Books and Stuff
Since I've been on bed rest for pregnancy and subsequently have had the baby, I've been reading a lot.
The following is a series I've been reading:
Green Rider (#1)
The First Rider's Call (#2)
The High King's Tomb (#3)
Blackveil (#4)
(#5+ as yet unwritten/unpublished)
...all by Kristen Britain
BOOK 1 I read back TWELVE YEARS ago. I remember liking it a lot, so I bought BOOK 2 several years ago when it first came out (I bought the hardback). I have had it sitting on my bookshelf for years, unread. So I grabbed it off the bookshelf and read it while I had nothing better to do.
BOOK 2 was pretty good, about as good as I remember BOOK 1 being. BOOK 3 went down in quality, but was still pretty good. BOOK 4 has been so bad so far that I worry I may not finish it, and I'm already 79% of the way through it.
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BOOK 1 was the first book ever published by Kristin Britain. BOOK 4 was the fourth book ever published by her. Essentially, she's only ever written these four books, in this order. They are all sequels of each other. BOOK 4 is very obviously not the last volume. I am not sure how many books are intended for this series, but if BOOK 5 doesn't kick ass from the beginning (whenever she manages to finish it...), I'm afraid I'll just never finish the series.
The biggest problem. MARY-SUE-ISM.
Sometime in BOOK 3, and for pretty much all of BOOK 4, the main character has devolved into the worst kind of Mary Sue. Generally I am fine with some amount of Mary-Sue-ism (all readers must be; few people can abide by a totally useless, idiot main character), but from BOOK 4 I have learned that I have limits on the amount of Mary-Sue-Ism that I can deal with. This particular story (mostly BOOKS 3-4) has an utterly bitchy, unfriendly, ice-queenish main character (by actions) but who is said to be "humble" (seemingly exhibiting something more like false humility), everyone seems to like her despite her unpleasant personality, and is for some reason the only one who can accomplish any real goals in any of books. No one is an island. No one is this perfect. Her only apparent flaw is her shoddy love life, which is totally her own fault for constantly rebuffing perfectly fine men of all shapes and sizes for no real reason. She's also "in love" with the most boringest of the male characters, who she's spent very little time with, who she has very little in common with, whom she can't possibly know very well at all... and OF COURSE, he is also the biggest fish of them all: the king.
Other problems.
CONSTANT ROMANTIC BELLY-ACHING
Since BOOK 2 the main chick has admitted to being in love with the king, and he in love with her. But the king did an idiotville thing in BOOK 2, by signing a marriage contract with someone else, which was mostly a lazy-man's-plot-device way of not allowing the two to be together. Then they both go on to mentally whine about how OH HE IS NOBILITY AND SHE IS A COMMONER SO IT COULD NEVER BE ANYWAY BUT I STILL TOTALLY LOVE THEM. Which is total bullshit. If ANYONE has the power to do whatever-the-fuck he wants, it's the king. If he wants to marry a commoner, then he should marry a commoner. He didn't NEED the marriage contract with Coutre province -- the province was already an ally! Coutre Province even intentionally supported the king in BOOK 2 after the king specifically rubbed in their face the fact that he had not signed the marriage proposal and wasn't necessarily going to (and this, after sitting on it for YEARS without signing it or even making overtures to that effect)! So in the end, the marriage alliance didn't even matter! The king basically set himself up to be miserable in love for no effing reason. So why do I have to listen to 2.5 books of mental, romantic whining about it when it should have never been that way from the beginning? Also, MAIN GIRL may be a commoner, but she is a wealthy merchant's daughter, a merchant who is specifically very prominent in the realm such that his name is a household name among nobility. She may not be nobility, but she is as close as you can get to it without being it.
SMART PEOPLE ACTING STUPID.
This is just one example. The king is painted as such a thoughtful, insightful, intelligent person that what the hell is he doing signing a marriage contract that he doesn't need when he is in love with someone else, who is also in love with him, when there are really no big consequences to the two being together? I've already whined about that enough, so let's go on to others.
THE ARMS MASTER MAKES AMATEURISH MISTAKES.
This may be due to the fact that the author knows nothing about combat, I'm honestly not really sure. A standout example -- no arms master would jeopardize the safety of the king during weapons practice by drawing in a random passerby whom he's never seen before to spar with the king. Yes, the random passer-by happened to be the main female character, and the king's guards were nearby and watching, and so was the arms master. But still; dumb. Obviously, it was an excuse for the king and the main female character to (1) spend time together on-screen, (2) sparring is kinda like foreplay in a way, and it gets the adrenaline running between the two characters, and (3) it allows the main chick to show off a little in front of her king and love-interest. It was also totally stupid. Other -- the arms master has also stated at some point that the main chick shouldn't be using "tricks" (i.e., cheating) during sparring, saying that he teaches swordplay not tricks. This is stupid. This man trains the king and the king's elite guardians. Always, always where the most important person is concerned, the outcome is far far more important than the means. In other words, you would want to use absolutely EVERY advantage to ensure the king's safety and your own, even tricks and things stupid people would consider "cheating". If you are (or the king is) the one still standing at the end of the battle, then that is far more important than any bullcrap stuff about honor. Duh. If it was an arms master OTHER than the one that trains the king and the king's elite guardians, it wouldn't be so galling for him to act like this. But he is supposed to be the best of the best in the entire country (or near to it), and he doesn't act like he's earned this kind of preeminence.
