[XQ6]⇒ Read The Charnel Prince Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2 Greg Keyes 9780345440716 Books

The Charnel Prince Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2 Greg Keyes 9780345440716 Books

Download As PDF : The Charnel Prince Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2 Greg Keyes 9780345440716 Books

The Charnel Prince Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2 Greg Keyes 9780345440716 Books

While the cliff-hanger chapter endings seem almost predictable ("It's getting exciting, so it must be close to the end of the chapter), the characters' stories are compelling and draw the reader ever onward. Characters grow along with their challenges, and when their relationships change, it feels right.
The fight scenes and action sequences are vivid. The tension continues to build.

Although the dramatic ending of this book includes many characters together, which is satisfying, there are still enough loose ends to make me curious as to how things will turn out in the next installment. I will continue to read this series.

As with the previous books, the quality of the writing is excellent.


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The Charnel Prince Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Book 2 Greg Keyes 9780345440716 Books Reviews

The Charnel Prince, book 2 in the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series from Greg Keyes, while moving the plot forward, is, otherwise, a literary step backwards.

The Briar King introduced the primary characters Cazio, Anne, Muriel, Aspar, Stephen (to name a few) and others. These all return, and The Charnel Prince extends this list by at least 2 characters, albeit one of them has a very trivial role (Eohawk).

In the vein of both Tad Williams, George RR Martin and Robert Jordan, the third person limited perspective shifts frequently (in this case, with every chapter). Sadly, due to the quantities of characters, and in part, the "light" writing style of the author, I felt no empathy for them. Even Cazio, my favorite character in book TBK, is relegated to a second or third tier role. His replacements, Leoff and Muriel and (minimal) Eohawk were short shrift in comparison.

Furthermore, gone, from this book, were the emotional gravitas moments of its predecessor Neil's ill-fated love of Fastia; Anne's anguish at banishment/youthful exuberence for Rhoderick; Aspar's anguish with Winna. And the conflict, if it were, with the Gryffin.

Instead, Aspar's party are transformed into psuedo-superheroes never truly threatened (one exception to one character)); a love angle (currently tangental at best) was added. Neil flounders (one sequence excepted) and Leoff, a newbie, is of questionable worth.

The first half of the book compounds these limitations the book is lifeless. It appears Keyes' was strumming the motions working from dialogue sequence to dialogue sequence while waiting for the book's crescendo to near.

Pleasantly, that crescendo did arrive, and the last "part" of the book rescues it. As with a championship team that struggles for 3 quarters before finding their way in the end, so too veers this book, if but barely.

Of note I added an additional "*" (for total of 3) to the review in large part due to my affinity for The Briar King and hope that book 3 rekindles the fire.
There have been a lot of reviews of this book, and so I do not feel the need to explain the book in great detail. I will say that if you like fantasy book, then you need to read this series. This sequel continues right were the first book ended, and it is a really great ride.

There is one point I would like to make that will be counter to some of the lower rated reviews this book received. In this day and age it is generally understood that using traditional formulas and character types should be avoided. Keyes does not. He has a state church, and it is quickly obvious that it is the source of much of the evil in the books. Keyes has characters like the honorable knight, the inept king, and the teen princess who whines too much. Yet Keyes writes his characters with such skill that this isn't even something to be forgiven, it makes the books more entertaining.

I would honestly like to thank the author for reminding me that there is still a place for the honorable knight in modern fantasy novels.
The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes is the second book in the Kingdoms of Thorn ad Bone series. The first book in The Briar King and the third is the Blood Knight which releases this week in hard cover format. This book continues right where the first book left off, so if you are thinking of reading this novel, you really need to read the first one otherwise you will be utterly lost while reading this. In general this book is very much like the first so if you enjoyed that then have no fear of jumping into this one. Keyes has proven that he can become a `name' in the fantasy genre and this second installment does nothing to tarnish that ideal.

There are again multiple `sub-plots' to this story where one character, or a group of characters, are in a different place from the rest of the heroes and doing things on their own. However, in this book there is no doubt the feel of political moving by the villains as the heroes seek to stop things from happening. While the multiple plot points is an ok idea, I did feel at the end when the points converge that it was rather convenient for the things that happened to have happened. I believe I inwardly groaned when I realized that everything converged again just like it did in the firs book. The ending, to me anyway, seemed somewhat forced and a little contrived. I can certainly understand why this novel ended the way it did, but in a sheer enjoyment and surprise level the ending didn't do much for me. Of course the ending left open more room for the third installment of this series which I will gladly read. The plot for this one I didn't feel was as tight as that of the first, but that could be because I had unreasonably high expectations for this book.

The characters are mostly the same as those in the first book. There are a few added here and there to keep things fresh and keep the book moving, but for the most part same cast. Which, is not really a bad thing because then Keyes doesn't have to worry about developing all these new characters as much and can focus on the story more. I will say I was perplexed by a couple things regarding the characters. One character in particular Cazio who stole several scenes in the first book was present in this book, but at times he was completely lost and just `there'. He was not written the same way, which was disappointing because I really enjoy that character. Also, there were two other characters in this book that made choices that they would not have made in the first book and these decisions seem to happen out of the blue with very little fore thought. I don't mind characters changing what they are doing, but the scale of these decision are just huge and seemingly done just because. I think a little more development around that area would have made an already good book very good.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. It was a fun read that didn't require copious amounts of thinking to understand the plot. I think some writers get caught up in having all these plot twists and intrigue and at times that takes away from the enjoyment factor. Keyes writes a concise plot that is what it is. I can't believe he doesn't get more attention than he is getting. The first two books in this series are very good.

I think most fantasy fans will enjoy these books. In fact I think fans that are not normal fantasy readers may enjoy these as well. There seems to be a little something for everyone in this book and one I am sure to recommend to others down the road. This is certainly another solid offering from Mr. Keyes.
While the cliff-hanger chapter endings seem almost predictable ("It's getting exciting, so it must be close to the end of the chapter), the characters' stories are compelling and draw the reader ever onward. Characters grow along with their challenges, and when their relationships change, it feels right.
The fight scenes and action sequences are vivid. The tension continues to build.

Although the dramatic ending of this book includes many characters together, which is satisfying, there are still enough loose ends to make me curious as to how things will turn out in the next installment. I will continue to read this series.

As with the previous books, the quality of the writing is excellent.