Green Rider
by Kristen Britain
reviewed by by AJ Reardon
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Green Rider is a book I've had my eyes on since it came out. It seemed like it was probably the sort of thing that I would like to read, but I never picked it up. When I would see it, I was usually buying something else and I'd think "Oh, I don't need this now, I'll get it later" and then when I was looking for something to tide me over between books by my favorite authors, I wouldn't remember this author's name so I wouldn't know where to look for it. Anyway, a new book just came out in the series so Green Rider was on sale for like two bucks for the Kindle to promote the series, so I figured now was finally the time to read it and if I liked it, I could binge-read the entire series over the summer. Now I'm glad I waited, because sadly, I did not enjoy this book and I'd have been annoyed to pay full cover price for it. People often ask me why I keep reading books I don't like instead of putting them down in favor of something better. There's a few reasons. One is that I can't really write a review for this magazine based on the three chapters that I powered through before deciding a book was not very good. The other is that I dabble in fiction-writing myself, and sometimes a bad book can be a good learning exercise. As I read through a book I don't like, I ask myself why I dislike it. I ask how it could be made better. And I ask if I might have similar problems in my own book and how I can clean that up in the next draft. Green Rider stars a teenage protagonist, and as I've recently reacted poorly to a few books with younger protagonists it would be easy for me to say "Oh, I guess I just can't identify with these kids anymore, I'm too old for this, blah blah blah" but then I realize that I've also read a lot of great books with younger narrators and I realize that it's not the age that irritates me, it's the personality paired with poor writing. I'm starting to develop a theory that when we are teenagers ourselves, we're a lot less picky about our teenage protagonists. If the hero feels like an outsider for whatever reason, and we feel like an outsider, we automatically identify with that. And of course, we all secretly daydream about turning out to be "the chosen one" or discovering that we are just the best at something. And the more we read that sort of book, the more we feed that daydream. It turns into a vicious cycle that some of us never outgrow. But as an adult who has found her niche (finally) and realized that there is no chosen one and almost no one has a secret amazing skill, I've broken free of the daydream cycle and while I still enjoy my escapist fiction, I now have to actually believe that the narrator's struggle is real and that their feelings are justified. This brings us to my first problem with Green Rider. When we meet our hero Karigan, she's decided to leave the city she was going to school in after being suspended for getting into a fight. When we learn that she was fighting with a noble's annoying son (who we of course will all picture looking like Joffrey from Game of Thrones, obviously), we think this is going to be the classic "poor girl versus rich boy" trope. Perhaps a bit overdone, but it's a story many of us identify with. But then we learn that Karigan is the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Oh, it's a conflict between the nouveau riche and old money? Suddenly I am a lot less interested. Come back to me when you have real problems! Of course, Karigan does find herself with real problems, and she usually does a good job of reacting to them, a realistic blend of fear and then rising up as a hero, but because she's a pretty two-dimensional and uninteresting character, I found that I really didn't care. I wasn't particularly invested in her success, or in whether or not the fantasy country she lives in was saved, or anything else really. Now we can address another difference between teenage AJ and adult AJ. Teenage AJ would have been content with the fact that Karigan is a teenage girl, is riding a horse, and is pretty good with a sword. Not only that but she spends the vast majority of the book on her own, getting stuff done with very little help from men. Girl power! But adult AJ is like... this is a paper doll, not a character. She doesn't really seem to have any likes or dislikes, hopes, dreams, or aspirations. She's embarrassed about being kicked out of school, worried what her dad will think, and misses her one friend from school. That's it. And for most of the book, we are stuck with just Karigan. She spends the majority of the story by herself, only briefly interacting with minor characters. She's simply not well-developed enough to carry the story. And here is where I have a realization about what I like in books. Well, I already knew I liked this, but until I read Green Rider I didn't know how important it was to me. I am a fiend for character interaction. I love good dialog. I itch to see how different personalities play against each other! This book has very little dialog and most of it either serves to move the plot along, give background information, or encourage the protagonist. Boring. If a book doesn't have a lot of dialog, it has to have a really strong narrator and a really unique plot to keep me hooked. This book has neither of these. So Green Rider was a learning experience for me, but not a particularly entertaining one. I can't imagine reading any more books in this series. I don't care about the character. I don't like the romance option they set up for her. I don't like how much they telegraphed certain things that will probably happen in future books. And most importantly, I really don't care what happens next. Teenage AJ would have eaten this story up, but this book didn't come out until I was in my 20s. It was already too late then and it is definitely too late now. By the way, parents, if your teenage kid does have their heart set on reading this series, don't worry. It could have just as easily been shelved in the YA section. Assuming the rest of the series continues in the tone of the first one, the violence isn't particularly gory, there's no naughty language and no sex. There is an attempted rape but it's described in PG-rated terms and (spoiler alert) gets thwarted, so it may be a trigger issue for some kids but most should be able to handle it. Yes, I think there are better books that they could read, but if they're like I was at that age they'll devour this series, some better books and some crappier books before the summer is over, so don't worry about it. Someday they'll grow up and their taste will be more refined. PS: One more note. I had a really hard time taking this book seriously when numerous characters kept referring to the members of the Green Riders as "Greenies" because as you may or may not know, Greenies is a brand name of dental cleaning treats for dogs. I kept imagining a little green dog bone riding a horse.
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E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net
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