Kristen Britain: Firebrand
Jul. 6th, 2018 02:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaKristen Britain’s latest novel in the Green Rider series, Firebrand, is an entertaining addition to the saga of Karigan G’ladheon, the exceptional young woman who so far has foiled the assassination of a king, cleaned out a corrupted centre of ancient evil, travelled to the future, seen visions from the past, uncovered and helped to foil a revolution, and various and sundry other things, Karigan is definitely a hero in the tradition of David Weber’s Honor Harrington, in that she does everything astonishingly well, gets showered with unusual accolades, and just keeps going on, facing more and more challenging enemies. She’s also clearly a ‘chosen one’ - there are all sorts of portents and prophecies and odd coincidences that of course are no such thing, but Britain pulls it off well. And despite all her heroic deeds, Karigan remains an approachable, human hero, who needs coffee, gets grumpy, loses people dear to her and grieves them, holds grudges and has doubts.
There’s a lot going on in this latest installment. Karigan is on a mission to the north, not far from the lands held by the Second Empire accompanied by the Eletian envoy Enver. (Eletians are an ancient, very long-lived race with unusual magical abilities, this world’s version of elves.) During one of her previous adventures, Karigan uncovered evidence suggesting that another ancient race, the p’edrose, long believed extinct, may yet live, and she has been sent to try and find them, with Enver’s help, and ask them to ally with Sacoridia. Travelling with them is Estral, a musician, daughter of the country’s chief bard, searching fir her missing father, and the unknown person who used magic to steal her voice.
Meanwhile, an ice elemental, summoned by the leader if the rebel Second Empire forces, which had been routed by the defenders of the palace including Karigan, has returned, infatuated by the vital life force and beauty of the queen of Sacoridia, who is carrying twin heirs to the throne. The elemental has trapped King Zachary, the ruler of Sacoridia, in its secret air two others, a human and an Eletian woman, that it has kidnapped for its amusement, and taken the king’s place by enchantment.
Other plotlines of some significance are the stories of a young servant girl, Anna, who aspires to become a Green Rider, and of Mr. Whiskers, the last known surviving gryphon, in search of a mate.
As usual, the book ends with several pointers toward the next planned adventure for Green Rider Karigan, and the series continues to be fun reading so I’ll be waiting for the next volume.
There’s a lot going on in this latest installment. Karigan is on a mission to the north, not far from the lands held by the Second Empire accompanied by the Eletian envoy Enver. (Eletians are an ancient, very long-lived race with unusual magical abilities, this world’s version of elves.) During one of her previous adventures, Karigan uncovered evidence suggesting that another ancient race, the p’edrose, long believed extinct, may yet live, and she has been sent to try and find them, with Enver’s help, and ask them to ally with Sacoridia. Travelling with them is Estral, a musician, daughter of the country’s chief bard, searching fir her missing father, and the unknown person who used magic to steal her voice.
Meanwhile, an ice elemental, summoned by the leader if the rebel Second Empire forces, which had been routed by the defenders of the palace including Karigan, has returned, infatuated by the vital life force and beauty of the queen of Sacoridia, who is carrying twin heirs to the throne. The elemental has trapped King Zachary, the ruler of Sacoridia, in its secret air two others, a human and an Eletian woman, that it has kidnapped for its amusement, and taken the king’s place by enchantment.
Other plotlines of some significance are the stories of a young servant girl, Anna, who aspires to become a Green Rider, and of Mr. Whiskers, the last known surviving gryphon, in search of a mate.
As usual, the book ends with several pointers toward the next planned adventure for Green Rider Karigan, and the series continues to be fun reading so I’ll be waiting for the next volume.