THE CHIEF HEALER DOES NOT PUT THE INTERESTS OF THE PATIENTS FIRST.
This one is a no-brainer. In BOOK 4, the chief healer poisons a friend of his due to no coercion or manipulation, but solely because she disagreed with friends of his about a political issue. If there's one thing that's constant among fantasy settings, it's that healers always put the interests of their patients first. They'll tend to the wounded enemy as well their countrymen, among other things. They are always neutral parties. In contrast, in this book, the chief healer has a sudden/abrupt personality change, doing something he never would've done in previous books and that goes against the spirit of his character archetype, but in a senseless way. He's not even said to be of clan-this or clan-that, or having other provincial allegiances within the country. It is offensive that he, as a healer, has been made to do such a thing by the author.
Edit: After finishing the book, he does get punished for his actions, but I still don't understand why it had to be a healer that did this. It could easily have been a servant, one of the nobles, or one of the other non-noble parties involved. All they would've had to do was dose the tea while taking it from the servant, before handing it to the captain. It would've made more sense and been less offensive had it been done that way. Healers are healers, don't change that unless there's a major plot reason for it (which there wasn't here).
FIANCEE CHANGES PERSONALITIES.
In BOOK 2, the king's new fiancee from Coutre Province is introduced. She is a noble lady of exceptional breeding, who is kind, thoughtful, and considerate. She is a good person, a friend to the main character and the green riders in general. She knows what she is supposed to do in life and is resigned to it, even taking pride in how good she is at what she's been trained her whole life to do. In BOOK 3, she flips her lid and decides she wants to rebel, which was totally not her personality in BOOK 2. The whole point of this flip-flop is so that she can get her stupid self kidnapped in order to drive a pointless plot thread but mostly to drive the romantic knife into MAIN CHICK, who ends up having to be the one to rescue her for some reason. Also, insightful Noble Lady who is awesome at reading others for some reason can't tell that the king is in love with MAIN CHICK, and MAIN CHICK is in love with the king? That's dumb. They both make it so obvious (and other characters have noticed), and what can Noble Lady be exceptionally good at if not reading people, like she was trained to from birth? Also, MAIN CHICK is a pretty good friend of Noble Lady's. It should be obvious. The whole thing is dumb. In BOOK 4, Noble Lady devolves from rebellious into uber bitch territory. In one instance she essentially "fires" the rider captain, an epically stupid move, done for no reason other than rider captain had a dissenting opinion about something. Even when it has been stated since at least BOOK 2 that they are short on green riders, especially experienced ones? DUMB. Noble lady knew that the rider captain was a supporter of hers, so further, there is even less reason for her to do this; it is yet another lazy-man's-plot-device way to generate some tension. It doesn't make sense coming from a savvy, insightful person, such as the Noble Lady from BOOK 2. All it is going to do is generate animosity toward Noble Lady herself from those who were her biggest allies. It will only serve to hurt her unstable position even further, which the Noble Lady of BOOK 2 would've known. What she should've done was sent the rider captain off on a message errand that would've taken months to complete, if Noble Lady needed to get her out of the way. This has been done in previous books, so there is precedent. Again, DUMB.
Edit: I did expect the author to have it come out that noble lady, while closeted with the captain, had concocted a scheme with the captain to have her "pretend" to be fired. After finishing the book, I am not surprised to find my suspicions have come true. The problem with this was -- what was noble lady going to do if the king never woke up? Their whole scheme relied on the assumption he would eventually waken, which was totally not a given (other than the author had to make it a given). If the king had never awoken, noble lady would've been screwed out of any allies at all, especially her most loyal and powerful ones.
OBSESSION WITH DUMB SEX STUFF.
Apparently, like most societies, it's totally fine for the guys to screw around all the time, but girls have to remain virginal in this world. If you're female and aren't a virgin when you're married.... you're a slut and will be shamed and disowned? But for guys, it's all cool, right? Great! (/sarcasm) And seriously, the previous monarch was female? You're kidding me, right? What is this bullshit? The author is female, right? Uh... So, Noble Lady obsesses that she's not a virgin and that the king's going to find out, while simultaneously admitting and being ok with the fact that the king is almost assuredly NOT a virgin! And that it should be a sticking point for the alliance-marriage that she is not? But it's ok alliance-wise that he is not? How hypocritical! And what's more, for some reason in this world there is a way to tell a non-virginal female from a virginal female at sex-time? Seriously? Ugggh. I am really tired of misogynistic people and societies. I really don't want to read about this kind of stuff right now. This, I admit, is my own personal problem. Also, the main chick character constantly obsesses in a negative way about brothels and the people around her, her friends and family even, who enjoy having sex! Seriously, it's none of your business, just shut up about it, I got the point the first 500 times you whined about this mentally (I seriously wouldn't point this out if the amount of on-screen mental whining about this wasn't up to epic levels).
THE FIRST AND ONLY SEX SCENE IN FOUR BOOKS.
