The Briar King by Greg Keyes
Oct. 9th, 2007 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyI saw this book in the used section of Brookline Booksmith a few days ago, bought it, and read it in a gulp. What makes this fantasy stand out from the herd? Well, for one thing, it's weird. Yes, I know how that sounds. I mean, this book is strange in a creepy but fascinating way. It's hard to figure out where the author is going with everything - almost the only thing we're sure about is that there are a lot of bad guys. Another thing - how many fantasy novels begin with a battle, instead of ending with one? I thought that was neat. I also really liked the battle sequence described at the beginning - it could have nearly been a short story.
The characters seemed to me to be a little predictable - the headstrong princess, the gruff woodsman with a kind heart, the spunky tavern wench, the novice priest with lots of book learning but little worldly experience. To say nothing of the "rogue adventurer" mentioned on the back cover as a main character, who the author didn't even bother to introduce until several HUNDRED pages into the book. Realize you'd written yourself into a corner, there, Keyes? Mercenary Ex Machina?
What I found far more interesting was the world-building and the magic. The magic isn't explained too much in this first volume, but what was explained or even described was extremely creepy. Forget Santeria - you'll never think about saints the same way again after you read THIS one. Yeek! I can't wait to find out more. And the mention of the Croatani (the first time I wrote that, it came out Crostini) in the beginning could have been really annoying, but was mitigated by no other mention of Roanoke in the rest of the book. I'm curious to see where Keyes will go with that. I'm hooked - I'll need to read the next two, at least, and a conclusion to the quartet is planned for 1/08. Four stars. Yum.
My other acquisitions from that store was The Wind Singer. I also saw Darkly Dreaming Dexter, which I had just requested from the library, and Myrren's Gift, but I managed to resist their siren songs. I'm glad I did, since Myrren's Gift turns out to be available via paperbackswap.com, so I'll have it in a few weeks anyway.
The characters seemed to me to be a little predictable - the headstrong princess, the gruff woodsman with a kind heart, the spunky tavern wench, the novice priest with lots of book learning but little worldly experience. To say nothing of the "rogue adventurer" mentioned on the back cover as a main character, who the author didn't even bother to introduce until several HUNDRED pages into the book. Realize you'd written yourself into a corner, there, Keyes? Mercenary Ex Machina?
What I found far more interesting was the world-building and the magic. The magic isn't explained too much in this first volume, but what was explained or even described was extremely creepy. Forget Santeria - you'll never think about saints the same way again after you read THIS one. Yeek! I can't wait to find out more. And the mention of the Croatani (the first time I wrote that, it came out Crostini) in the beginning could have been really annoying, but was mitigated by no other mention of Roanoke in the rest of the book. I'm curious to see where Keyes will go with that. I'm hooked - I'll need to read the next two, at least, and a conclusion to the quartet is planned for 1/08. Four stars. Yum.
My other acquisitions from that store was The Wind Singer. I also saw Darkly Dreaming Dexter, which I had just requested from the library, and Myrren's Gift, but I managed to resist their siren songs. I'm glad I did, since Myrren's Gift turns out to be available via paperbackswap.com, so I'll have it in a few weeks anyway.
