The Briar King

The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Book 1

By: Greg Keyes

Narrated by: Patrick Michael

Two thousand years ago, the Born Queen defeated the Skasloi lords, freeing humans from the bitter yoke of slavery. But now monstrous creatures roam the land, and destinies become inextricably entangled in a drama of power and seduction. The king's woodsman, a rebellious girl, a young priest, a roguish adventurer, and a young man made suddenly into a knight all face malevolent forces that shake the foundations of the kingdom, even as the Briar King, legendary harbinger of death, awakens from his slumber.

At the heart of this many-layered tale is Anne Dare, youngest daughter of the royal family - upon whom the fate of her world may depend.

©2004 Gregory Keyes (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Although The Briar King will suffer the inevitable comparison with George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, it should be said that Keyes's work is no mere rip-off. This is excellent world building, applied with a dark, powerful touch that should convince Martin fans to become Keyes fans, too." (Amazon.com review)

Great Book

If you could sum up The Briar King in three words, what would they be?

Everything you could ask for in a fast paced adventure

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

wish I would have had the time to just sit and listen to the whole book at one time.

Slow, but Ok

Any additional comments?

The story seems to always be on the edge towards something great, but never really gets there.

Great Find

I had never heard of Greg Keyes before. Now I will never forget him. Great story and an outstanding performance by Patrick Michael. I sat in a parking lot, listening for the last hour because I could not pull myself away to complete my errands. The characters were very real and believable. Though I liked them all, I want very much to hang out with Cazio :)

Good stuff

You might want to skip to first 40 minutes as too battle-gory and 2-dimensional, which is unfortunately part of the sample provided. Especially as you don't need it for the other 19 hours of story. After that, it gets good and follows several 3-dimensional characters, in an interesting plot with mystery, action, and humor. No graphic sex, graphic violence imagary is rare and you can actually follow the story after that first 40 min, good characterization and plot. I've listened to it twice and probably will again. They ought to drop the critic comment about ASOIF series because nothing compares to that and this is not at all trying to be a knock-off.

The narrator seemed well above average and not overly dramatic to me. He also manages to do female characters convincingly without sounding like a drag-queen and making my skin crawl, a mistake many male (and vice versa) narrators make. Most characters are given recognizable and voices matching their personality.

Very slow

I’ve put off reading this book for years as a result starting and stopping from boredom. It took listening to the audible version to finally get through it. I did enjoy most of the characters but the story progresses so slow that like ability isn’t enough to hold attention.
This is a GoT style story with a little magic and otherworldly creatures. We mostly folly the royal family around with sideline character development building to the big end of the book.
I will eventually get around to the rest of the series. The author did put a lot of work into this story and building a somewhat unique realm.

Best series ever

The Briar King (and the next two books of the series) is my favorite of all time. Unfortunately it has a ridiculous ending. It seems like the author was getting tired of writing so he just jammed an ending where it didn’t fit. Read the first 3 books, then maybe just skip the last one “The Born Queen.” Or read just the first half of it.

Good story, bad reader

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Different reader.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Patrick Michael?

Someone who can pronounce English. "Fete" is not pronounced "feet"; the emphasis in "hegemony" is on the second syllable, not the third, etc.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe, the the movies always cut out a lot of the book.

Good Book, A Lot Going On

This is a good story but slow to start. There are a lot of characters and lines of focus in the story. That is easy for me to follow when reading, took a little more in audiobook format. By the end of the book I was tied in and tracking.

The story does come together well, with several characters that I have become interested in. The knight guarding the queen, the priest, the scurvy swordsman. All were well done and made me interested in following them.

The narrator, Patrick Michael, does a wonderful job. He keeps the different characters believable and does a good job going between male and female voices. He also does a good job with the pace and inflection of the general narration of the story.

Not a masterpiece

Any additional comments?

The story is simple enough to follow even if you miss half of it. If you are planning to uncork a 50yo whisky, light a cuban cigar and sit down in your favorite chair to listen to a good book ... this is probably not for you. If you want something to listen to while commuting to work or doing tedious work at home this is perfect. It is like a McDonalds meal of fantasy.

Good Book One, But TERRIBLE SERIES!

I almost gave this book 4 stars. It's not a bad book in itself, but when you take into account that it's a series of four total books; it's not a series worth starting. Trust me when I say that's it's not worth the trouble. I got sucked into a decent plot with intriguing characters, only to see the author throw them into a blender by book 3. I'm never much for giving detailed reviews, I just tell a little about what I thought about the book and the author. So I apologize if I'm not more detailed.

In short, I wouldn't recommend this book. Not because it's not a good single book. Because you'll want more and you'll get more with book two (the best out of the series) but then it's over with. It's like the author decided at the last minute to make a two book series into a four book series. And it shows. By the end of the series, your favorite characters change totally and become weird characters that you can no longer understand or relate to.