After finishing the book, there has been only one single sex scene over the entire four-book spread. And it was unpleasant and had all of: voyeurism, date-rape style drugging, and actual rape. What does that mean you ask? The one raped was the male; yes, I totally went there. The king would've eventually consented to having sex with noble lady (who is described as the hottest chick on the planet time and again) considering they were supposed to be getting married within the next year, but at the time when this scene occurred, he was essentially unconscious. Others "peer pressured" noble lady into forcing him into having sex due to some "marriage night" bull (the two had an early spur-of-the-moment marriage because the king was ill and they didn't know if he would recover). And there had to be "witnesses", which hey, voyeurs! Also, noble lady was drugged by the voyeurs beforehand, making her super horny so she'd do the deed instead of just lying there like a limp fish, so there's our weird fucked up drugged rape with voyeurism. The worst part about this is that it was totally unnecessary plot-wise. It added nothing and left a bad taste in the reader's mouth. The only point to this scene was to eventually drive the knife into main chick if she ever makes it back from her ordeal at the end of the book (the book ends before she returns). They even stated in the book that it didn't really matter if the two had sex as long as they slept in the same bed together. So hay! Pointless rape scene! Joy! The only other two characters stated to be in some kind of relationship in this book (Alton and Estral) aren't even allowed to do more on screen than kiss or embrace while others are present -- the book doesn't even state whether or not they are having sex, even though they are totally acting like they are and the book implies that they are. So two consenting adults that love each other aren't allowed a little screen time enjoying each other but two non-consenting adults that are in love with other people are forced to have sex on screen in an unpleasant fashion? At this point I feel the readers are owed at least two pleasant sex scenes with two fully consenting characters who enjoy themselves while doing it.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER
The main character, Karigan, was fine for the first two books or so. She was a noob in a world-discovery scenario in BOOK 1, which was interesting. It was fantastical. Things happened, good and bad, and she responded like a normal person for the most part. There was no romantic plot in this book which turns out to be for the better, since it was so craptastic in subsequent books. BOOK 2 saw her being drawn into a larger plot, one over both time and distance. Her magic ability (which all riders have) enhanced, for explainable reasons, and she dealt with it and utilized it in a sensible fashion to deal with plot issues. She drew the plot to a conclusion, and the main bad guy was trapped but not killed at the end. A ghost (not the main chick) did most of the work to defeat him, to be honest. That's fine, totally fine. Give someone else some of the spotlight, and not defeating the baddie leaves room for more good books to read.
In BOOK 3, though, it started to become a one-woman parade. Karigan seemed to be the only person that cool things ever happened to. Largely, this is represented by the fact that she was respected by people and groups who did not have respect for anyone else. Allow me to enumerate a few. Super-duper bitchy Arms Master Drent (who doesn't like anyone). The Raven Mask (a sneaky thief who is a sword master). Lord Amberhill (important nobility, who shouldn't care about a commoner at all). The Weapons (the king's elite guards). The Eletians (essentially elves that won't have anything to do with anyone else). Ghosts (previous important people at the University, the Castle, the tombs, and other places). Gods: the death god's steed took an interest in her. The tomb guardians (other Weapons/elite guards). Even the main bad guy. I'll just stop here. Does that seem like a lot already? Because I really think it is. Too many. Does anyone else of all the bajillion people or so in these books get to have anything cool happen to them? Why does Karigan get a monopoly on being important, on having powerful/important people/groups respect her? Not only is it unfair to other, more interesting characters, but it is totally unbelievable. All I can do is roll my eyes when I come to yet another section where this happens. Such as, toward the end of BOOK 4: the queen of the old-home (Argenthyne) Eletians, the king of the new-home (Eletia) Eletians get added to the list. EYEROLL.
Meanwhile, supposedly Karigan also has friends, especially among the other green riders. It would make sense. But on-screen? As of BOOK 3 and later -- all she ever does is act bitchy toward them. They tease her, joke with her -- she grouches back and them, hits/kicks them, or runs off abruptly in a bitchy mood and slams her door shut. One doesn't treat friends like this. She really should have no friends, if this is how she acts toward them. Even myself, who is just terrible at having friends can see that _I_ would not want to be treated like this, and I certainly wouldn't want to hang around someone who treated me like this. Being bitchy and reacting with raw unpleasant emotion constantly is not interesting to read about. Especially when her "friends'" reactions are so counter to what they would be in real life. Theoretical example: Fergal, her trainee rider and friend that she's spent quite a lot of time with recently, teases her about being a lesbian because he noticed one of the chicks at the brothel was interested in her. What would happen as written: (1) Karigan restrains herself from hitting Fergal and storms out of the room. What SHOULD happen if Karigan were a normal person and a more interesting person to read about: (2) She grabs her nearby (female) friend, Dale, with a glint in her eye and a smirk on her face and pretends like she is going to kiss Dale. Fergal blushes furiously, gawks at them, and shuts up immediately. Karigan strides off before doing anything with a smile on her face, knowing she won this exchange of wit. As it is, Karigan becomes less and less interesting to read about the more broody/bitchy/unpleasant she is on-screen, which is a lot in BOOK 4 because really absolutely nothing else is going on for most of the book.
