Nothinng novel, but sympathetic characters make a good read

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	• The Serpent and the Rose (The War of the Rose) Kathleen Bryan Tor Fantasy, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Nice read

Good start to a fantasy series. I enjoy a strong heroine and a little romantic tension. The problem is now I have to wait months/years for the next book to see what happens next!

Pseudonym

I agree with most of the reviews I have read of this book. It is a good example of High Fantasy. Peasant boy meets princess and falls in love. It is well written and a fun read. I will give it the best accolades that I can give a fantasy novel: in some places it reminds me of Guy Kay. The writing has a similar flow and some word choices brought me back to Kay's work.
The reason I wanted to write this review, is to point out that this is not a first novel. In fact this is the work of a well established fantasy writer working under a pseudonym. This book was written by Judith Tarr. If you like this book you should check out her other novels.

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Nothinng novel, but sympathetic characters make a good read

The Knights of the Rose, mages and fighting men, have defended the Mysteries and kept the evil magic of the Serpent imprisoned.. or so they thought. Secretly, or not so secretly, the King of Lys has been gathering power by eliminating the powerful nobles, He also seeks to bring back the rule of the Serpent. To that effect, he makes a move against the Houses of the Knights, who were more complacent than they should have been after being unchallenged for centuries, and destroys their power and their magic. He also moves against the Duke of Quitaine. Averil, the Duke's heir, has been away on the Isle of the Lady, where she was trained and raised from a baby. She has returned to an assassination attempt against her as well as a suspicious illness that has stricken her father. She has found an unlikely ally in Gereint, a farm boy who is also a fledgling mage and Postulant to the Order of the Rose.

The basic tale is nothing novel... A strong lady, imperiled, who hopes against hope to foil the nefarious plans of the Evil King of Lys... aided by a farm boy who has the potential to be a great power. But the Knights aren't Jedi, Averil and Gereint are very likable characters (although why she insists on worrying about how unconventional it would be for her to hook up with a peasant boy when the sky is falling is beyond me!), and the world and writing is just good enough for me to want to keep on reading to the end of this book and on to the next in the series...

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very enjoyable

I finished it in just a couple of days. It was quite entertaining. The characters are all or all bad, but it doesn't take away from the fun. Even Gerenint's time spent at school, he made almost all loyal friends, with the small exception of one (who wasn't really all that bad, either). The Knights were exceptionally devoted without blemish. I know, it sounds as though it would be sappy and annoying, but it's not. The story is sweet and full of hope. I think too many people now a-days are a bit too jaded, and this book brings back a feeling that has become lost in present day--even though the situations are vastly different I think anyone can draw comparison lines. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

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Refreshing!

How refreshing to read a well-written fantasy story whose characters are engaging and sympathetic. The mythology is very similar to ancient christianity, but instead of finding that trite, I enjoyed the different language and perspective of our basic mythology. It's very easy to relate to. Bryan's writing is poetic and clear. The plot doesn't stand still for a moment. A real treat!

reviews: page 1, 2

The beautiful Averil is heir to the Duchy of Quitaine, in the Kingdom of Lys. She is a powerful mage, trained by the Ladies of the Isle, but when her father calls her home to take up her duties, she must leave that life behind. In her city of Fontevrai, she meets Gereint, raised as a common villager but greatly gifted in magic, a novice of the magical order of the Knights of the Rose. The Knights and their sister order, the Ladies of the Isle, defend a great secret: the means and location of the Serpent's imprisonment a thousand years ago by the Young God in whose name their order was founded. Quitaine is under subtle attack by the King of Lys, who has secretly become an adept of the hidden order of the Serpent, and he will let nothing and no one stand in the way of his quest to discover how to free his God. But the Knights of the Rose, and the Ladies of the Isle believe that if the Serpent is freed, the world will be enslaved to chaos: humanity will destroy itself, and all that man has made will be corrupted. The War of the Rose and Serpent has begun again.

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