The Charnel Prince - Hardcover

Greg Keyes; J. Gregory Keyes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1405033533 ISBN 13: 9781405033534

Publisher: Macmillan, 2004

Synopsis

The Briar King has woken and, with the aid of monsters formerly found only in folk-tales, is destroying the forest and the people living on its bounty. Aspar White, the king's forester, has been given the impossible task of killing the feared newcomer, but in the process he will discover that nothing about the Briar King is as straightforward as he had thought. Meanwhile Leoff, composer and self-professed coward, becomes embroiled in the horror of a town's destruction - which is part of an intrigue that leads him to the aid of Murielle, widowed Queen of Crotheny. As she fights to save her remaining family, Murielle despatches Neil, a trusted knight, to save her youngest daughter, in whose hands may rest the kingdom's future. But as prophecies, saviours and assassins close in, Murielle's plan may leave the girl - and the kingdom - as vulnerable as ever. Praise for "The Briar King": 'The best reinvention of the big fantasy series since George R. R. Martin.' - "Time Out"; 'The most exciting and brilliant opener to a series for a long, long while.' - Alien Online.

About this title

Review:

With The Charnel Prince, author Greg Keyes keeps up the pace set by The Briar King with a second taut entry in his series--the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. The Briar King has awoken and mythical beasts roam the land. Crotheny's king and his daughters are dead by betrayal. His bereaved wife Murielle keeps tenuous hold on the throne and the hope that her headstrong daughter, Anne Dare, has escaped the assassins' blades. The queen sends her most trusted and lethal knight, Sir Neil MeqVren, on a quest to discover her daughter's fate. He will find Anne has narrowly escaped the massacre at Saint Cer and lives on the run in the company of her maid, Austra, and the duel-prone swordsman Cazio. Meanwhile, woodsman Aspar White is sent on a mission to slay the Briar King. All will fight for their lives in the wake of dark forces emerging from shadow to force a dangerously forgotten prophecy into the world.

Keyes is among authors like George R.R. Martin whose work is reinvigorating the often tired genre of high fantasy with rich, dark, and mature storytelling. His characters are vibrant and range far beyond Dungeons & Dragons cliché. He places these starkly drawn men and women into a world built upon a squirming foundation of myth, legend, prophecy, and folklore, which, to their own peril, they are only beginning to understand. --Jeremy Pugh

From the Inside Flap:

When the legendary Briar King awoke from his slumber, a season of darkness and horror fell upon the Kingdom of Crotheny. Now countless breeds of unspeakable monsters roam the countryside. An epidemic of madness has transformed peaceful villagers from the wildlands into savage, flesh-eating fiends. In Eslen, King William has been murdered, Queen Muriele is stalked by treachery on every side, and their last surviving daughter, Anne, has fled the assassins bent on destroying her family.
Close on the heels of the runaway princess, young knight Neil MeqVren, the queen's one trusted ally, is sworn to rescue Anne from her murderous pursuers. Anne herself undertakes a perilous journey toward the sanctuary of her distant paramour's arms, but along the way lie the sinister agents and hidden snares of a sprawling conspiracy that few might hope to evade.
At the same time, spies in the service of Praifec Hespero, the powerful Churchman, embark upon a mission to destroy the Briar King in the heart of his domain. And the power-hungry Church, spurred on by the mystical events, has launched an inquisition whose repercussions threaten even the queen. As the noose of intrigue tightens across the land, personal fates and a kingdom's destiny alike will be decided in a conflict between virtue and malevolence, might and magic.
Here then is Book II of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone: intoxicating and harrowing, passionate and grand-it is Greg Keyes's most ambitiously imagined and vividly rendered work of epic fantasy.

"From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1405033533
• ISBN 13: 9781405033534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 528