I know I already touched upon this issue above, but it's worth bringing up again here. In BOOK 3, Karigan starts obsessing over sex. I can understand some people being raised prudish. But she takes it to an epic level. She stays in a brothel against her will, constantly has a mental cow about it. She has a mental cow about her father being associated with the brothel at all. And get this - her mother has been dead for at least ten years, perhaps even closer to 15 years, her father has never remarried, and the author, even as of BOOK 4, has never really come out and said that her father was using the brothel for its sex services. The books have stated that her father has a business relationship with the owner -- they both rescue abused children and women and teach them reading/writing/math etc, and let them be on their way (if the women want to work in the brothel they can - but only if they WANT to - and they're allowed to leave whenever they want). Such a modern way of thinking! So really, what is there to be angry about concerning this brothel? Karigan needs to get over it, or at least needs to stop thinking about it on screen because it's annoying as hell to the readers. I imagine this is all set up for someone turning her view around of this business and maybe sex in general, but it hasn't happened yet a whole book later and it's extremely tiresome hearing about it all the time. Yes, she hates the brothel irrationally; we get the point; enough already.
THE MOST INTERESTING CHARACTER.
The most interesting character in this series of books is a man introduced in BOOK 3. His name is Lord Amberhill. He is not the main character so he has little screen time when his path does not cross the main character's. His involvement with the main plot is seemingly concluded at the end of BOOK 3, but he does appear some in BOOK 4. He even gets a few dedicated chapters in BOOK 4 that do not include the main character or those nearest her. I am glad for this, but I wish he appeared more. His story in BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 is more in-line with the fantastical nature of the original book, Green Rider. If BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 focused more on Amberhill and less on Karigan, I would be less annoyed by the whole series than I am. The readers' interest in Karigan as a main character, I guarantee, ran out by mid-BOOK-3.
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POSITIVES.
The author is willing to kill people off. This is a good thing. She has killed people off since at least BOOK 2 (I can't remember a whole lot of the details of BOOK 1, it's been so long).
The fantastical nature of the books continues to live on, even if it has diminished some in BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 and doesn't necessarily follow the main character.
Amberhill had a chapter at the end of BOOK 4 so I am hopeful his plot will continue in subsequent books, and as must always happen, will circle back to cross over with the main plot again. It is fun reading about Amberhill because he has a personality. He learns from his mistakes, he makes decisions about what he is going to do in his life. Karigan no longer has a personality so she is not that interesting anymore. Note: all she does as of BOOK 4 (at least) is react to things going on around her. If she took more action herself instead of always having others tell her what to do, my interest in her would go up. It would mean that she's thinking about herself and her situation and figuring things out for herself. That she's no longer just some dumb idiot with enough useful powers for everyone to be angling to get her to do stuff for them.
Alton has finally gotten over his major dysfunction and has become more important. Estral, introduced as kind of a throwaway character, has been utilized by the author more prominently in BOOK 4 and her use of Estral actually makes sense and is interesting. These two characters have crossed paths and their work in the main plot has been more interesting. The author kinda blew it away at the end of BOOK 4 but there was a sensible plot reason for it and I am okay with that.
I can always appreciate when an author makes use of music for the purposes of magic and it makes sense and is as powerful as any other type of magic. This author does that in spades, but not until BOOK 4 really.
There is a unique magic system for the bad guy of BOOK 3 and BOOK 4. It involves an old lady who uses yarn to cast her spells. I find this refreshing and different. The bad aspect of the magic system is that the capabilities of the magic is not well defined. Because the reader doesn't understand what can and can't be done with it, what the limits of an individual's abilities are, etc, things are apt to feel deus-ex-y when something big and magicky happens to save the day or ruin the day.
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THINGS I AM STILL INTERESTED IN.
Things I am interested to know about in BOOK 5, in order of how much I care about them:
(1) what happens with the Captain and Karigan's dad?
(2) what happens with estral's voice and her relationship with Alton (especially their relationship in a more permanent sense)?
(3) what happens with Amberhill and how will his plot cross back over with the main plot?
(4) what happens to the wall, can it be fixed or is it already too late since Mornhavon's time has re-joined with the present?
(5) what happens now that Lala has come into her own powers somewhat? i am hoping she will perform a gruesome coup on grandmother and takeover second empire (it would make sense for her character and be rather a chilling addition to the story).
(6) how is Karigan going to react to what happened to Yates at the end of BOOK 4?
(7) who does the king appoint to replace the people he fired at the end of BOOK 4?
(8) is the author transitioning away from the karigan+king idea? because she's done pretty much everything to make such a relationship impossible at this point. i surely hope so, and i am hoping it is toward Amberhill that Karigan finally migrates. She could stand to learn a few things from him about chilling the f!ck out.
(9) what of Pendric, how does he figure into all of this (I am hoping he will become the new guardian in the tower of earth, but I ain't holdin' my breath here)?
(10) i am hoping in the end that Pendric has a moment of clarity, gets his sh!t in order, and does his part to save the day by performing the necessary wall repairs or what not. He doesn't have to have a change of heart about Alton to do this, he can still despise Alton but at least realize that for once in his life he has a power all his own that Alton couldn't touch in a hundred years. And, realize that he's the only one who can do it, for the good of all. Basically, I want him to redeem himself and be recognized for it (and to continue hating Alton if necessary).
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MISCELLANEOUS
I can see the influence in this story of Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar. I don't know if it's coincidental or not. The Green Riders are a special service attached to the crown. They have magical powers. They have special relationships with their special horses. They are chosen from all walks of life, seemingly randomly, by some magical force, and the people chosen generally cannot refuse service.
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Edit: added some post-completion clarification, and another section about RAPE yay.
Edit2: added a section for good stuff about the books, and dangling plot things of which i am interested in seeing the outcome.
