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Posted By: Baze Apr 03, 2002 - 01:41 am

Written by Kristen Britain, and possibly my favourite book ever. It's fantasy, set in the usual sort of faux-medievil fantasy setting- horses, elves (although called Eletians here), swords, you know the drill- focusing on one particular country, Sacoridia, divided into Provinces, each ruled over by a Governor, under the ultimate authority of the King.

However, we get a very gentle introduction to this world, as we see it all through the eyes of teenage school-runaway Karigan G'ladheon, who initially knows only the bare minimum about her country, but soon learns more. On her way home after being kicked out of school she comes across a dying messenger- a Green Rider, and promises to take his message to the King.

The book divides quite neatly into 2 halves. The first half is Karigan's struggle to get the message to the King. The second half is dealing with the consequences of that message, with all the political intrigue you could expect from this set up.

I love Green Rider because it's so straightforward- well written, direct, with enjoyable and three dimensional main characters, and a fast-paced plot that never lets you stop for a second. I also like the political and sociological structure of the country of Sacoridia, in particular the Green Riders themselves- uniformed messengers for the crown. Each Green Rider is called to their position, and each has a particular magic, linked to the gold brooch that identifies each one. It's presented as an horrifically dangerous job, since no one thinks twice of killing a messenger to stop an important message getting through, or even if they've just brought bad news, which makes following Green Riders in a novel a very exciting and eventful experience.

Simply very, very enjoyable, with a sequel due out sometime in 2003. I'm waiting with bated breath.

Posted By: D3n15 Oct 05, 2002 - 10:09 am

Really?

To his/her own I guess. To me, it had such bad style, and was so unrealistic and implausable, that I was skimming after 30 pages, and stopped reading at 100. I'm thinking this is more enticing to a younger audience, I'd be interested to see if anyone corrects me on that. There's definately no adult theme in there that I could see, and I felt like hitting myself on the head for not reading a page inside the book before buying it so impulsively.

Posted By: Gypsy_girl Mar 16, 2005 - 05:45 am

I've read it and I loved it! I think the second book it out already, it's called "Green Rider: The First Rider's Call" I think.