The Charnel Prince
Vol. 2 of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone
Greg Keyes
Del Rey, 516 pages
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Greg Keyes’ latest quadralogy, The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone,
continues in this second volume.
In a world other than our own--formerly the domain of the inhuman
Skasloi, who were long ago overthrown by the human beings they once
held as slaves--in the second millennium of an age known as Everon,
fearful change is stirring. Fell creatures out of myth and folklore
stalk the countryside and terrorize the populace. The Church, keeper of
the power of the saints, secretly seeks to wake forbidden magics.
William, King of Crotheny, and most of his family lie dead, betrayed by
his mad brother Robert. And on a night of a purple moon, a blast blown
on an ancient horn summons from sleep the mythic Briar King, a being
known by many names and to many legends, but in all of them a harbinger
of the end of the age of man.
Targeted for murder with the rest of her family, Queen Muriele has
survived--as has the Princess Anne, though assassins were sent after
her in the far land of Vitellio where she was at school. Now Muriele,
torn by grief, must negotiate the treacherous political waters of the
court, where powerful nobles and equally powerful representatives of
the Church scheme to break her tenuous hold on power and seize rule for
themselves. She sends the young knight Neil MeqVren, who helped save
her from the assassins and is the one man whose loyalty she trusts, to
find Anne and bring her home. But Anne herself is trying to get back to
Crotheny, and also to elude the killers who still pursue her. She’s
aware that more than politics is involved: through strange
dream-visitations by a quartet of masked women who call themselves the
Faiths, she has learned that a great fate hinges on her choices. If she
fails to return to Crotheny and become queen, a terrible doom will fall
upon the world.
Meanwhile, Aspar White, holter of the King’s Forest, along with his
lover Winna and Stephen Darige, a young scholar formerly in priestly
training, are dispatched on a mission by Hespero, praifec of the
Church: to find the Briar King and kill him with a magical arrow, one
of the Church's most ancient relics. As they near the forest, they
encounter horrifying monsters; the villages they pass are strangely
empty, and those who live nearby tell fearful tales of hordes of
mindless savages who run naked and devour human flesh. Even more
terrible, they stumble on the secret work of the Church, unthinkably
savage rituals intended--Stephen believes--to wake the forbidden power
of the damned saints. Embarking on a desperate race to prevent the
rituals’ completion, they begin to realize that the fearsome Briar King
may be a power far less malign than those that oppose him.
The continuation of a much longer tale that still has far to go, The
Charnel Prince isn’t totally open-ended; it does bring one plot arc
to a close, with a much-matured Anne poised at the end to claim her
throne. But it is a bridge book, and as is sometimes the case with
bridge books, the threads stretch thin at times, as Aspar and Stephen
and Winna go out again into the forest for a series of
pursuit-and-flight adventures different in content but similar in feel
to those they endured in the first book, and Anne’s attempts to return
home unfold in a succession of somewhat repetitive chase sequences.
Too, a new viewpoint character--Leovigild Ackenzal, a composer
commissioned by Muriele to compose a revelatory, revolutionary opera to
stir the hearts of the people against the oppression of Crotheny’s
false rulers--isn’t especially compelling, and his experiences, though
they do allow him (and thus the reader) to observe crucial aspects of
the supernatural and political struggle that’s overtaking Crotheny,
feel more like side trips than part of the main journey.
These are relatively minor quibbles, though, and while this volume
didn’t generate for me the pure reading pleasure that its predecessor
did, it’s nevertheless a solid installment in a chronicle whose
carefully constructed setting continues to fascinate, whose unfolding
mysteries continue to tantalize, and whose well-drawn and sympathetic
characters, though irresistibly compelled by events, never become mere
plot pawns. As before, the book’s greatest strength is its powerful,
menacing evocation of half-comprehended dark forces waking into a world
that has not exactly forgotten them, but has sanitized and trivialized
them, and is only just beginning to remember the nightmare truth. Nor
is the reader allowed to forget that behind the magical events and the
political intrigue, deeper questions loom: what exactly are the saints,
and why does their power linger in the world? Who are Anne’s
dream-women, the Faiths (the Fates)? Why has the Briar King chosen this
moment to wake--and what sort of ending, really, does his coming
promise?
There’s some reference to previous events to refresh the memories of
those who’ve read The Briar King, but otherwise Keyes continues
the story without drawing a breath. Given the complexity of the world
building, especially the historical and magical lore, readers new to
the series shouldn’t begin with The Charnel Prince; in fact,
even if you’ve already read the first installment it might be a good
idea to skim it before diving into this one. The saga will continue in The
Blood Knight, due sometime in 2006.
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