The following is a series I've been reading:
Green Rider (#1)
The First Rider's Call (#2)
The High King's Tomb (#3)
Blackveil (#4)
(#5+ as yet unwritten/unpublished)
...all by Kristen Britain
BOOK 1 I read back TWELVE YEARS ago. I remember liking it a lot, so I bought BOOK 2 several years ago when it first came out (I bought the hardback). I have had it sitting on my bookshelf for years, unread. So I grabbed it off the bookshelf and read it while I had nothing better to do.
BOOK 2 was pretty good, about as good as I remember BOOK 1 being. BOOK 3 went down in quality, but was still pretty good. BOOK 4 has been so bad so far that I worry I may not finish it, and I'm already 79% of the way through it.
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BOOK 1 was the first book ever published by Kristin Britain. BOOK 4 was the fourth book ever published by her. Essentially, she's only ever written these four books, in this order. They are all sequels of each other. BOOK 4 is very obviously not the last volume. I am not sure how many books are intended for this series, but if BOOK 5 doesn't kick ass from the beginning (whenever she manages to finish it...), I'm afraid I'll just never finish the series.
The biggest problem. MARY-SUE-ISM.
Sometime in BOOK 3, and for pretty much all of BOOK 4, the main character has devolved into the worst kind of Mary Sue. Generally I am fine with some amount of Mary-Sue-ism (all readers must be; few people can abide by a totally useless, idiot main character), but from BOOK 4 I have learned that I have limits on the amount of Mary-Sue-Ism that I can deal with. This particular story (mostly BOOKS 3-4) has an utterly bitchy, unfriendly, ice-queenish main character (by actions) but who is said to be "humble" (seemingly exhibiting something more like false humility), everyone seems to like her despite her unpleasant personality, and is for some reason the only one who can accomplish any real goals in any of books. No one is an island. No one is this perfect. Her only apparent flaw is her shoddy love life, which is totally her own fault for constantly rebuffing perfectly fine men of all shapes and sizes for no real reason. She's also "in love" with the most boringest of the male characters, who she's spent very little time with, who she has very little in common with, whom she can't possibly know very well at all... and OF COURSE, he is also the biggest fish of them all: the king.
Other problems.
CONSTANT ROMANTIC BELLY-ACHING
Since BOOK 2 the main chick has admitted to being in love with the king, and he in love with her. But the king did an idiotville thing in BOOK 2, by signing a marriage contract with someone else, which was mostly a lazy-man's-plot-device way of not allowing the two to be together. Then they both go on to mentally whine about how OH HE IS NOBILITY AND SHE IS A COMMONER SO IT COULD NEVER BE ANYWAY BUT I STILL TOTALLY LOVE THEM. Which is total bullshit. If ANYONE has the power to do whatever-the-fuck he wants, it's the king. If he wants to marry a commoner, then he should marry a commoner. He didn't NEED the marriage contract with Coutre province -- the province was already an ally! Coutre Province even intentionally supported the king in BOOK 2 after the king specifically rubbed in their face the fact that he had not signed the marriage proposal and wasn't necessarily going to (and this, after sitting on it for YEARS without signing it or even making overtures to that effect)! So in the end, the marriage alliance didn't even matter! The king basically set himself up to be miserable in love for no effing reason. So why do I have to listen to 2.5 books of mental, romantic whining about it when it should have never been that way from the beginning? Also, MAIN GIRL may be a commoner, but she is a wealthy merchant's daughter, a merchant who is specifically very prominent in the realm such that his name is a household name among nobility. She may not be nobility, but she is as close as you can get to it without being it.
SMART PEOPLE ACTING STUPID.
This is just one example. The king is painted as such a thoughtful, insightful, intelligent person that what the hell is he doing signing a marriage contract that he doesn't need when he is in love with someone else, who is also in love with him, when there are really no big consequences to the two being together? I've already whined about that enough, so let's go on to others.
THE ARMS MASTER MAKES AMATEURISH MISTAKES.
This may be due to the fact that the author knows nothing about combat, I'm honestly not really sure. A standout example -- no arms master would jeopardize the safety of the king during weapons practice by drawing in a random passerby whom he's never seen before to spar with the king. Yes, the random passer-by happened to be the main female character, and the king's guards were nearby and watching, and so was the arms master. But still; dumb. Obviously, it was an excuse for the king and the main female character to (1) spend time together on-screen, (2) sparring is kinda like foreplay in a way, and it gets the adrenaline running between the two characters, and (3) it allows the main chick to show off a little in front of her king and love-interest. It was also totally stupid. Other -- the arms master has also stated at some point that the main chick shouldn't be using "tricks" (i.e., cheating) during sparring, saying that he teaches swordplay not tricks. This is stupid. This man trains the king and the king's elite guardians. Always, always where the most important person is concerned, the outcome is far far more important than the means. In other words, you would want to use absolutely EVERY advantage to ensure the king's safety and your own, even tricks and things stupid people would consider "cheating". If you are (or the king is) the one still standing at the end of the battle, then that is far more important than any bullcrap stuff about honor. Duh. If it was an arms master OTHER than the one that trains the king and the king's elite guardians, it wouldn't be so galling for him to act like this. But he is supposed to be the best of the best in the entire country (or near to it), and he doesn't act like he's earned this kind of preeminence.
