The Blood Knight : Book Three of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone
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Hardcover
Recommended By
Julie Carter and Otsana.
Planning on Reading
Caroline Schuster and Eleal.
Book Details
Written by Greg Keyes.
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($25.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
Brimming with passion and adventure, Greg Keyes’s epic saga of a royal family’s fall from power through treachery and dark magic, set amid the return of ancient evils whose malevolence threatens to annihilate humanity, bids fair to become a classic of its kind. Now, in the eagerly awaited third installment, Keyes draws the threads of his tapestry ever tighter, illuminating old mysteries and introducing new ones as events build toward a shattering climax.The legendary Briar King has awakened, spreading madness and destruction. Half-remembered, poorly understood prophecies seem to point to the young princess Anne Dare, rightful heir to the throne of Crotheny, as the world’s only hope. Yet Anne is hunted by the minions of the usurper Robert, whose return from the grave has opened a doorway through which sinister sorceries have poured into the world. Though Anne herself is the conduit of fearsome powers beyond her understanding and control, it is time for girl to become woman, princess to become queen. Anne must stop running and instead march at the head of an army to take back her kingdom . . . or die trying.
But a mysterious assassin stalks her, so skilled in the deadly fencing style of dessrata that even Anne’s friend and protector Cazio, a master of the form, cannot stand against him, nor can her sworn defender, the young knight Neil MeqVren.
As for Anne’s other companions–Aspar White, the royal holter who bears an enchanted arrow capable of felling the Briar King; and Stephen Darige, the monk who blew the horn that woke the Briar King from his slumber–they cannot help her, as their separate paths carry them ever deeper into a deadly maze of myth and magic from which return may be impossible.
Meanwhile, Queen Muriele is a prisoner of the false king. With no allies but a crippled musician, who is himself a prisoner, and a servingwoman who is both more and less than she seems, Muriele will find herself a pawn in Robert’s schemes for conquest–and a weapon to be used against her own daughter.
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WriterDan thinks this book is Worth Reading.
This book is the third in the series of Thorn and Bone from Greg Keyes. In overall structure this book is very similar to the previous two. The author writes quite well, his characters are for the most part believable and developed decently, and there is plenty of action in this book. There are, however, two big hangups that I have with the book (all the books in this series so far, actually). The first is that the title in no way portrays what is going on in the book. In the entire 495 pages there are really only three obsure references to this "Blood Knight". The previous two books were much the same. The Briar King only brings in the character of the "Briar King" at the very end, and then the dude just walks away. The Charnel Prince gets rid of the Charnel Prince character (by spiriting him away after doing quite little to do with the story) very early in the text. Ao, if you decide to read these books don't go in expecting to learn much of anything about what the subject of the book title is, or the art displayed there. The second (and in my opinion, most annoying) problem that I had with this book is the lack of understanding as to what is happening. Througout these three books, the main group of characters have seemed to go from one crisis to another, never figuring out what is going on, who exactly the "bad guy" is, and being led around by the whims of others. The first two books were full of this type of storyline. This one was very similar, with only two small deviations. One of the characters finally decides to make a decision on her own which supposedly was quite a stupid decision to make. The second character that "breaks out" of this "know nothing" mentality starts to reason things out concerning the above mentioned "bad guy", but then immediately falls back into the trap of ignorance. By the end of the third book in a four book series, I would have expected at least ONE of the main characters to have figured out something of import concerning what is going on in their world, and who the heck is screwing things up. Unfortunately, they don't. This lack of knowledge on the characters part, and definitely on the readers part (in my experience) pretty much ruins any attempt that the author has made at developing tension, or building towards the "climax" of the story. For some reason, I have held on to the series. I had hoped that there would be more to this book than there was. On the whole, I think that the book is well written enough to enjoy what story there is. Even if it's extremely frustrating to not know anything about what exactly is happening. So, this book gets the rating of "Worth Reading", but it's not exactly what I'd call Good or Excellent by a fair margin.
Julie Carter thinks this book is Excellent.
The series continues strong with this entry, though I am glad there is only one more book planned. It's time for some of these long strands to be visible in a finished tapestry.