World Famous Comics: The High King's Tomb (Green Rider, Book 3)
The High King's Tomb (Green Rider, Book 3)
By: Kristen Britain Publisher: DAW Hardcover Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: DAW Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 688 Publication Date: November 01, 2007
Product Description: For Karigan G'ladheon, the call of magic in her blood is too strong to resist. Karigan returns to the Green Riders, the magical messengers of the king, to find she's badly needed. Rider magic has become unstable, many Riders have been lost, and the Rider corps is seriously threatened. The timing couldn't be worse. An ancient evil, long dormant, has reawakened, and the world is in peril. Karigan must face deadly danger and complex magic to save the kingdom from certain doom.
Great book! This third installment in the Green Rider series was a good adventure! There were many surprises as well as some predictable moments, but not enough that made me like the book any less. I really enjoy Britain's writing style, and like how it is in a way a very cliched fantasy, but at the same time can be entirely original. The characters you fell for in book one are back with force and morals that give the book some excitement. The only problem I have with this series is that it takes so long for Britain to write them!! There are at least three years in between books, so either be patient or wait until they are all published and read them all then! I know she is planning to write more in the series, as the story is clearly not over with this book. Here's to hoping it comes out soon!
Filler I think I might have like this book if not for several things dragging it down: 1) the main plot meanders. We don't have Karigan or anyone else actively pursuing the main goal. It seems to take the backseat until the end when Karigan just coincidently bumps into the whole thing. Come on! What happened to Karigan running headfirst into the chaos and stubbornly seeing it through? Why not have her actively pursuing the book, finding out about the Second Empire camp, discovering their plans, and fighting it out like she was in the first two books? It almost seems out of character for her to agree with just sitting back and letting others puzzle out the whole D'Yer Wall problem. 2) The prophecies are on overkill. The whole "seeing the future" thing has really been overdone. It worked in the first two books. In the first, it helped with Karigan's discovery of magic. In the second, it served to assist her in her battle against Mornhaven. But now? the first prediction is that Estora is going to get kidnapped, the second how she can return safely. I think it would've been more interesting if the king had been warned of the plot to steal Estora in a different manner. Like a dying Second Empire turning against his own because he's lost faith in the cause. Something like that. The second prophecy made the Eletian king was just stupid. All it does is give the reader some forwarning on how Estora might escape. That's it. It doesn't help the characters figure out how to save her or anything. 3) I think this is what has put me off the most: the whole avatar storyline. It is the most cheesy thing I have yet read in fantasy. The first time I read the scene where Karigan becomes an avatar I had to re-read because I couldn't believe it. It is absolutely ridiculous. In fact, I don't see what purpose it serves at all, other than to make Karigan more important and pwoerful. To be honest, I don't like the blatant involvement of the gods in the story. I liked it better when their presence was more subtle, where you questioned if they were really involved in what was going on or not. Or wondered if they were even there at all. I don't like the direction Ms. Britain is going. If she keeps it up, I might just forget the whole series.
There were some good points in the book. Alton's storyline was the best out of all of it. I enjoyed watching his struggle with the wall, but with his own demons as well. It was refreshing to see him grow and finally move past his aweful experience from the last book. The other thing that was rather interesting was Grandmother's character. I'm certainly curious about what that demented old lady has up her sleeve. I think it would be cool if Karigan had to meet her face-to-face. Those two storylines are the only reason this book got three stars from me.
Amazing detail, character development I've just finished reading book three of the Green Rider series, "The High King's Tomb."
Some reviews that I saw accused it of taking off too slowly, and not having enough forward motion. I completely disagree.
In the first place, this book is much longer than the other two -- which I absolutely loved. That gives Britain plenty of time to develop the society, culture and religion in much finer detail than ever before....basically show off her world building skills.
Pacing herself as she did in this book, the author managed to really take time to develop the characters. I love the tension building between Karigan and her father. There's also the stress that Karigan is going through as she begins to really feel her status as a commoner for the first time in her life. Having always poked fun at the nobility, she has now fallen in love with the king who reciprocates her feelings. Unfortunately, he has been forced into a proper noble alliance and Karigan chafes under the knowledge that in the eyes of society, she would never have been suitable for the man she loves. Britain has also taken her time to introduce new characters and re-introduce old ones. I was not remotely bored by the slow unfolding of the story.