THE CHIEF HEALER DOES NOT PUT THE INTERESTS OF THE PATIENTS FIRST.
This one is a no-brainer. In BOOK 4, the chief healer poisons a friend of his due to no coercion or manipulation, but solely because she disagreed with friends of his about a political issue. If there's one thing that's constant among fantasy settings, it's that healers always put the interests of their patients first. They'll tend to the wounded enemy as well their countrymen, among other things. They are always neutral parties. In contrast, in this book, the chief healer has a sudden/abrupt personality change, doing something he never would've done in previous books and that goes against the spirit of his character archetype, but in a senseless way. He's not even said to be of clan-this or clan-that, or having other provincial allegiances within the country. It is offensive that he, as a healer, has been made to do such a thing by the author.
Edit: After finishing the book, he does get punished for his actions, but I still don't understand why it had to be a healer that did this. It could easily have been a servant, one of the nobles, or one of the other non-noble parties involved. All they would've had to do was dose the tea while taking it from the servant, before handing it to the captain. It would've made more sense and been less offensive had it been done that way. Healers are healers, don't change that unless there's a major plot reason for it (which there wasn't here).
FIANCEE CHANGES PERSONALITIES.
In BOOK 2, the king's new fiancee from Coutre Province is introduced. She is a noble lady of exceptional breeding, who is kind, thoughtful, and considerate. She is a good person, a friend to the main character and the green riders in general. She knows what she is supposed to do in life and is resigned to it, even taking pride in how good she is at what she's been trained her whole life to do. In BOOK 3, she flips her lid and decides she wants to rebel, which was totally not her personality in BOOK 2. The whole point of this flip-flop is so that she can get her stupid self kidnapped in order to drive a pointless plot thread but mostly to drive the romantic knife into MAIN CHICK, who ends up having to be the one to rescue her for some reason. Also, insightful Noble Lady who is awesome at reading others for some reason can't tell that the king is in love with MAIN CHICK, and MAIN CHICK is in love with the king? That's dumb. They both make it so obvious (and other characters have noticed), and what can Noble Lady be exceptionally good at if not reading people, like she was trained to from birth? Also, MAIN CHICK is a pretty good friend of Noble Lady's. It should be obvious. The whole thing is dumb. In BOOK 4, Noble Lady devolves from rebellious into uber bitch territory. In one instance she essentially "fires" the rider captain, an epically stupid move, done for no reason other than rider captain had a dissenting opinion about something. Even when it has been stated since at least BOOK 2 that they are short on green riders, especially experienced ones? DUMB. Noble lady knew that the rider captain was a supporter of hers, so further, there is even less reason for her to do this; it is yet another lazy-man's-plot-device way to generate some tension. It doesn't make sense coming from a savvy, insightful person, such as the Noble Lady from BOOK 2. All it is going to do is generate animosity toward Noble Lady herself from those who were her biggest allies. It will only serve to hurt her unstable position even further, which the Noble Lady of BOOK 2 would've known. What she should've done was sent the rider captain off on a message errand that would've taken months to complete, if Noble Lady needed to get her out of the way. This has been done in previous books, so there is precedent. Again, DUMB.
Edit: I did expect the author to have it come out that noble lady, while closeted with the captain, had concocted a scheme with the captain to have her "pretend" to be fired. After finishing the book, I am not surprised to find my suspicions have come true. The problem with this was -- what was noble lady going to do if the king never woke up? Their whole scheme relied on the assumption he would eventually waken, which was totally not a given (other than the author had to make it a given). If the king had never awoken, noble lady would've been screwed out of any allies at all, especially her most loyal and powerful ones.
OBSESSION WITH DUMB SEX STUFF.
Apparently, like most societies, it's totally fine for the guys to screw around all the time, but girls have to remain virginal in this world. If you're female and aren't a virgin when you're married.... you're a slut and will be shamed and disowned? But for guys, it's all cool, right? Great! (/sarcasm) And seriously, the previous monarch was female? You're kidding me, right? What is this bullshit? The author is female, right? Uh... So, Noble Lady obsesses that she's not a virgin and that the king's going to find out, while simultaneously admitting and being ok with the fact that the king is almost assuredly NOT a virgin! And that it should be a sticking point for the alliance-marriage that she is not? But it's ok alliance-wise that he is not? How hypocritical! And what's more, for some reason in this world there is a way to tell a non-virginal female from a virginal female at sex-time? Seriously? Ugggh. I am really tired of misogynistic people and societies. I really don't want to read about this kind of stuff right now. This, I admit, is my own personal problem. Also, the main chick character constantly obsesses in a negative way about brothels and the people around her, her friends and family even, who enjoy having sex! Seriously, it's none of your business, just shut up about it, I got the point the first 500 times you whined about this mentally (I seriously wouldn't point this out if the amount of on-screen mental whining about this wasn't up to epic levels).
THE FIRST AND ONLY SEX SCENE IN FOUR BOOKS.
