be a mere checklist of two attractive people of the opposite gender meeting and having a single conversation.
Besides the extremely lacking romance, I also couldn’t help but to be disappointed with the pacing and world-building of the novel. Though in The High King’s Tomb, I was hopeful that the introduction of Lord Amberhill would shake things up in the series and make things more interesting, his perspective in Blackveil offers literally nothing. I was not at all interested in his pirate treasure or his foray into the sea, and it seemed completely removed and unimportant to the story at large. The only thing his narration served was to derail the forward momentum of the story, which already struggles enough from the endlessly tedious segments at the wall.
I was also confused by a lot of the world-building in Blackveil and by what I feel is a lack of continuity. Both Karigan and the Second Empire leader of Grandmother, venture beyond the wall into Blackveil forest, and are forced to use a lot of their powers. Karigan is called upon to use her ability to cross the threshold of time, which is something earlier novels stated she was only able to do as a result of the wild magic seeping into the world and infecting her. Though one could reason that maybe she is able to carry out this time travel as she is in Blackveil, this is not explicitly the case, and the novel seems to retcon this whole wild magic as the reason, and makes Karigan's special ability. I couldn’t help but to feel this was a glaring lack of continuity, all in the name of making Karigan even more of a Mary Sue.
Likewise, Grandmother’s worship of her “God” similarly perplexes me. The woman states that Mornhavon is not her precious God, but then Blackveil turns around and blatantly implies that Mornhavon is actually her God. Her God possesses one of her Second Empire followers, something that burns him alive from the inside out. We see this again when Mornhavon appears to thwart Karigan and the Eletians, and he possesses a member of their party in the same manner. I am not sure if Grandmother is just cluelessly worshipping Mornhavon, which seems unlikely, or if there is some other force at play here. Regardless of either scenario, it seems very messy and contradictory. Plus, it seems very odd that we know about Sacoridian gods, but nothing about the Second Empire’s.
Even though I feel like the series, with Blackveil, lost a little bit of its direction, I really enjoyed the parts of the novel that focused on the expedition into the eponymous forest. When Karigan is adventuring, and in a life-threatening situation, she is really at her best, and most likeable. When she’s dealing with friends, family, and romance, she is often judgmental and bratty. However, when the heroine has a singular goal in mind, she becomes capable and tenacious. I really enjoyed reading about the creatures of the forest, the eerie atmosphere, and the Eletian city. Author Kristen Britain does a great job making the forest into its own chilling character and seeing the destruction wreaked by Mornhavon there only serves to impress what is at stake for the world should he return.
To my surprise, I also really enjoyed a member of Karigan’s expedition, Yates. Though he has been a background Green Rider for most of the series, and a flat one at that, Britain really tried to flesh out the character in this entry in the series. I really enjoyed his wisecracking enthusiasm, and his rapport with Karigan. Of course, the author only made us like him so she feel very contrived as a result.
Despite the issues of pacing, telling, and continuity, I still enjoy reading the Green Rider series, mainly for its fantasy elements. Unfortunately, with the darker content of Blackveil, I’d now hesitate to recommend the series to younger fantasy readers, but at the same time, the series is often too simplistic for adult readers. I cannot say if my continued enjoyment of the series is just my nostalgia for one of the first true fantasy series I read and reviewed or just that I love having a female heroine at the helm of a classic fantasy story, but I still find the books entertaining and fun, even if the writing is not the strongest.
Read my reviews for the other books in the Green Rider series:
For my reread and most recent reviews of the series --
First Rider's Call, click here.
Green Rider, click here.
For my original review of the series --
The High King's Tomb, click here.
First Rider's Call, click here.
Green Rider, click here
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Blackveil is definitely the darkest entry in the series so far, which seems very at odds with the high school—realistically more like middle school at most times—atmosphere of the Green Riders. Not only is there a very nonconsensual and alarming sex scene, this is putting it lightly—it is clearly a rape—but readers are also forced to read from the perspective of a pedophile on multiple occasions. Both of these instances left a really bad taste in my mouth, and were completely jarring and out of place, especially in light of other characters’ simplistic and unbelievable behaviors.
For instance, I was absolutely horrified when Captain Mapstone, a Green Rider with twenty years of experience, decided to leave the door open when discussing Zachary’s romantic feelings with Karigan, something she believes is a huge threat to the well-being of not only Karigan, but also national security, for some reason. Of course, this conversation is overheard by an eavesdropper, despite the fact that Zachary should have Weapons guarding him and preventing this eavesdropping and you know, a care for the vitality of discretion. I was absolutely unable to believe that either Captain Mapstone or Zachary would be this stupid to discuss something this pivotal where anyone can hear, but they absolutely are.
"With another glance to make sure the rest had departed, he crept to the doorway of the adjoining room. The door was ajar, so it was easy to hear the king and captain speaking, though it was the captain who did most of the talking."
As if it weren’t already hard enough for me to believe that Zachary and Karigan are “in love” in the first place. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of the series, Karigan and Zachary have almost zero interaction, so I don’t understand how these two managed to fall in love. Sure, there’s lust and attraction, but the series proclaims time and time again that the two are in love. And the romance doesn’t get any better on any other fronts, as Karigan decides out of nowhere to have a fling with Alton, who is perhaps my least favorite character in the entire series, because she is sad that Zachary is marrying Estora. Not only is this a horrible way to treat a friend that she doesn’t seem to even like, let alone harbor romantic feelings for, but it is almost hilariously thwarted in the blink of an eye.
