Rating: 
Summary: The only fault is that it was too short!
Review: No, I mean that! It's one of those books that you start off and by the time you realize you've turned any pages you're on the last one! *frown* It's got everything good in it - expectional characters, magic, danger - everything a good fantasy book has. It's wonderful woven and you just don't want it to end! Suspenseful, captivating, the list can go on and on. C'mon, DAW released this book from a new author in *hardcover* It has to be good, the newbies don't usually get to start out in hardcover unless there's some promise. It's right up there with J.V. Jone's books *all of 'em!* and Robert Jordan, though it's nowhere near as complex as his stuff... Obviously, or this would be eight books long and still going! You can't really compair, but it is just as good at sucking you into it!! On top of that, Kristen is a very nice woman. No, I've not had the chance to meet her, but she's got a page set up and you can email her and she emails back! :) :) She's very friendly, and has assured me that the next book is a wee longer than Green Rider, which is great! I highly, highly recommend every one reading the Green Rider. :) You'll love it. Okay, you may not... Nobody's perfect! *lol*
Rating:
Summary: Once you Start be prepared NOT to stop
Review: This was such a good book. It has been a LONG while since a book had "captured" my attention as this one had. I would recommend this to anyone who reads this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! Exciting, interesting, and fresh...
Review: This was a fabulous book that I highly recommend to other fantasy readers. The action starts on the first page and keeps on going throughout the book. I can't wait for more! I hope Ms. Britain is writing quickly.... If you like reading Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Mercedes Lackey, or Melanie Rawn, you will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't start this book if you have to work or eat.
Review: I found this book fast paced and exciting. It was very difficult to lay down. Kristen is the best new writer I have read since Terry Goodkind came out with his material. I can't wait to read her next piece of work. Hurry.
Rating: 
Summary: GREEN RIDER: summary
Review: On her days-long journey home, Karigan G'ladheon trudges through the immense forest called Green Cloak. She is leaving school, or more accurately, she has been asked to leave. "Suspended indefinitely," the dean said. And for what? Challenging and thrashing Timas Mirwell in the practice ring. Karigan felt no remorse when she stood over the heir of the lord-governor of Mirwell province, her wooden practice sword at his throat. He had humiliated her, the daughter of a "mere" merchant, since the first day of school. But now, as she faces the long road home, hoping to arrive in Corsa before the dean's letter does, she wonders if she should just hire herself out on a merchant barge as her father did and stay away for good. She has too much pride, too hot a temper, and a penchant for danger -- a life of travel, adventure, and commerce will undoubtedly suit her just as it has her father. But before Karigan's ponderings can become a definite plan, her thoughts are interrupted by the clattering of hooves, as a galloping horse bursts from the woods in an explosion of branches, the rider slumped over his mount's neck, impaled by two black-shafted arrows. As the young rider lies dying on the road, he tells Karigan that he is a Green rider, one of the legendary messengers of the king, and that he bears a "life and death" message for King Zachary in his horse's satchel. He begs Karigan to carry his message, warning her not to read it, and when she reluctantly agrees, he makes her swear on his sword to deliver the message "for love of her country." As he bestows upon her the golden winged-horse brooch which is the symbol of his office, she seems to hear the ghostly sound of great wings beating the air, of silver-shod hooves galloping...and of invisible lips murmuring, "Welcome, rider..." But beside her on the road, the messenger only whispers, "Beware the shadow man," with his dying breath. This promise given to a dying man changes Karigan's life forever. Pursued by unkown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, and accompanied by the silent specter of the original messenger, she herself becomes a legendary Green Rider -- the magic of this office transferred to her with the original rider's brooch. But what is happening in her land that requires a life or death message for the king? What does the message contain that is so vital someone is willing to kill for it? And who is "the shadow man"? Caught up in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand, Karigan is hounded by dark beings bent on seeing that the message, and the reluctant carrier, never reach their destination. "GREEN RIDER is a stunning first novel for what I hope will be a long career of story-telling and suspenseful intrigue. You've a really talented new writer here." -Anne McCaffrey "Kristen Britain's likable heroine and fast paced plot kept me eagerly turning pages. This is the rarest of finds: a truly enjoyable read." -Terry Goodkind "Sure to join the ranks of the genre's most popular fantasy authors. Look out Lackey and Rawn!" -Jennifer Roberson "I like GREEN RIDER very much. It's terrific! It's going to be the classic of the 90s as Tolkien was of the '60s." -Marion Zimmer Bradley For sample chapters, visit Kristen Britain's website
Rating:
Summary: A Good, Old-Fashioned Fantasy Adventure Story
Review: I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a straight-forward fantasy novel so much! _Green Rider_ was well-written and a lot of fun. Plenty of derring-do and high adventure, plus political intrigue and some very charming characters (the Misses Bunchberry and Bayberry, anyone?). A just plain out good read. If you like fantasy at all, you'll like this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Almost the worst fantasy novel I've ever read
Review: I bought this book because of the beautiful cover art, promising teaser on the back, and the fact that it had a quote from Terry Goodkind recommending it. The impression I got from this story is that Kristen Britain was a fan of fantasy novels and decided to write an amateur one of her own.
