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reydeam's review against another edition
3.0
I reviewed Green Rider on my blog.
http://ibeeeg.blogspot.com/2009/02/green-rider-by-kristen-britain.html
http://ibeeeg.blogspot.com/2009/02/green-rider-by-kristen-britain.html
dizzy_reception's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just okay. The first half was really good, and I really wanted to like the second half, but it didn't seem to interest me as much despite having the feeling that it should. I couldn't bring myself to care about King Zachary, and I definitely couldn't bring myself to care about Karigan. She is a Mary Sue and there was nothing about her character that was particularly interesting to me.
The villains were one-dimensional. They were also very clearly ripped from Tolkien. Shawdell is Sauron, Mornhaven is Melkor, Prince Amilton is Sarumon. I understand all fantasy is derived from Tolkien to some degree, but there were just so many similarities it was impossible to ignore. Karigan even called a giant bird when she was in trouble. There was a distortion in harmony during the breaking of D'Yer Wall, Eltish was distorted by Shawdell. There was an oversized Spider, and Karigan had the One Ring (brooch, sorry, I mean brooch) that turned her invisible
I did feel the world was pretty rich though, and I was definitely interested in the lore. I could have forgiven the obvious Tolkien plagiarism if the characters were just a bit more likeable.
Also, why paint the Anti-Monarchs as bad guys? I understand this is a fantasy scenario so monarchy is kind of par for the course, but monarchy IS a bad system of governance, and Lorilie might be selfish but she is NOT WRONG. Lorilie actually had the right idea, but the author went out of her way to make her out to be 'despicable' for not wanting one family to decide the affairs of the poorest and most vulnerable in Sacoridia.
It would have been nice if Karigan had some kind of moral dilemma when encountering Lorilie. It would have been interesting if Karigan empathized with the poor in the North, but she didn't. She even judged the poor for not being dressed well and assumed they were of ill-repute. Of course Karigan wants to protect the status quo, her dad is filthy rich. Good character development would have had her grapple with the fact that she was in the position she was in because her dad had resources. It's like the author wants you to think of the poor as idiotic rabble who don't have their own interests in mind despite the fact King Zachary HAS been neglecting his subjects in the North. Obviously, Amilton is worse, but that alone doesn't make Zachary Aragorn or something.
Anyways, this book had a lot of potential, at times I was genuinely entertained, and the magic was cool. However, the politics of this book were weird and the characters were completely uninspiring. 2 stars.
The villains were one-dimensional. They were also very clearly ripped from Tolkien. Shawdell is Sauron, Mornhaven is Melkor, Prince Amilton is Sarumon. I understand all fantasy is derived from Tolkien to some degree, but there were just so many similarities it was impossible to ignore. Karigan even called a giant bird when she was in trouble. There was a distortion in harmony during the breaking of D'Yer Wall, Eltish was distorted by Shawdell. There was an oversized Spider, and Karigan had the One Ring (brooch, sorry, I mean brooch) that turned her invisible
I did feel the world was pretty rich though, and I was definitely interested in the lore. I could have forgiven the obvious Tolkien plagiarism if the characters were just a bit more likeable.
Also, why paint the Anti-Monarchs as bad guys? I understand this is a fantasy scenario so monarchy is kind of par for the course, but monarchy IS a bad system of governance, and Lorilie might be selfish but she is NOT WRONG. Lorilie actually had the right idea, but the author went out of her way to make her out to be 'despicable' for not wanting one family to decide the affairs of the poorest and most vulnerable in Sacoridia.
It would have been nice if Karigan had some kind of moral dilemma when encountering Lorilie. It would have been interesting if Karigan empathized with the poor in the North, but she didn't. She even judged the poor for not being dressed well and assumed they were of ill-repute. Of course Karigan wants to protect the status quo, her dad is filthy rich. Good character development would have had her grapple with the fact that she was in the position she was in because her dad had resources. It's like the author wants you to think of the poor as idiotic rabble who don't have their own interests in mind despite the fact King Zachary HAS been neglecting his subjects in the North. Obviously, Amilton is worse, but that alone doesn't make Zachary Aragorn or something.
