Once Upon a Bookshelf

The Story

The High King’s Tomb is the third book in Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series. King Zachary’s wedding to Lady Estora is drawing near, the D’Yer Wall is still not strong enough to keep Mornhavon the Black imprisoned when he arrives in the time period that Karigan sent him to, and the Second Empire is gathering for all kinds of nefarious reasons (as evil societies tend to do).

Rider Karigan G’ladheon is sent out on what she hopes is a fairly easy errand – to deliver a message about a book that will help heal the D’Yer Wall, to purchase new horses for the Green Riders, and to discover what she can about a missing undercover Green Rider. Of course, when Karigan is involved, there is always some sort of trouble coming along the way. A series of incidents happen to lead back to the Second Empire, who not only steal the book Karigan is looking for, but also kidnap Lady Estora in order to create a massive distraction that will allow them into the tomb of the royal family of Sacoridia. Karigan unknowingly stumbles upon their kidnapping of Lady Estora, and must act quickly to not only save her friend, but to save the world from the Second Empire and their plots to help Mornhavon the Black.

The Review

Okay. First, the rant. Then the raving.

It was bad enough when books were published to hardcover before being published to mass market paperback. But this one, oh, it was published as trade paperback before being published as a mass market paperback. That made me wait a whole extra year before I could purchase it because I already the other two in the series in mass market paperback, and it would look silly on my bookshelf to not have them all in the same format. It’s hard enough when there’s three years between when the last one was published and this one, but then two have to wait a whole extra two years for my preferred format? Hrmph.

But.

BUT.

The wait was totally worth it.

Because this is STILL my favourite fantasy series.

Finally being able to sit down with the third book in this series was like meeting up with old friends again. I read the first book when it was first published back when I was still in high school, and have reread it so many times that the characters have become quite dear to me. To read more about their adventures finally was so wonderful.

The High King’s Tomb was everything I had hoped it would be. It had everything that I loved in the first two books – the characters, the adventure and the magic – and more. More awesome characters (how much did I love Fergal?), more awesome adventure (sword fights in dresses? a fight with pirates?), and more awesome magic (seriously? the god of death’s steed and Karigan’s interaction was brilliant).

I don’t even know what else to say other than omg! Miss Bay and Miss Bunch were back. Loved that we went back to Selium. Loved Alton and wanted to snuggle him through his stressed crazy the-wall-won’t-let-him-through-to-see-the-guardians period. I want to own a horse and name him Condor. And yay loved loved loved.

The Bottom Line

A very strong third book in the Green Rider series. I highly recommend this series, as it is positively wonderful and Karigan is a rather kick-ass lead female character. (And we all know that kick-ass female characters in fantasy are pretty darn awesome.) I especially recommend this book to any female who, when she was a little girl, wanted a horse of her own. Cannot wait until the next book in the series. (Though, I really hope that I don’t have to wait as long for the fourth in the series; I think what I’ll probably end up doing for it is get the hardcover from the library and buy the mass market paperback when it’s published, just so I don’t have to wait so freaking for it.)

Other Reviews

Fantasy Book Critic. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.