After finishing the book, there has been only one single sex scene over the entire four-book spread. And it was unpleasant and had all of: voyeurism, date-rape style drugging, and actual rape. What does that mean you ask? The one raped was the male; yes, I totally went there. The king would've eventually consented to having sex with noble lady (who is described as the hottest chick on the planet time and again) considering they were supposed to be getting married within the next year, but at the time when this scene occurred, he was essentially unconscious. Others "peer pressured" noble lady into forcing him into having sex due to some "marriage night" bull (the two had an early spur-of-the-moment marriage because the king was ill and they didn't know if he would recover). And there had to be "witnesses", which hey, voyeurs! Also, noble lady was drugged by the voyeurs beforehand, making her super horny so she'd do the deed instead of just lying there like a limp fish, so there's our weird fucked up drugged rape with voyeurism. The worst part about this is that it was totally unnecessary plot-wise. It added nothing and left a bad taste in the reader's mouth. The only point to this scene was to eventually drive the knife into main chick if she ever makes it back from her ordeal at the end of the book (the book ends before she returns). They even stated in the book that it didn't really matter if the two had sex as long as they slept in the same bed together. So hay! Pointless rape scene! Joy! The only other two characters stated to be in some kind of relationship in this book (Alton and Estral) aren't even allowed to do more on screen than kiss or embrace while others are present -- the book doesn't even state whether or not they are having sex, even though they are totally acting like they are and the book implies that they are. So two consenting adults that love each other aren't allowed a little screen time enjoying each other but two non-consenting adults that are in love with other people are forced to have sex on screen in an unpleasant fashion? At this point I feel the readers are owed at least two pleasant sex scenes with two fully consenting characters who enjoy themselves while doing it.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER
The main character, Karigan, was fine for the first two books or so. She was a noob in a world-discovery scenario in BOOK 1, which was interesting. It was fantastical. Things happened, good and bad, and she responded like a normal person for the most part. There was no romantic plot in this book which turns out to be for the better, since it was so craptastic in subsequent books. BOOK 2 saw her being drawn into a larger plot, one over both time and distance. Her magic ability (which all riders have) enhanced, for explainable reasons, and she dealt with it and utilized it in a sensible fashion to deal with plot issues. She drew the plot to a conclusion, and the main bad guy was trapped but not killed at the end. A ghost (not the main chick) did most of the work to defeat him, to be honest. That's fine, totally fine. Give someone else some of the spotlight, and not defeating the baddie leaves room for more good books to read.
In BOOK 3, though, it started to become a one-woman parade. Karigan seemed to be the only person that cool things ever happened to. Largely, this is represented by the fact that she was respected by people and groups who did not have respect for anyone else. Allow me to enumerate a few. Super-duper bitchy Arms Master Drent (who doesn't like anyone). The Raven Mask (a sneaky thief who is a sword master). Lord Amberhill (important nobility, who shouldn't care about a commoner at all). The Weapons (the king's elite guards). The Eletians (essentially elves that won't have anything to do with anyone else). Ghosts (previous important people at the University, the Castle, the tombs, and other places). Gods: the death god's steed took an interest in her. The tomb guardians (other Weapons/elite guards). Even the main bad guy. I'll just stop here. Does that seem like a lot already? Because I really think it is. Too many. Does anyone else of all the bajillion people or so in these books get to have anything cool happen to them? Why does Karigan get a monopoly on being important, on having powerful/important people/groups respect her? Not only is it unfair to other, more interesting characters, but it is totally unbelievable. All I can do is roll my eyes when I come to yet another section where this happens. Such as, toward the end of BOOK 4: the queen of the old-home (Argenthyne) Eletians, the king of the new-home (Eletia) Eletians get added to the list. EYEROLL.
Meanwhile, supposedly Karigan also has friends, especially among the other green riders. It would make sense. But on-screen? As of BOOK 3 and later -- all she ever does is act bitchy toward them. They tease her, joke with her -- she grouches back and them, hits/kicks them, or runs off abruptly in a bitchy mood and slams her door shut. One doesn't treat friends like this. She really should have no friends, if this is how she acts toward them. Even myself, who is just terrible at having friends can see that _I_ would not want to be treated like this, and I certainly wouldn't want to hang around someone who treated me like this. Being bitchy and reacting with raw unpleasant emotion constantly is not interesting to read about. Especially when her "friends'" reactions are so counter to what they would be in real life. Theoretical example: Fergal, her trainee rider and friend that she's spent quite a lot of time with recently, teases her about being a lesbian because he noticed one of the chicks at the brothel was interested in her. What would happen as written: (1) Karigan restrains herself from hitting Fergal and storms out of the room. What SHOULD happen if Karigan were a normal person and a more interesting person to read about: (2) She grabs her nearby (female) friend, Dale, with a glint in her eye and a smirk on her face and pretends like she is going to kiss Dale. Fergal blushes furiously, gawks at them, and shuts up immediately. Karigan strides off before doing anything with a smile on her face, knowing she won this exchange of wit. As it is, Karigan becomes less and less interesting to read about the more broody/bitchy/unpleasant she is on-screen, which is a lot in BOOK 4 because really absolutely nothing else is going on for most of the book.
