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18th Mar '13 9:35:26 PM Xtifr

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[[quoteright:205:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Kingdoms_of_Thorn_and_Bone_59.jpg]]

A quartet of fantasy novels by Gregory Keyes, consisting of ''The Briar King'' (2003), ''The Charnel Prince'' (2004), ''The Blood Knight'' (2006) and ''The Born Queen'' (2008).

[[TheDarkTimes Two thousand years ago]] [[HotWitch Virgenya]] [[LadyOfWar Dare]] overthrew the [[EldritchAbomination Skasloi]] overlords that had enslaved humanity. Her descendants rule the kingdom of Crotheny, until a traitorous plot to overthrow them leads to tragedy. The legendary Briar King has awakened from his slumber, heralding death. All is not as it seems and [[RebelliousPrincess Anne]] [[TheHerosJourney Dare]] must become the queen her country needs while monstrous assassins stalk her. [[FishOutOfWater Sir Neil]] [[KnightInShiningArmor MeqVren]] must learn that the politics of the court are as deadly as the battlefield as he tries to safeguard the queen. [[BadAss Aspar]] [[{{Ranger}} White]] must face murderous creatures of legend as he tries to unravel the mystery of the Briar King.
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!This series provides examples of:
* AbusivePrecursors: The Skasloi, though they're a bit more complex than they first seem.
* ActionGirl: Lady Erren and Alis Berrye. Leshya as well.
* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Anne, especially in the last book.]]
** And [[spoiler: Stephen, when under the influence of [[SorcerousOverlord the Black Jester]].]]
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In the last book, [[spoiler: Aspar becomes the Briar King.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Robert.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: There are ''lots'' of villains in this series, mostly operating independently - the most notable are [[spoiler: the Church, Robert, the Black Jester, and to an extent Anne herself in the last book]], but in the end the most dangerous villain is probably [[spoiler: the Kept]]. 
* {{Berserker}}: Neil, full stop.
* TheChessMaster: [[spoiler: The Black Jester.]]
* CoolSword: Feyswords in general; Draug in particular.
* CoolOldGuy: A few: z'Acatto, Duke Artwair, Sir Fail.
* CorruptChurch 
* DefrostingIceQueen: Fastia. [[spoiler: Doesn't end well.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide 
* TheDeterminator: Sir Neil in battle. Queen Muriele in pretty much everything else.
* EldritchAbomination: The Skasloi give off this vibe. 
* EvilPrince: [[spoiler:Robert.]]
* EvilSorcerer: The Black Jester. Also a SorcerousOverlord. 
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Eslen is [[TheColonialPeriod Colonial America]] rather than the typical British analogue. The tribes of [[GrimUpNorth Hansa]] possibly correspond to the Francs. Vitellio is {{UsefulNotes/Italy}} more or less right down to the heart of [[TheChurch the Church]] being there. In fact, the backstory indicates that the different nationalities of humans in this world were brought there from real-world Earth locations by the Skasloi, and the languages they speak are recognizably related to real-world languages. (For example, Vitellian is related to Oscan, an extinct language of Italy; and Lierish is a Celtic language.)
* FiveManBand: Among the main characters, though hardly ever all of them share a scene:
** TheHero: Anne, and/or Aspar.
** TheLancer: Austra and Cazio.
** TheSmartGuy: Stephen.
** TheBigGuy: Neil.
** TheChick: Winna.
* HandsomeLech: Cazio [[spoiler: starts out this way.]]
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Dare Virginia Dare.]]
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Cazio has these a few times.
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: ''Oh yes.''
* KnightInShiningArmor: Sir Neil.
* LeyLine: Possibly faneways.
* MayDecemberRomance: Aspar and Winna.
* MagicIsEvil: The general opinion by most, especially the Church. Although [[spoiler:not all magic is evil and the Church itself uses magic of the evil variety to create [[SuperSoldier holy warriors]].]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Praifec Hespero.
* MeetCute: Their story is anything but ordinary, but Stephen and Zemlé still count.
* MultiMeleeMaster: Aspar.
* MusicalAssassin: [[spoiler:The Black Jester was a master of this, so much so that the mixing of singing with instruments has been banned by the Church.]] 
** And [[spoiler: Leoff, of course.]]
* MyNaymeIs: There are a few names with "y"s thrown in, and several monster names do this as well.
* NoMoreLies: z'Acatto has to tell Cazio about what happened to his father when he realizes that unless he learns the truth he will come to a bad end. Subverted in that he is already too late when he admits his deception.
* OnlyMostlyDead: [[spoiler: The Black Jester.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: The Sefry. [[spoiler:Especially once you find out that they were once the Skasloi.]]
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Robert and the "death knights".]] 
* ProphecyTwist
* RebelliousPrincess: Anne. [[spoiler:And maybe Brinna.]]
* RoyalBrat: Anne starts out as this, but subverts it pretty soon.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Anne, especially [[spoiler: when she becomes Empress of Crotheny. She leads an attack on her treacherous uncle in the third book. And in the fourth, she personally leads the war against Hansa.]] 
* ScienceHero: Stephen, who is a CunningLinguist.
* SealedEvilInACan: The Kept, aka Qexqaneh, the last of the Skasloi. He's kept around deliberately as a source of knowledge for the royal family. 
* SmugSnake: Robert.
* TimeSkip: Happens ''3 times'' during the first few pages of the first book.
* TookALevelInBadass: Stephen [[spoiler: after walking the faneways.]]
** He's also a BadassBookworm and a BadassPreacher.
* TyingUpRomanticLooseEnds: [[spoiler: Austra and Cazio.]]
* UnstoppableRage: Neil's battle rage. 
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<<|{{Literature}}|>>

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10th Jan '13 11:47:08 AM DanglyLeggedOwl

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