If you genuinely like this series, then I think you will love this book and won't complain that it takes too long to "get started". There is plenty of action spread throughout and many times I caught myself laughing out loud -- especially during the part where Karigan and her trainee are rescued and wake up in a brothel. Small hints are dropped here and there among the color and pageantry of the world that Britain has created. What's the point in reading fantasy fiction if you don't want to take time to get lost in the beauty and mystery of the world in which it takes place? And I promise you that you will love her characters -- that's what she does best. That, and beautiful descriptions, but coming from a park ranger, that's probably to be expected.
For the second complaint that the book doesn't make enough progress....I just respectfully disagree.. I think those people don't understand the concept of a series. For example, some reader reviews have expressed disappointment that the heroine has not ended up with the king yet. Well of course not. The author has a contract for something like five more books. She isn't going to wrap up the romance part way though. She's going to keep us all suspended and hoping and waiting for more. That's the mark of a good writer.
The only thing I don't like about this book is that I know it will be forever before the next one comes out. Britain is a busy full time park ranger so there are huge gaps between the publication dates of her books. Waiting for the next one will be torture. And here I was supposed to be done with this kind of agony since the Harry Potter series ended !
Fortunately, Britain does have a talent for wrapping each individual book up very neatly, while leaving little hints open for what may be coming next. Just enough to unsettle you and leave you craving the next installment. The first book in particular ends so neatly that it could almost have stood by itself.
As this book just came out late last year I fear that I have a long wait before the next one comes out. I will certainly re-read the current three in the intervening time. These books are the kind that I read over and over again and I really look forward to seeing what the rest of them will bring.
Not What I Was Hoping For I was really looking forward to this book,third in the Green Rider series. But I was rather disappointed. The characters were a bit flat and I ended up having very little to no sympathy for more than one of the characters. It was similar to watching a movie on fast forward. You get the jist, but there's no real content. I just hope that the next book will have more meat to it.
Lots of meandering plot; but some new interesting characters This is the third book in the Green Rider series by Kristen Britain. I honestly think it was the weakest of the three books.
In this book Karigan is struggling with the King's wedding to Lady Estora and, when the Captain Mapstone askes her to go on a seemingly boring mission, Karigan is thrilled to leave the castle. The only downer is that she has to bring along a new Green Rider (Fergal) and train him in on the mission. The D'Yer wall continues to crumble and Alton struggles to find a way to repair it. Of course all is not what it seems to be and Karigan's simple mission goes awry.
The beginning of this book was slow and meandering. The only excitement was Karigan's duel with Amberhill in the museum before she left on her mission. I thought Karigan was strangely morose and immature in the beginning of the book; especially with how she treated Lady Estora.
I don't think that Fergal really added much to the book; I started getting flashbacks to Mercedes Lackey's Valedmar series when I read about Fergal. The introduction of Amberhill as the destitute noble/rogue was fun. Amberhill is an entertaining character but I struggled to get him to fit into the story. His role in the story seemed forced and a bit unnatural; althought I think this character has promise for the future. Unfortunately I was getting the feeling that Amberhill's only purpose in this novel is to set him up as a future love interest for Karigan (I guess time will tell).
Damien and Lady Frost were very interesting characters that didn't get enough page space. It was also nice to see the Berry sisters again; although the role they played was tiny.
The story overall was disappointing. Both Karigan and Alton did a lot of hemming and hawing. There were a lot of issues brought up in the book that were left unresolved (Karigan's problem with her father trying to foist her off for marriage, etc). I think people who have previously reviewed this book and described it as a transition novel are right. There was a lot of shuffling people around and setting up stuff but not a lot of meaningful action taking place.
At the end of this book I had more questions than answers. I also started to despair that this is going to be a long un-ending series. I think it would have been good as a trilogy; I am worried that it will drag itself down if too many books are slapped onto this series.
So in summary, it was okay. I read it at a pretty good clip for a while and then had trouble finishing it. Hopefully the next book is more meaningful and hopefully it concludes this series! karissabooks.blogspot.com
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