The Green Rider
Kristen Britain
DAW, 393 pages
Order this book
When Karigan G'ladheon is suspended from her exclusive school for fighting, she decides to take matters into
her own hands and run away. As she journeys through the great forest called the Green Cloak, a rider with two black
arrows in his back comes bursting through the trees. With his dying breath he binds her to an oath: to deliver
the message he carries to Zachary, King of Sacoridia. He gives her his horse, and the winged brooch he wears, emblem
of the Green Riders, the legendary messengers of the King. He also gives her a warning: Beware the shadow man.
Karigan begins to regret her oath when her new horse, who seems to have a better idea of where to go than she does,
insists on choosing his own route. She regrets it even more when she's nearly captured by members of the local
militia, who are searching for the dead Green Rider. Escaping, she discovers that the Rider's brooch has somehow
given her the power to become invisible. The forest trail--or perhaps the horse--delivers her to a vine-covered
manor house, inhabited by two elderly sisters who, it turns out, know quite a lot about the Green Riders. They
explain to Karigan that the Green Riders practice their own, secret form of magic through their brooches, which
confer a different gift on each person who wears one. The brooches work only for those with the souls of true Riders.
Whether she likes it or not, Karigan is now a member of this group.
Uncertain of her vocation, pursued by mercenaries and accompanied by the spirits of Green Riders past, Karigan
continues her journey, which takes her ever deeper into magic and danger, and brings her face to face with a mysterious
man in a gray cloak--the shadow man? At last she arrives at the court of King Zachary. But her adventure doesn't
end with the delivery of the precious message, for Zachary's jealous older brother, in league with the gray-cloaked
man, is plotting the King's overthrow. The gray-cloaked man has breached the enchanted wall that seals an ancient
evil away from Sacoridia, and the dark forces once confined behind it stand poised to emerge again. It is up to
Karigan, King Zachary, and the Green Riders to thwart the usurper, and turn back the tide of sorcery.
The Green Rider is lively fantasy. The narrative clips along at a good pace, and there's plenty of adventure
and magic to keep the reader turning pages. Minor characters are nicely drawn, and major ones are very appealing,
especially Karigan, who rises to the occasion again and again with admirable bravery and determination. If some
of the plot elements (the ancient evil confined and now released, the attempted overthrow of the good king by the
corrupt pretender) seem a little generic, others are more original. The Riders themselves, with their mysterious
magic and ancient heritage, are a fascinating creation. And Britain eschews the cliché of the medieval fantasy
setting, combining 16th and 18th century elements into a culture with a strong Scottish feel to it. There's even
an eco-message stitched into the plot, giving a contemporary resonance to this high-fantasy story.
The Green Rider does suffer a bit from first-novel unevenness. The writing is awkward at the outset, and
the pace a bit slow. But Britain's technique improves over the course of the story, and by the book's end she has
settled into a swift, easy style. Refreshingly, the book doesn't finish on a cliffhanger, but neatly ties up all
its story threads, for a satisfying ending. Plenty of room is left, however, for a sequel. I'm already looking
forward to another installment in this fresh new series.
Copyright © 1998 Victoria Strauss
Top of Page
|