Alton meets Estral, who comes to the wall, and a paragraph after he questions Estral if Karigan mentions him and still has feelings for him, Alton throws away three previous books worth of pathetic and unrealistic pining for Karigan, and decides he actually likes Estral instead. Karigan, who merely wanted to rebound with Alton and doesn’t even like the guy, takes news of their romance extremely poorly—she doesn’t want Alton, but she doesn’t want anyone else to have him. This whole romance reflects extremely poorly on Karigan, who acts like a brat. Plus, the entire romance between Estral and Alton has almost zero build up before it actually happens, and definitely seems like something out of a middle school love affair—”do you like me, circle yes or no.” I wish Karigan could form an actual relationship, complete with a realistic time of her getting to know her love interest, and with friendship and mutual rapport, instead of how the series likes to form their relationships, which honestly seems to be a mere checklist of two attractive people of the opposite gender meeting and having a single conversation.
Besides the extremely lacking romance, I also couldn’t help but to be disappointed with the pacing and world-building of the novel. Though in The High King’s Tomb, I was hopeful that the introduction of Lord Amberhill would shake things up in the series and make things more interesting, his perspective in Blackveil offers literally nothing. I was not at all interested in his pirate treasure or his foray into the sea, and it seemed completely removed and unimportant to the story at large. The only thing his narration served was to derail the forward momentum of the story, which already struggles enough from the endlessly tedious segments at the wall.
I was also confused by a lot of the world-building in Blackveil and by what I feel is a lack of continuity. Both Karigan and the Second Empire leader of Grandmother, venture beyond the wall into Blackveil forest, and are forced to use a lot of their powers. Karigan is called upon to use her ability to cross the threshold of time, which is something earlier novels stated she was only able to do as a result of the wild magic seeping into the world and infecting her. Though one could reason that maybe she is able to carry out this time travel as she is in Blackveil, this is not explicitly the case, and the novel seems to retcon this whole wild magic as the reason, and makes Karigan's special ability. I couldn’t help but to feel this was a glaring lack of continuity, all in the name of making Karigan even more of a Mary Sue.
“But Grandmother knew better--Mornhavon was not God. He may have been the greatest Arcosian to have lived, still loved and revered by his people, and the favored one of God, but no, he was not God.”
Likewise, Grandmother’s worship of her “God” similarly perplexes me. The woman states that Mornhavon is not her precious God, but then Blackveil turns around and blatantly implies that Mornhavon is actually her God. Her God possesses one of her Second Empire followers, something that burns him alive from the inside out. We see this again when Mornhavon appears to thwart Karigan and the Eletians, and he possesses a member of their party in the same manner. I am not sure if Grandmother is just cluelessly worshipping Mornhavon, which seems unlikely, or if there is some other force at play here. Regardless of either scenario, it seems very messy and contradictory. Plus, it seems very odd that we know about Sacoridian gods, but nothing about the Second Empire’s.
Even though I feel like the series, with Blackveil, lost a little bit of its direction, I really enjoyed the parts of the novel that focused on the expedition into the eponymous forest. When Karigan is adventuring, and in a life-threatening situation, she is really at her best, and most likeable. When she’s dealing with friends, family, and romance, she is often judgmental and bratty. However, when the heroine has a singular goal in mind, she becomes capable and tenacious. I really enjoyed reading about the creatures of the forest, the eerie atmosphere, and the Eletian city. Author Kristen Britain does a great job making the forest into its own chilling character and seeing the destruction wreaked by Mornhavon there only serves to impress what is at stake for the world should he return.
"Oh, Yates." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed hard. "we're Green Riders. We've been through worse."
"I don't know," he said. Then smiling slightly, he added, "Maybe you have."
To my surprise, I also really enjoyed a member of Karigan’s expedition, Yates. Though he has been a background Green Rider for most of the series, and a flat one at that, Britain really tried to flesh out the character in this entry in the series. I really enjoyed his wisecracking enthusiasm, and his rapport with Karigan. Of course, the author only made us like him so she feel very contrived as a result.
Despite the issues of pacing, telling, and continuity, I still enjoy reading the Green Rider series, mainly for its fantasy elements. Unfortunately, with the darker content of Blackveil, I’d now hesitate to recommend the series to younger fantasy readers, but at the same time, the series is often too simplistic for adult readers. I cannot say if my continued enjoyment of the series is just my nostalgia for one of the first true fantasy series I read and reviewed or just that I love having a female heroine at the helm of a classic fantasy story, but I still find the books entertaining and fun, even if the writing is not the strongest.
Read my reviews for the other books in the Green Rider series:
For my reread and most recent reviews of the series --
First Rider's Call, click here.
Green Rider, click here.
For my original review of the series --
The High King's Tomb, click here.
First Rider's Call, click here.
Green Rider, click here
bloggingwithdragons.com
My Book Review Policy
Connect with Me:
| instagram | tumblr | twitter |pinterest | facebook | email |
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