Blackveil

 I've been slowly making my way through Kristen Britain's Green Rider series for the past year. And I mean slowly. After a year, I only just finished the fourth book. When I started, I assumed the series was complete at six books, and that seemed doable. But a seventh book was released this year, and it turns out that the author has no set plan for how long the series will be.

That's been fine up to now. Each book has been a distinct story. I find I have little trouble remembering what happened previously when I picked up the next book (Britain's ability to seamlessly integrate the "previously on" into her text is pretty amazing). It's also been easy to remember what happened in each book.

But then this one ended in a cliffhanger, and now I'm worried that we're diving into some more classic epic fantasy, where the story drags on and on for countless books until the author abandons it for one reason or another.

But I'm only a little worried, because I truly love this world. Karigan is an utterly fantastic herione. The world is deep and engaging and filled with other incredible characters. It's engrossing without being consuming. I enjoy reading it, and I'm going to keep reading it, but I'm content to go at a slower pace.

Of course, up until recently I thought there was an ending to this series. And perhaps my feelings will change when I start to run out of books. For now, this series is helping scratch my epic fantasy itch, and keeping me from attempting to re-read The Wheel of Time, which would only be an exercise in frustration right now.

The cliffhanger was unexpected and frustrating, and I'm glad I have the next book already sitting on my shelf. But I definitely need to cleanse my palate with some shorter books first.

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