Blackveil (Green Rider 4) [Kindle Edition]

As a long standing fan of the series I was really looking forward to this title to see what would unfurl next for our intrepid heroine as events that have been long in the planning were coming to fruition. What actually unfurled was a title that was sadly lacking, don't get me wrong, it had a lot of the right ingredients to make this a classic fantasy release but it was the execution that left this feeling a little flat.

Add to this a loss of direction, lack of character driven plot and a tale that really felt more filler than a book with any real direction and I was left feeling slightly cheated. Don't get me wrong, Kristen is an author that I've enjoyed for the last three books and I hope that the next will pick up where this one went wrong. Here's hoping...

Reading this book is a bit like living on a diet of chocolate, satisfying for a short period of time, but ultimately full of empty calories. `Blackveil' is just like that, it's a fun read, but you're ultimately left with the sense of the narrative having gotten no further forward than when it began. (Indeed, by page 230 the story had not been moved on with virtually nothing having happened, however, at over 700 pages long there's still plenty of wriggle room!) Sadly this is becoming the watchword for this series.

It all started off reasonably well. There was a good concept, a compelling protagonist etc. etc. However, it became clear at book 3 (`High King's Tomb') that things were not as they should be. The book itself was interminably long with very little editing having taken place and the story having only been slightly moved forward. This from a series which could (indeed should) have ended at book 3 had it had a decent editor. Though the editing is only part of the problem. From book 3 onwards it has become apparent that Britain does not appear to have a game plan as to how the narrative will pan out (or if she does, it is going to be on an epic scale). Like Robert Jordan, with his `Wheel of Time' series, she has tried to add new scenarios and characters to the mix in order to find a solution. Unlike Jordan, however, there is neither the skill nor the grand vision to make this work in the longer term.

Some of the best fantasy novels have been those in which the author has a narrative thread which they wish to follow and the ability to follow this thread without becoming bogged down in detail. Tolkien's `The Lord of the Rings' is a good example - a single book split into 3 distinct novels (technically it is not a trilogy but a single book!) which retains a sense of pace, vision and narrative with a clear sense of where it will end. Tolkien himself was an excellent writer and editor, but he also lived in a age when editing still remained a living skill.

I will continue to read Britain's novels, in part because they are engagingly (if not well) written and because they contain a compelling (if badly thought through) narrative thread. My hope is, however, that she will bring the series to a close, not least so that we can get some sense of closure - there is only so far that an idea can be stretched before it either warps or breaks. As both novels 3 & 4 are both 700+ pages long there is also only so much the reader can bear.

Well this one was weird. More stolen ideas which I can't even be bothered to list anymore. Very dark in places, I didn't really enjoy any of the scenes set in Blackveil and 'Grandmother' and her followers got on my nerves. It seems every series I've read has a book like this, where the story is split in so many ways following too many samey characters. And as for the ending? Really irritating cliffhanger, no loose ends tied up, everything left open for the next book. At least all the other books so far left you with a sense of an ending, this one just peters out. Oh dear. I hope the next one, whenever it appears, is a return to form.
Still three stars though, as some elements of the story are great - I especially enjoy the more 'realistic' bits where its more about politics and personalities rather than magic and weird goings on.