Greg Keyes

The story in this book is tolerable but only because the plots are largely supported by the fantastic game content of the Elder Scrolls series. The main characters are shallow and the side-characters are mostly mysterious types (read: also shallow, due to the fact that 'unknown past, unknown emotions, unknown motives' is a fantasy cliché since Aragorn). It's a shame, since I expected a lot of a novel that builds on the enormous collection of lore, lands, creatures and races that the Elder Scrolls comprises. The abrupt end of the book is frustrating because it smells of cheap soap opera. I'm going to find out if the sequel is any better. If not, I won't be surprised. If it turns out that the ending of the series is deeply inspiring, this book was just the authors way of finding his pace. After all, it's not easy to write a novel about such a popular and well-loved game setting, just as it isn't easy to make a good movie out of a good book.… (más)

This was not the most easy book to get into. It starts out with difficult names, an unknown world, about five different points of view and no clue how those five are related. The chapters are short and as a result, there is a lot of switching between viewpoints, and although I cannot identify what it is that makes it so, the language is such that it is slow to read.

After a while though (ok, it was a long while), I got used to the slower reading pace, and it became clear that all the viewpoints were at least in the same land, and a few of them got together. Finally understanding the world, I did get into it. And loved it. Like I said, it's not a fast read, and although I liked all the (good) characters and lots of things happen to them, it was not very exciting or tense. I've got the feeling this is because my affection got divided over all of them, so even though I didn't want any of them to die, I still could live with it, because there were enough of them left. I was very much engaged with the book, though. Somehow there was not a single story line that I disliked or even liked significantly less than any of the others. This is a rare thing in my experience; in most books with multiple story lines, there is at least one that is a necessary evil (necessary to get through to understand the story at least), one that disappoints you when you turn the page and see you've ended up in THAT story line again. The briar king didn't have that at all. All story lines were interesting and all (good) characters in them were engaging. I say good here because the one character I wish was different was the king's crazy brother. I just don't like that type of insane character.

As for the other characters, I really liked seeing how some of them evolved. I liked that the bookish young priest gains some skills in the physical department. Mostly I liked the two really young people, princess Anne and Cazio, gaining an understanding of life and of adventures, learning a bit more realism. That was quite well-done. And, although this is by no means an equal society, I still liked the portrayal of the women. I imagine the 'men fight from the outside, women from the inside' motto of the coven would not sit well with everyone, but the book does hold plenty of interesting and confident women, who, although they do not fight the way men do, still rescue the men as often as the other way around, and can hold positions of power.

So, all in all this book gets four stars, and I've already started the sequel... Which is really necessary by the way, because the book really doesn't end in a way that makes it even seem like you are at an ending.… (más)