Greg Keyes: The Charnel Prince

This book is the second in a planned series of four books, in the sword and sorcery fantasy genre. I posted on the first one here. As I mentioned in that post, I got the second book from the library so I could find out what happened to the characters. When I did, I checked the author's web page, and discovered that there are two more books to be published, so it will be a while before I find out what happens in the end.

All of the characters I mentioned in the previous post are around at the end of the second book, although the empress, Muriele, has been arrested by her late husband's brother, Robert, and all of them have gone through considerable difficulties. I should have included Princess Anne's best friend and servant, Austra, in this list of characters who have something admirable about them. She was an important character in both books. Another character I didn't like much, Cazio, the swordsman, shows considerable bravery, loyalty, and determination in the second book. In the first, he seemed mostly a braggart.

A new character, the composer, Leovigild Ackenzal, appears in this book. He is a good man, in many ways. The empress commissions him to write a piece of music to give all of the people, whatever station they have, some hope, as terrible things are happening. He does so. There is a fair amount of conversation on the role of music in people's lives in the book.

The Charnel Prince is Robert, who murdered his brother, the emperor, in the first book. The emperor killed him as his final act. However, Robert is brought back to life, inadvertently, by sorcery. This relates to one of the themes of both books, namely the law of death: Dead things should stay dead.

The church of this subcreated world is presented as evil indeed. The central rite of the religion, as perverted by the current church hierarchy, involves human sacrifice, and invocation of evil spirits.

I'd like to know what happens next. Perhaps I will read the next book (not published yet) and find out.

Bibliographic information: Greg Keyes, The Charnel Prince. New York: Random House, 2004.

(Normally, I post a Sunspots on Wednesday, mentioning the week's Christian Carnival. It's time for me to go to bed, and no Christian Carnival yet, so I'm posting this instead.)

Thanks for reading.

Greg Keyes: The Briar King

This book reminded me somewhat of George R. R. Martin's recent massive series, including A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows. I stopped reading that series for two reasons: There was too much evil in it, and the books were too long. However, they were, as far as I got, well crafted sword and sorcery fantasy.

I'm not going to give away the plot, but will mention some features.

The Briar King has lots of evil in it, but some good. There are a few characters that exhibit loyalty and goodness, and they don't completely lose to the bad characters. There is worship, of the supernatural, and the supernatural is taken for real by the characters, although I didn't see much evidence of good in their deities, or spirits. At the end, there is vengeance taken.

The characters that were still around at the end of the book (quite a few weren't) and that I was interested in include Aspar White, a forester who has an unselfish love for the emperor's forest, Winna, a woman half his age who is deeply in love with Aspar, and follows him, Muriele, the emperor's wife, Anne, the emperor's teen-aged daughter, Stephen Darige, a young monk who wants to serve the church sincerely, and Neil MeqVren, a young knight who has devoted himself unselfishly to serving as Muriele's protector.

As in the case of the last name mentioned, Keyes isn't afraid to use some rather unusual names, for things and people. There is a greffyn or two, not a griffin, for example. It's Vergenya, not Virginia. I'm not clear as to why he has done this.

There is a church, with orders of both males and females, something like monks and nuns, but not a lot. Some of these seem to be sincere and good. Many don't, and the church is deeply involved in politics, and some of the monks are involved in evil deeds. There is some sincere worship, notably when Neil prays that he be a true knight. There are various supernatural elements in the book, including being able to communicate with the dead.

Virginia Dare, of American colonial history, is part of the history of the people in the book. I didn't really understand why, but she is mentioned a few times, and one royal line is the Dares. There is nothing in the book that particularly identifies North American geography, or history, other than that, that I could find.

There is a second humanoid species, the sefry, who appear to be albinos, and have special understanding of wild nature, and of the spirit world.

The Briar King appears only peripherally. He, or it, seems to be a nature spirit of some sort, wanting to take vengeance for misuse of the forest.

As I indicated above, the leading characters are not all nobility. I was struck by this passage:

Most people in this kingdom would kill to live your life, to enjoy the privilege you hold. You will never know hunger, or thirst, or lack for clothing and shelter. You will never suffer the slightest tiny boil without that the finest physician in the land spends his hours easing the pain and healing you. You are indulged, spoiled, and pampered. And you do not appreciate it in the least. And here, Anne, is the price you pay for your privilege: responsibility. (J. Gregory Keyes, The Briar King: The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. New York: Ballentine Books, 2003, p. 248. Spoken by Muriele to her daughter, Anne. Emphasis in original.)

I requested the second book in the series from the library because I found that I wanted to know what happens. Keyes will probably introduce a few more in the next book.