Green Rider

By Kristen Britain.

This was my second reading, and somehow I had let what other people said about the book get in the way of what I thought about it. (I'm sure I've mentioned before how gullible I am.) This book is quite enjoyable, despite some rough spots. The printing I have contains several irritating typos, but the story is interesting regardless.

Karigan, despite being our heroine, has several notable character flaws, not the least of which is pigheadedness. She doesn't think twice about jumping into danger. She also seems somewhat careless about hurting others, although she may be encouraged in this by third parties: witness how the Berry sisters dodge her query about the ship-in-a-bottle near the beginning. I put the book down several times because I couldn't stand how she was embarassing herself.

The story seems somewhat disjointed, with various episodes (the Berry sisters, the town of North, the monster, Somial) being only loosely part of the plot by having only weak justification for their presence. Sometimes, I guess, stories are like that, but it seems as though some things, such as the appearance of the eagle, were tossed in only to satisfy tropes.

In the end, I might have to call this book cute and entertaining, but it falls short of being epic. There is a sequel, First Rider's Call, (which I have also previously read, but not recently) and the author is working on a third book.