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Welcome to Read This Book, the newsletter where I recommend one book for your TBR that I think you’re going to love! Genre fiction is my wheelhouse, and about 90% of my personal TBR, so if if you’re looking for recommendations in horror, fantasy, or romance, I’ve got you covered!
This last year has really impressed on me the need for comfort reads. So for my very first Read This Book I decided to call back to a fantasy series that I’ve been following since I was a kid, and which (despite its habit of causing me emotional pain) is a hands down, pre-ordering every book, languishing in the years between publications dates, favorite of mine that I think every high fantasy fan should add to their TBR.
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
To say that Karigan G’ladheon is having a bad day at the start of Green Rider is an understatement. Having been expelled from school after besting a bully with powerful parents, she’s doing the long walk of shame home to the coast and hoping she can beat the dean’s letter to her father’s house. Then she nearly gets run down in the lane by a rider in green, with arrows sticking out of his back. You know. Typical Tuesday.
The rider is one of the royal Green Riders, magically gifted legendary messengers to the king. The message the rider carries is life and death, and he makes Karigan swear that she will take his sword, his rider’s pin, and his horse and deliver the message to the King. What seems like a straightforward promise to a dying man throws Karigan’s whole world into chaos. Soon she’s riding hellbent for the capitol, pursued by assassins and an even deadlier man in grey whose purpose is far more sinister than she can guess and threatens the future of all of Sacoridia.
Like many fantasy series, Britain’s Green Rider series has been a long time in production. The titular novel originally came out in 1998, and the most recent novel, Winterlight, will be out this September. Each of the books clocks in at over 400 pages (the most recent installment was a whopping 800+ pages), so tackling the whole series can be a bit of a time commitment. But if you’ve been looking for a new fantasy series to tackle there are currently six books published, and if you are a fan of high fantasy series with detailed world building, an endearing cast of characters, plenty of action, and a splash of romance (so much pining – this series is defined by its romantic pining), there is no series I’d be happier to recommend!
Go forth and read!
Jessica