The Green Rider

First thing to know? This is a high fantasy, complete with dark magic oozing into the world, valor, mysterious elves, magical artifacts, betrayal, triumph… all the good things that genre has to offer. If that's not your cup of tea, move along the list, but teen runaway Karrigan is very relatable, and grows into her role as a rider and the heroism required of her. She is intelligent, not perfect, but brave. She accepts her responsibility to keep her promise and sticks to it; though arguably some of that is due to being to naïve to do anything other than allow herself to be pushed along by the current of events. The story moves along at a good pace, keeping you invested in her future and that of the world she's just beginning to understand. It's a very family safe book, an excellent read-aloud choice as there is no swearing or sex, and even though there are many scenes of intense peril, some deaths, and many dangerous exploits, they are nearly always followed by a brief respite of some kind or other throughout the story. There is also a horse. A really awesome, almost magically intelligent horse that is seriously one of my favorite characters in this book.