Series Spotlight: Kristen Britain's Green Rider

The Green Rider series was an early love of mine. Kristen Britain crafts an epic fantasy world where one girl can change everything, as long as she doesn't end up dead before she even reaches her destination. There's a soft spot in my heart for strong female protagonists who are still able to fall in love and do their duty at the same time, all while guided by the inevitable hand of fate.

Britain started writing at age nine, and never stopped. After graduating with a degree in film production, she started working for the National Park Service. She currently lives in Maine where she writes full-time, accompanied by her cat and dog--the dream life of a writer.

Britain's Green Rider series tells the story of Karigan G'ladheon and her destiny, which isn't always a happy place, and Karigan is everything my little heart could hope for. She's young but headstrong and brave, and isn't immediately capable of everything. She has to train and learn and explore, and we as readers get to watch her grow from a brash young woman to a confident and strong leader.

Her fantasy world is centered in Sacoridia, a country that employs the service of special messengers known as Green Riders. These Green Riders are capable of any number of things--some of them due to a special magic hidden within the brooches of their calling. Green Riders are called to service by these brooches, which in turn grant their riders a special ability--anything from telling truth from lie to long-distance communication and even fading from sight. These brooches have been passed down from generation to generation, remaining Sacoridia's last ties to magic.

Until a great evil is unleashed in the world, and Karigan herself is called to service when she meets a dying Green Rider and his brooch chooses her as its next wearer. This launches Karigan into a world of deadly fate and tangled loves.

The Green Riders are an interesting cast of characters, and are the whole point of the series. It addresses the ramifications of magic existing in a world where it is not welcome, which is always an interesting topic to explore. Britain fuses high-fantasy to he world of a struggling kingdom and does so brilliantly. With several great evils, elves, and Green Riders, there is never a quiet moment and there is constantly the threat of untold danger.

As the series grows, Britain's writing grows as well. The narrative and plot lines are strong and untangled, with plenty of good sense about how the characters guide the story by their choices. It is easy to get lost within the pages admire the strength of the coming-of-age myth that it follows. The romance is somewhat overblown in later books, but it is easy to see past that and focus on the larger plot at hand. You never forget that fate plays its hand heavily in a world with dying magic and strong characters.

This is a series of highly original tales, with a unique flair for magic and adventure, and a love triangle fit to make you go mad. Karigan is strong but not infalliable, the Green Riders willing but few, and the world struggling against a dark evil, unable to destroy the shadows that threaten the light.

I highly encourage you to check out Britain's intriguing series and its headstrong protagonist. You definitely won't regret falling in love with Karigan's story, magic, and adventure. Until we meet again when I finally get my hands on Firebrand, check out Green Rider and let me know what you thought about it!