Dark sorcery, fearsome supernatural beings, and a potent history combine in the fantasy world created by author Greg Keyes in The Briar King, the first book in the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone fantasy series. Published in 2003 by Del Rey books, The Briar King welcomes fantasy readers into its adventure with familiar themes but without being overly formulaic.
It Opens With A Curse
The setting of the fantasy novel is twenty two centuries into the Age of Everon that began when humans defeated the Skasloi, a powerful and mysterious race that enslaved humans and put them through cruel labors and tortures. The Skasloi were defeated after much epic struggle by the Born Men, who were people from outside the enslaved societies of the Skasloi. Genia Dare, known as the Born Queen, led her fighters beyond the killing fields of grim struggle and used the sedos power to defeat the Skasloi.
In her moment of triumph, though, the Skasloi lord beneath her boot heel declared that she had cursed her heirs by using the sedos power. The day would come when the world would rot and consume humanity. Genia Dare cares little for his prophecy because the Skasloi are despicable and to vanquish them is good.
Faded Legends Come To Life
After a stunning opening in which this crucial scene between Genia Dare and the Skasloi is revealed, the novel begins anew over two thousand years in the future. The power of the sedos still exists in certain places, but the curses of the Skasloi have faded into legend. Keyes does a good job of weaving into the novel bits of folklore and songs that describe the ancient forces that are soon to trouble the land. For example, the Briar King is known in some regions as Baron Greenleaf, which is a nice touch that adds to the depth of the story because regional differences in myth and legend typically occur.
It is within the vast King’s Forest that the first rumblings of trouble emerge. This forest was originally set aside as a reserve for the Briar King, and if his forest is violated by human encroachment – which has been happening – he will wake and crush humanity and remake the world.
In this forest Aspar White, a gruff and dependable character, serves as the guardian of the land and enforces the law of King William Dare. When Aspar begins to investigate the mysterious murders of some forest squatters, he assumes it will be a routine mission. But then he finds the gruesome leavings of human sacrifices and encounters a beast called a greffyn. Its very image is poison and even touching those who were killed by the greffyn can kill a person.
Meanwhile, as supernatural horrors are brewing in the King’s Forest, multiple conspirators plot against the Dare Dynasty, led by King William. His younger brother Prince Robert presents himself as a fairly obvious villain, but men apparently under the direction of the Church are plotting the deaths of the entire Dare family as well. They want to kill the Queen and all the Dare heirs, especially the female heirs. Presumably this ties in somehow with the belief that a queen must be present when the Briar King wakes. Whether the presence of a queen will help, it is not made clear and the motives of the assassins are murky.
The youngest daughter of King William, Anne Dare, is a major character in the book. She has appeal as a headstrong teenage female character. Anne’s strong will should be endearing to readers because the author managed to create a spoiled princess that is not annoying.
The rest of the characters also come across as genuine and several are interesting and entertaining, especially Stephen Darige and Cazio. In some instances, however, a character will fall flat and feel like just filler, like Winna, the love interest for Aspar White.
A Fantasy Novel With Light Wounds
The Briar King has more complexity to its plot than what can be described in this review. The story unfolds comfortably as Keyes lets the reader know just enough to stay interested without getting frustrated. This book blessedly avoids the propensity of many fantasy novels to keep everything a mystery until the fourth book. Yes, you will get to see the Briar King.
Although this is an enjoyable and intelligent fantasy novel, my main criticism is the author’s overuse of the device in which a character reaches a crisis and then the narrative jumps to the person waking up in someone’s care who then explains how the character escaped death. It would have been better to simply read how the action played out. This happens several times in the book.
Then, near the end, the narrative gets choppy. Some of this is understandable because it is difficult to interweave action sequences of numerous characters in multiple locations all in crisis on the same night. However, there was an overuse of the device of leading up to an interesting conflict or meeting and then switching to something else. The narrative was trying too hard to force me to keep reading when I was already interested in reading. I would have preferred fewer interruptions and bouncing around. Whether Keyes did this or an overzealous editor had at it, I don’t know.
Aside from a few forgivable flaws, The Briar King is an exciting story placed within a well thought out and creative world of magic, religion, politics, and myth. I would call it an above average fantasy novel but not place it in the awesome category.
Book Review - The Briar King By Greg Keyes
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