Book Review: High King's Tomb by Kristin Britain

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Stats for High King's Tomb by Kristin Britain 
(from Barnesandnoble.com)

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: November 2007
ISBN-13: 9780756402662
Sales Rank: 84,889
688pp

Series: Green Rider Series, #3

Book Jacket Summary:
With the ghostly help of the First Rider, Karigan G'ladheon had transported the corrupt spirit of Monrhavon the Black into the future, buying valuable time for her king and country.

But how far in the future was Mornhavon now? A hundred years? Ten years? Only one year? There was no way to tell.

And though Karigan and her fellow Riders scoured the land searching for lost magical documents to help mend the breach in the D'Yer Wall to fend off any incursions from Blackveil Forest and Mornhavon's return, and members of Clan D'Yer camped at the wall hoping to uncover its lost secrets, they were unaware of a threat to their kingdom that lay far closer.

Now, the descendants of Arcosians, once led by Mornhavon, were ready to reach out to claim the land their forebears had tried to conquer. And these vengeful enemies, hidden within the seemingly peaceful borders of Sacoridia, had spent generations honing the powers of dark magic -- a force against which the Sacordians no longer had any defense...

As the third installment of the Green Rider Series, The High King's Tomb features characters that readers have had a chance to get to know. Karigan, the main character from the previous books is still the main character in this sequel. The characters remain mostly true to their previous personalities and new characters also appear.

However, unlike the previous two, The High King's Tomb has a lot more build up from the get-go. It isn't until about 2/3 into the book that we discover why it is even called The High King's Tomb. In fact, we don't find out until Karigan herself does. Furthermore, we get to learn more about the ways and religion of Sacordia, especially in the aspect of Westrion, the god of death, and Salvistar, his trusty steed and bringer of strife. We also get to learn where the messenger horses come from.

While the book was easily set aside in the beginning, the latter half proved difficult to turn away from and reminded me of the previous turn-pagers from the series. Anyone who has enjoyed the Green Rider series will surely want to pick up The High King's Tomb and give it a read. Be warned though: if you expected the series to end with The High King's Tomb, be prepared to find yourself wondering what will happen next when you put the book down. Let's just hope we don't have to wait another 5 years.

Overall rating: 5/5 stars