#35 The High Kings Tomb by Kristen Britain
Spoilers can be found for First Rider's call, so there is a cut. 
The words “long awaited sequel” are not the most encouraging things to put on a book cover. They show up on the cover of both First Rider’s Call (published five years after the first book, Green Rider) and The High King’s Tomb (published four years after First Rider’s Call). Perhaps the biggest disappointment one feels after digesting this almost seven hundred pager is the knowledge that book four will not be hitting the shelves anytime soon.
The High King’s Tomb takes place soon after the events in First Rider’s Call. Thanks to the attacks of the Eletian Shawdell, the wall is still damaged. The members of the Second Empire have been exiled to the mountains, where they sit and plan their revenge on King Zachary. The King has become engaged to the lovely Lady Estora, something that has impacted our heroine greatly. Karigan still hasn’t gotten over the fact that Zachary chose to confess his feeling to her just after he became engaged to another woman. The fact that she feels the same about him only makes it more painful. She does her best to avoid both the King and Estora, but find the task nearly impossible. So when she is given a lengthy assignment that will send her away from the city, she jumps at the chance. This journey will take her back to where the Green Rider books began, Selium, then to the fields where the strangely intelligent rider horses are bred, and then face to face with an old rival. Karigan will learn harsh truths about her family, educate a new rider, and work with a god in order to survive her latest journey.
Karigan’s third book is quite satisfying. One of the things I like the most about this novel was the fact that we get to see so many characters from Green Rider. Old friends and enemies show up, and each appearance was very satisfying. The novel also presents a lot more swordplay. Karigan, who has been studying the sword under the strict Master Dent since First Rider’s Call, has grown by leaps and bounds by the time The High King’s Tomb begins, and the novel is filled with plenty of satisfying action sequences. Karigan also does a lot of growing up in this volume. At the end of First Rider’s Call, she learns the harsh truth about class and romance, when she and Zachary cannot be together. This novel is filled with similarly hard lessons for her. Another thing I like about this novel is that we get to learn more of the history of Sacoridia. While First Rider’s Call educated us about the Rise of Morhaven the Black, here we get to learn more about the creation of the wall.
My only complaint about this book was I felt that a little more should have been resolved by the end. This is mainly due the fact that (as mentioned above) it takes FOUR TO FIVE YEARS to release a new Green Rider book. I couldn’t even pick this one up until I had re-read the first two. I feel the books could benefit from being a little more self-contained.
Rating: four and a half stars
Length: 679 pages
Source: gift
TBR Pile: 148 books
Similar Books: The Green Rider series are novels that are meant for an adult audience, but can also be appreciated by a young adult reader. Other fantasy series that fall into this trend are Mindy Klasky’s Glasswright Saga, Dawn Cook’s Truth Series, Maria Snyder’s Study Series (which are actually being reprinted as YA books), Lynn Flewelling Tamir Trilogy and Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar Series. These books also have similarly strong female leads
Other books I've read by this author: Green Rider ( my review), First Rider’s Call (my review)
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds
The words “long awaited sequel” are not the most encouraging things to put on a book cover. They show up on the cover of both First Rider’s Call (published five years after the first book, Green Rider) and The High King’s Tomb (published four years after First Rider’s Call). Perhaps the biggest disappointment one feels after digesting this almost seven hundred pager is the knowledge that book four will not be hitting the shelves anytime soon.
The High King’s Tomb takes place soon after the events in First Rider’s Call. Thanks to the attacks of the Eletian Shawdell, the wall is still damaged. The members of the Second Empire have been exiled to the mountains, where they sit and plan their revenge on King Zachary. The King has become engaged to the lovely Lady Estora, something that has impacted our heroine greatly. Karigan still hasn’t gotten over the fact that Zachary chose to confess his feeling to her just after he became engaged to another woman. The fact that she feels the same about him only makes it more painful. She does her best to avoid both the King and Estora, but find the task nearly impossible. So when she is given a lengthy assignment that will send her away from the city, she jumps at the chance. This journey will take her back to where the Green Rider books began, Selium, then to the fields where the strangely intelligent rider horses are bred, and then face to face with an old rival. Karigan will learn harsh truths about her family, educate a new rider, and work with a god in order to survive her latest journey.
Karigan’s third book is quite satisfying. One of the things I like the most about this novel was the fact that we get to see so many characters from Green Rider. Old friends and enemies show up, and each appearance was very satisfying. The novel also presents a lot more swordplay. Karigan, who has been studying the sword under the strict Master Dent since First Rider’s Call, has grown by leaps and bounds by the time The High King’s Tomb begins, and the novel is filled with plenty of satisfying action sequences. Karigan also does a lot of growing up in this volume. At the end of First Rider’s Call, she learns the harsh truth about class and romance, when she and Zachary cannot be together. This novel is filled with similarly hard lessons for her. Another thing I like about this novel is that we get to learn more of the history of Sacoridia. While First Rider’s Call educated us about the Rise of Morhaven the Black, here we get to learn more about the creation of the wall.
My only complaint about this book was I felt that a little more should have been resolved by the end. This is mainly due the fact that (as mentioned above) it takes FOUR TO FIVE YEARS to release a new Green Rider book. I couldn’t even pick this one up until I had re-read the first two. I feel the books could benefit from being a little more self-contained.
Rating: four and a half stars
Length: 679 pages
Source: gift
TBR Pile: 148 books
Similar Books: The Green Rider series are novels that are meant for an adult audience, but can also be appreciated by a young adult reader. Other fantasy series that fall into this trend are Mindy Klasky’s Glasswright Saga, Dawn Cook’s Truth Series, Maria Snyder’s Study Series (which are actually being reprinted as YA books), Lynn Flewelling Tamir Trilogy and Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar Series. These books also have similarly strong female leads
Other books I've read by this author: Green Rider ( my review), First Rider’s Call (my review)
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds