The Briar King by Greg Keyes

April 04, 2003 | 3 Comments

I’ve loved high fantasy my whole life. Lately it seems like there is very little to get excited about in the genre. It’s surprising really with the success of the Tolkien films. It’s pretty rare now adays that I can really get into a fantasy book, the vast majority are either, well, boring, or they are so long and over complicated that it’s hard to keep my interest. Yeah, I’m talking about you Robert Jordan. To be honest I’m trying to catch back up with his stuff, so I don’t have to read them all again in 10 years when he finally finishes the series he started out so stongly.

Despite the dirth of good epic fantasy there are a few series and writers I can get excited about. The one that comes to mind right away is George R. R. Martin. Damn I love that series, and I can’t wait for the next installment. That brings me to the topic of this post — The Briar King by Greg Keyes.

It’s a great book. It’s got everything Jordan and Martin have and it’s set at a much faster pace. Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t lack for depth and detail, but events actually happen in such a manner as to keep you turning the pages.

Having read, and very much enjoyed, Keyes’ Age of Unreason series, I had high hopes and little doubt it would be a good read. What I didn’t know was that it’d be the best (new) epic fantasy I’ve read in years. It’s right up there with A Game of Thrones. It brought me back to the days when I was in junior high when I’d run home from school to finish the last few chapters of Sword of Shannara or Nine Pinces in Amber.

If you’re into epic fantasy or just good books, I highly recommended it.

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