I guess I'll just list my complaints 1- too obvious, no suspense. I was never surprised, and it was all too contrived. 2-Bad characters. The only dynamic character in the whole thing is the main character, and that's because she's your basic "whiny spioled child meets real world and becomes heroine." And their aren't any other characters more original than that either. 3- Bad villians. The Grey One has got to be the lamest villain ever. 4- The magic was lacking. The best part of this book is the first two pages, which made me think the book might be good. It has the villain with the stupid name trying to break a spell cast on a magic wall. Unfortunately, the rest of the magic in this book is basically powers people get from little trinkets, and a lightsabre at the end. Basically, I think if you gave this book 5 stars, you're probably the kind of fantasy reader who doesn't know how to spell "medival."
It gets 2 stars because I managed to get to the end. Seriously, go read some of Robin Hobb's books.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in 2 days!
Review: As soon as Fryan Cobblebay fell in the first chapter, I was tied to that brown horse with Kerigan and spirited away on a Wild Ride that I could not pull away from. If its one thing I appreciate most about Kristen Britain's writing in the Green Rider series, its how adept she is at writing danger and action. It is much more personal than your typical epic, and that is refreshing. I could not put down this book until I finished it because every page compelled me to turn the next, and that is something I am hard pressed to find in any book these days. Whoever says this book is unoriginal is being short sighted and stingy. There is no such thing as true originality, and some of the world's most famous and favored authors are far less than original themselves. Lighten up guys, its a fantasy after all.
Rating:
Summary: How could people given this a rating as low as. . .4 stars?!
Review: This is my second favourite book I've read to date. The first favourite? The sequel.
It's true that K. Britain's concept of messengers is almost the same as Mercedes Lackey, but Hell, I have to say Britain did a better job of it in that there isn't nearly as much brooding. Cough, Vanyel, cough!
Anyhow, this book is highly midevil, so, for all those who've read Lackey and Pierce and liked them, you'll not be disappointed. If you didn't like the authors previously mentioned, odds are you won't.
I don't think I can put it any simpler than that. . . wait. I can!
READ THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Debut Novel?
Review: Let me see, where do I begin? I guess we'll start with the day I first got the book. It was a few years ago, I was working at a local library, and someone donated several boxes of sci-fi/fantasy books. My boss knew that was my genre, and told me to look through it and anything I liked, I could keep. Well, my first aquisitions were the entire WoT set in trade paperback (I'd only owned one of the books previously, although I'd read them too many times to count, re-reading all available books everytime a new one came out, which I still do) and then I snagged a couple by George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the first two) those were the obvious gems to find. I actually picked up Kristin Britain's book because the cover was intriguing. I'd recently read Martin's novels (library copies), and Jordan didn't have anything scheduled to come out for another couple months, so I needed filler material until about two weeks before the next WoT book (thats when I traditionally start re-reading, although it gets tight nowadays, even though I read about 800-1000 pages a night when I'm reading a novel, it drops to about 200-600 pages when reading non-fiction, depending on my understanding of the subject) I decided to try out Green Rider, it couldn't hurt, if it was as bad as some I'd gotten in this manner (Jennifer Roberson's "Sword-" crap, some of the lowest level writing I've ever endured, worse than reading Winnie the Pooh...), I could always give it away, or burn it (j/k, I actually never give away books OR burn them, I still own Roberson's crap, even though I utterly loathe that style of base writing) Luckily, I didn't have to go to either of those extremes. From the first (okay, so maybe it was the second, but I'll never tell) page, I was hooked. A long sleepless night followed, and by the early hours of morning (6am-ish) I had finished. Incredible. I've read better, but it was astonding, and my first thought was to hop op the computer and check for her other books. Therein lay the problem. She didn't HAVE any other books. This was her FIRST NOVEL! I nearly choked when I found out. How could someone's first novel be so good? And, the other nagging question, how long would it take for me to get a sequel? Well, that question will be answered in a review of First Rider's Call, the long awaited sequel.
|
