‘The Born Queen’ – Greg Keyes (Del Rey Books)

Greg Keyes’ ‘Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone’ series is one that I’ve been enjoying since I read ‘The Briar King’ back in 2004, every book ending in such a way that I was eager to read the next instalment. As such, ‘The Born Queen’ was pretty much at the top of my list of books I was really looking forward to reading in 2008. I was looking forward to seeing how this series finally ended and what would become of my favourite characters (Aspar the Holter, Cazio and Neil MeqVren). Having finished the book, and the series, I’m left in awe of a story well told and sad that it’s all over. The next time I read this series it will be a re-read and a little bit of the wonder will have gone. At the same time though, some things didn’t ring quite right in ‘The Born Queen’ and I was left wishing things could have gone a little differently. Confused? I was…
‘The Born Queen’ sees the coming together, and resolution, of various plot threads that have been in motion since ‘The Briar King’. Anne Dare has taken the throne of Crotheny but must face the combined might of Hansa and the Church who have declared holy war on her kingdom. Anne’s newly found power will help her in her struggle but it could also kill her. Worse than that, it could spell the end of the world and there are those who will seek to subvert Anne’s power to their own ends…
‘The Born Queen’ has everything that I have enjoyed from Greg Keyes’ previous books in this series which makes it all the more difficult for me to say that I had a problem with it. I’ve been a big fan of the world-building methods that Keyes employs, giving readers a detailed picture of where the story takes place but also ‘sketching round the edges’ to show people that there is a wider world out there. Even now there is mention of places (and history) formerly unheard of and this is ok when it doesn’t affect the plot itself. But sometimes it does… A Hanzish warseer, ‘The Hellrune’, plays a large role in the story but the sudden importance of this character is undermined by the fact that they were not mentioned at all in the previous three books. Closer inspection reveals otherwise but it came across as the author feeling that he had to introduce another powerful character to even things up a bit. Revelations regarding the ‘Sedos Thrones’ also seemed forced and it may have been more effective to have these spread out over the entire series instead of jammed into a few pages. It felt like Keyes’ had suddenly realised the series was meant to be four books long but he had written five. This meant a lot of info-dumping but little explanation (the return of the Black Jester was a great twist but… how did that work?). Maybe this won’t seem so bad after a re-read of the entire series…
On the upside though I was as engrossed as ever with the continuing adventures of Keyes’ characters to the point where I actually grew to like certain characters that I’d had no time for previously (I’m looking at you Leoff!) There’s a real passion and energy apparent in each of the cast that made me care about what happened next to them; beware though as Keyes has absolutely no qualms about pulling heartstrings by killing a character or two (or more)…
‘The Born Queen’ is a slightly disappointing end to a great series but there was still plenty there to make it a worthwhile read. If you’re already a fan then I reckon you will still get something out of it. If you haven’t read this series then I recommend you do so! It’s a ‘must read’ for any fan of epic fantasy.

Eight out of Ten