I've recently started attending a "book club", held by a locally owned bookstore. The rules are simple; read what you like, and then talk about it. We meet up once a month, sit in a circle and one-by-one we review whatever books we may have read since the last meeting. I think I might start sharing some of my book reviews here as well.
Green Rider is fantasy genre. I hate to call it YA, just because of the recent slew of lackluster YA books that have come out recently, but call a spade a spade. I'd say it's appropriate for 6th grade and up, but it's cleverly written so that it isn't too dull or simplistic to satisfy an adult.
It tells the tale of Karigan G'ladheon, a young girl/adolescent running away from school (I don't know why apostrophes are so popular in fantasy.) Karigan comes from a merchant family, and had a run-in with a kid from an aristocratic family. Said kid pulled some strings, and Karigan ended up wrongfully suspended from school. She's upset, decides to run home from school to tell her father in person what happened.
On her way to her home town, she comes across a dying rider on a horse. He turns out to be a Green Rider, a messenger for the King. He has an urgent message to give to the King, but he's been fatally wounded by enemies of the crown. The Green Rider convinces Karigan to complete the mission, and she swears to do her best to take it to the king. The Rider dies, Karigan hops on his horse, and her adventure begins.
I was really pleased by this book. I'm a sucker for a fiesty heroine. All of my favorite books feature kick-butt females, but there are a lot of cliched female characters out there. Karigan is not a cliche. She is not fearless, she's frightened out of her mind, but she strives to do the right thing and manages to survive whatever is thrown her way.
Karigan is a smart girl. We don't have too many smart girls in fiction, which is really sad to say. She has a mission to accomplish, and it does not involve a boy! She isn't pledging her undying love to a borderline abusive male, and I love that!
As you can see on the cover, there's a horse! A smart horse!! And Karigan calls him The Horse, which I love for some reason. I don't want to spoil anything, but I fell in love with him. I'm not even a horse person, but I love animals and I love when they're shown to be smarter than just dumb beasts. There a cute dog too, but he's just cute.
There are other strong and accomplished women in the story as well, and they are fully formed characters. Kristen Britain actually has done a great job with all of her characters, they are multidimensional. Even the bad guys are multidimensional, we have a reason as to why these people are making such bad decisions, and that isn't always gone into with bad guys. Too often readers are expected to believe that a bad guy is bad just because they are inherently bad.
There are definitely some Tolkien influence in the story, evident in the triumph of Good over Evil, the dangerous quest thrust upon an Innocent by fate/some unseen outside force. Britian's Elts are forest-dwelling people, who are much more advanced in magic than mankind, but who generally prefer to not interfere in human business. There is mention of a people from the past, who were skilled at working stone and rocks and mining, but they've all died out. The characters speak of a previous age, "before the thousand year war", when mankind was strong and there was magic. There are magical artifacts that lend a helping hand, one in particular lights up and banishes darkness... Yes Tolkienesque indeed.
However, this isn't just a pale copy of a great work. It holds well on it's own, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fantasy adventure. It's appropriate for both the young and the mature. Green Rider is the beginning of a series, followed by: First Rider's Call, The High King's Tomb, and Blackveil. I don't know how many books are to be in this series.
I'm really looking forward to sharing this book with my book club.
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