I know I already touched upon this issue above, but it's worth bringing up again here. In BOOK 3, Karigan starts obsessing over sex. I can understand some people being raised prudish. But she takes it to an epic level. She stays in a brothel against her will, constantly has a mental cow about it. She has a mental cow about her father being associated with the brothel at all. And get this - her mother has been dead for at least ten years, perhaps even closer to 15 years, her father has never remarried, and the author, even as of BOOK 4, has never really come out and said that her father was using the brothel for its sex services. The books have stated that her father has a business relationship with the owner -- they both rescue abused children and women and teach them reading/writing/math etc, and let them be on their way (if the women want to work in the brothel they can - but only if they WANT to - and they're allowed to leave whenever they want). Such a modern way of thinking! So really, what is there to be angry about concerning this brothel? Karigan needs to get over it, or at least needs to stop thinking about it on screen because it's annoying as hell to the readers. I imagine this is all set up for someone turning her view around of this business and maybe sex in general, but it hasn't happened yet a whole book later and it's extremely tiresome hearing about it all the time. Yes, she hates the brothel irrationally; we get the point; enough already.
THE MOST INTERESTING CHARACTER.
The most interesting character in this series of books is a man introduced in BOOK 3. His name is Lord Amberhill. He is not the main character so he has little screen time when his path does not cross the main character's. His involvement with the main plot is seemingly concluded at the end of BOOK 3, but he does appear some in BOOK 4. He even gets a few dedicated chapters in BOOK 4 that do not include the main character or those nearest her. I am glad for this, but I wish he appeared more. His story in BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 is more in-line with the fantastical nature of the original book, Green Rider. If BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 focused more on Amberhill and less on Karigan, I would be less annoyed by the whole series than I am. The readers' interest in Karigan as a main character, I guarantee, ran out by mid-BOOK-3.
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POSITIVES.
The author is willing to kill people off. This is a good thing. She has killed people off since at least BOOK 2 (I can't remember a whole lot of the details of BOOK 1, it's been so long).
The fantastical nature of the books continues to live on, even if it has diminished some in BOOK 3 and BOOK 4 and doesn't necessarily follow the main character.
Amberhill had a chapter at the end of BOOK 4 so I am hopeful his plot will continue in subsequent books, and as must always happen, will circle back to cross over with the main plot again. It is fun reading about Amberhill because he has a personality. He learns from his mistakes, he makes decisions about what he is going to do in his life. Karigan no longer has a personality so she is not that interesting anymore. Note: all she does as of BOOK 4 (at least) is react to things going on around her. If she took more action herself instead of always having others tell her what to do, my interest in her would go up. It would mean that she's thinking about herself and her situation and figuring things out for herself. That she's no longer just some dumb idiot with enough useful powers for everyone to be angling to get her to do stuff for them.
Alton has finally gotten over his major dysfunction and has become more important. Estral, introduced as kind of a throwaway character, has been utilized by the author more prominently in BOOK 4 and her use of Estral actually makes sense and is interesting. These two characters have crossed paths and their work in the main plot has been more interesting. The author kinda blew it away at the end of BOOK 4 but there was a sensible plot reason for it and I am okay with that.
I can always appreciate when an author makes use of music for the purposes of magic and it makes sense and is as powerful as any other type of magic. This author does that in spades, but not until BOOK 4 really.
There is a unique magic system for the bad guy of BOOK 3 and BOOK 4. It involves an old lady who uses yarn to cast her spells. I find this refreshing and different. The bad aspect of the magic system is that the capabilities of the magic is not well defined. Because the reader doesn't understand what can and can't be done with it, what the limits of an individual's abilities are, etc, things are apt to feel deus-ex-y when something big and magicky happens to save the day or ruin the day.
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THINGS I AM STILL INTERESTED IN.
Things I am interested to know about in BOOK 5, in order of how much I care about them:
(1) what happens with the Captain and Karigan's dad?
(2) what happens with estral's voice and her relationship with Alton (especially their relationship in a more permanent sense)?
(3) what happens with Amberhill and how will his plot cross back over with the main plot?
(4) what happens to the wall, can it be fixed or is it already too late since Mornhavon's time has re-joined with the present?
(5) what happens now that Lala has come into her own powers somewhat? i am hoping she will perform a gruesome coup on grandmother and takeover second empire (it would make sense for her character and be rather a chilling addition to the story).
(6) how is Karigan going to react to what happened to Yates at the end of BOOK 4?
(7) who does the king appoint to replace the people he fired at the end of BOOK 4?
(8) is the author transitioning away from the karigan+king idea? because she's done pretty much everything to make such a relationship impossible at this point. i surely hope so, and i am hoping it is toward Amberhill that Karigan finally migrates. She could stand to learn a few things from him about chilling the f!ck out.
(9) what of Pendric, how does he figure into all of this (I am hoping he will become the new guardian in the tower of earth, but I ain't holdin' my breath here)?
(10) i am hoping in the end that Pendric has a moment of clarity, gets his sh!t in order, and does his part to save the day by performing the necessary wall repairs or what not. He doesn't have to have a change of heart about Alton to do this, he can still despise Alton but at least realize that for once in his life he has a power all his own that Alton couldn't touch in a hundred years. And, realize that he's the only one who can do it, for the good of all. Basically, I want him to redeem himself and be recognized for it (and to continue hating Alton if necessary).
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MISCELLANEOUS
I can see the influence in this story of Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar. I don't know if it's coincidental or not. The Green Riders are a special service attached to the crown. They have magical powers. They have special relationships with their special horses. They are chosen from all walks of life, seemingly randomly, by some magical force, and the people chosen generally cannot refuse service.
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Edit: added some post-completion clarification, and another section about RAPE yay.
Edit2: added a section for good stuff about the books, and dangling plot things of which i am interested in seeing the outcome.