Follow Karigan G’ladheon’s race to deliver an important message to the King in Green Rider by Kristen Britain.
I originally read this years ago in 2012, and since then the author has released more books in the series. So I thought I’d re-read books 1-5 and catch up on the new books.
I originally picked it up back then because I saw it in Waterstones and loved the gorgeous cover, and the blurb intrigued me. The story grabbed me straight away — Karigan G’ladheon has been expelled from her boarding school, and runs away to avoid facing her father. A Green Rider, one of the King’s messengers, finds her. He has been shot by two black arrows, and makes Karigan promise to deliver his message in his stead. She reluctantly agrees and mounts his horse, and begins her adventure.
You can find it in paperback, eBook and audiobook format from Waterstones, Hive and Amazon — and add it to your TBR on Goodreads.
My review
Is it as good as I remember? Yes. It’s a good, solid first book. I love the world, the magic system, and the characters. I love how the Green Rider brooches work and how magic is mostly feared in this world. I loved the ghosts and spirits. It kept me interested throughout the story, despite Karigan being a bit annoying at times and the story getting a bit repetitive after a while (I felt like it could have been cut much shorter – at 570 pages it is a long read).
The characters are intriguing – both Karigan herself and the supporting cast. Karigan’s ‘I’m not a Green Rider’ stick does get a bit old and tiresome, but I like that she makes mistakes and that she is so headstrong and stubborn (I feel like I would be the same, I wouldn’t want to be cajoled into doing something!). Her relationship with her father is heartwarming too. The other characters such as Jendara, Captain Mapstone, Beryl Spencer and Alton D’Yer. I also loved ‘The Horse’, who is brave and stubborn.
Downsides to this book – it does get a little repetitive, with her journey to deliver her message being constantly fraught with danger. There’s also two scenes when female characters are almost raped by the ‘evil’ male characters and a male character who has lots of seedy thoughts about a female character. I think those sections should have been left out, they add nothing to the story – and perhaps would be, if this was being published today rather than 1998.
This reminds me a lot of some classic fantasy I’ve read previously, by authors such as Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan and Terry Brooks. But that’s more because of the style of writing than the characters/plot itself. If you enjoyed those authors I think you would enjoy this series.