Author(s): Greg Keyes

SECONDHAND BOOKS | Fantasy

Book One of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone It has been two thousand years since the Born Queen defeated the last of the Skasloi lords. In doing so she freed the race of humans - once taken from their distant homes and forced to wear the bitter yoke of slavery. Thus begins an epic tale of war and virtue, sorcery and betrayal. . . In the kingdom of Crotheny, two young girls are playing in the tangled gardens of the sacred city of the dead when they stumble upon the unknown crypt of a legendary, ancestral queen. In the wilds of the forest, while investigating the slaughter of an innocent family, the king's holter, Aspar White, weaves his way through a maze of ancient willows - and comes face-to-face with a monstrous beast out of folk tales and nightmares. Meanwhile, travelling the same road, a scholarly young priest begins his education in the nature of an evil festering just beneath the surface of a seemingly peaceful land. The royal family itself is in peril, facing a betrayal that only sorcery could accomplish. Now - for three beautiful sisters, for a young man suddenly elevated to knighthood, for a reckless woman in love with a roguish adventurer - a dark malevolence emerges to shatter what once seemed familiar and good. For the Briar King, harbinger of death, has finally awakened from his slumber. Richly imbued with thrilling action and passion, here is an amazing adventure epic that carries fantasy to a new level.

2003. A trade paperback copy in very good condition.