Anyways, this book had a lot of potential, at times I was genuinely entertained, and the magic was cool. However, the politics of this book were weird and the characters were completely uninspiring. 2 stars.
lesterb09's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
Best fantasy book I've read in a while!! Love this!
bookfiend1990's review against another edition
5.0
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this series. Kristen Britain is a fantastic writer who made a very strong heroine. Young adult, SO GOOD.
breezy610's review against another edition
5.0
Absoute favorite book in the entire world. i love the hint of romance, the magic and the adventure the story has to offer the reader, totally dragging the reader into the world.
crafti_kate's review against another edition
2.0
A good idea for a story, though I did not enjoy the majority of the settings and villains.
I think though a fast paced and action filled read, Green Rider was just not quite right. The writing didn't flow quite enough and Karigan wasn't very believable for me personally. There are a lot of fairytale things in here and the story is unfortunately very predictable. Of course, this is only my personal taste.
I got to 50% and got bored trying to read the rest of it.
I think though a fast paced and action filled read, Green Rider was just not quite right. The writing didn't flow quite enough and Karigan wasn't very believable for me personally. There are a lot of fairytale things in here and the story is unfortunately very predictable. Of course, this is only my personal taste.
I got to 50% and got bored trying to read the rest of it.
oxlabyrinthxo's review against another edition
5.0
My best friend talked me into reading this book by comparing King Zachary to Tom Hiddleston. So I read it and fell in love.
Karigan is just trying to get home to her family to explain why she's been expelled from school. It isn't her fault, not really. But it all goes awry she stumbles on a dying Green Rider, a messenger of the king named F'ryan Coblebay who makes her promise to deliver his message to the king and not to read the contents of the letter so they can't torture the information from her. If all that isn't ominous enough he tells her to beware the shadow man. Karigan promises to take the message to King Zachary and F'ryan gives her his broach that signifies that he is a Green Rider to others. She also inherits his stubborn too smart to be normal horse she calls the Horse. (Side note I was 100% convinced the horse's name would turn out to be Sundancer or something because my best friend loves this book and that's what she named her faithful steed [read: car]. But no the horse's name is Condor which is actually way better than Sundancer and doesn't make me bust out into hysterical laughter.)
Karigan gets into a lot of trouble and I truly loved that about the book. She gets waylaid on her journey so many times by so many different things that the only conclusion any reader can come to is that Karigan is a magnet for trouble. When she finally makes it to the castle to give the message to the king
Karigan is just trying to get home to her family to explain why she's been expelled from school. It isn't her fault, not really. But it all goes awry she stumbles on a dying Green Rider, a messenger of the king named F'ryan Coblebay who makes her promise to deliver his message to the king and not to read the contents of the letter so they can't torture the information from her. If all that isn't ominous enough he tells her to beware the shadow man. Karigan promises to take the message to King Zachary and F'ryan gives her his broach that signifies that he is a Green Rider to others. She also inherits his stubborn too smart to be normal horse she calls the Horse. (Side note I was 100% convinced the horse's name would turn out to be Sundancer or something because my best friend loves this book and that's what she named her faithful steed [read: car]. But no the horse's name is Condor which is actually way better than Sundancer and doesn't make me bust out into hysterical laughter.)
Karigan gets into a lot of trouble and I truly loved that about the book. She gets waylaid on her journey so many times by so many different things that the only conclusion any reader can come to is that Karigan is a magnet for trouble. When she finally makes it to the castle to give the message to the king
Spoiler
the message means absolutely nothing and Karigan feels like an idiot but oh well she did her duty now it's time to go home and face the consequences of being expelled and running away from school. But alas she discovered that the letter to F'ryan's lover she also delivered is that real message to the king warning him that his brother is going to try and usurp the throne. So Karigan once again gets mixed up in all the events all the while insisting she's not a Green Rider.ravenslanding's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this story. As an equestrian, I paid close attention to the portrayal of the horse--being a story about *riders*--and was delighted to find the horse quite consistent and believable. Bravo! This means that nerdy horse girl could be swept up in the story and not distracted by irritating details. I quite enjoyed the story, though it got a little less polished toward the end of the book. I'm eager to read the rest of the series. Kristen Britain is only going to improve as a writer, I can't wait to see where the story goes.