As far as fantasy goes, The Briar King was very ambitious. Keyes crafted a very detailed realm, complete with epic back story and lore, though communication of that realm some times fell short. I had issue with the many terms Keyes used at the beginning. The definitions could more or less be gleaned from context, but when compounded with the continuous introduction of lore and political geography, it made for a slightly difficult initial read. Things eventually settled into place soon enough and, other than some awkward romantic moments and scenes that perhaps jumped too quickly to conclusion, I enjoyed the story being told.
The book starts in the past, where a great battle between human slaves and their skasloi masters resulted in the defeat of the skasloi. Darkness and magic abound and the implication from the defeated king is that that same darkness will return. Move then to the present, where humans rule, but are now divided by nation, with war looming over Crotheny, where the majority of the main protagonists reside. Each protagonist is introduced in their own chapters and then smoothly intertwined over the course of the story, with each characters’ personality and purpose strongly – and sometimes annoyingly – defined.
Unfortunately, the political machinations play a little too much like an amateur game of thrones. Fortunately, despite being a constant source of strife in the story from beginning to end, the political elements are not as main a focus as they pretend to be. This book is called “The Briar King,” after all, and throughout the book, whispers and glimpses of him offer a tantalizing mystery about who or what the Briar King is and what his purpose and intentions are. By the end of the book when the Briar King finally appears in truth, the mystery remains, enticing a need to follow through with the next book in the series to find out what happens next….
Final verdict
3 of 5 stars
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