THE CHARNEL PRINCE

Keyes Greg

ISBN 10: 1405033533 / ISBN 13: 9781405033534

Published by Tor, 2004

About this Item

fine hardcover copy in a fine dustwrapper 1st UK edition. The second book in a dazzling four-volume fantasy epic of war and virtue, sorcery and betrayal.

Seller Inventory # FG15.350

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE CHARNEL PRINCE
• Publisher: Tor
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1405033533
• ISBN 13: 9781405033534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

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.

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