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The Book of Briars by C.J. Bernstein
The day she came back, Alistair Mead’s memories vanished, leaving a hole inside her that she could never fill. The only thing she can recall is The Briar Books. Years later, Alistair has come to believe that she is over her traumatic childhood experiences. She is then propelled on a journey to locate the books that are only familiar to her by old hallucinations that start to reappear.
Ben Kriminger, a writer, is currently exiled from society after his debut book suddenly tore his life apart. Ben struggles to make ends meet since he can’t bring himself to write as chapters of a book start suddenly showing up at his door. A young woman named Alistair Mead searches for literature only she can recall throughout several chapters.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen the entire time! I was curious to find out what would be revealed next because I constantly had the sensation that there was more going on than what first appeared. Many of the plot twists and turns in the book “The Book of Briars” honestly caught me off guard. I was awestruck by how all of the stories, both old and new, were woven together in The Briar Archive series, which was my first encounter with it.
The book succeeds in making you a part of the narrative and, thus, a part of the enchantment in its own unique and mind-bending way. The magic is frequently poetic in its application, yet it is a complex system. Given the setting of the novel, I did not mind, though. Ben and Alistair don’t utilise magic, and they are just now learning about it or rediscovering it as it is already disappearing from the earth. In the end, the ambiguity just heightens the sense of awe experienced when magic occurs.
Although this book is The Briar Archive’s fifth instalment, it is meant to be another “entry” point, thus I had no issue starting reading. Having said that, people who have read the series and/or engaged in the online community are likely to have a totally different experience. Despite focusing on various people, the plot is a continuation of earlier volumes, and there are several tie-ins that are sure to please seasoned fans.
Returning readers may also be more accustomed to the complicated writing style and magic system that make this book so distinctive and novel for first-time readers. Overall, this book is amazing and will appeal to everyone who values the power of narrative. I’m eager to read the remaining volumes in this series and find out what happens next.
About The Book
Alistair Mead only remembers one thing from the year she went missing as a child: A series of books that don’t exist. After years of searching, she stumbles on a clue that proves the books were real but were somehow erased from existence.
Desperate for answers, Alistair is drawn into an ancient literary underworld whose members believe she might be the key to unraveling the books, and the altered history of the world.
Ben Kriminger hasn’t written in a year. Traumatized by the fanatical reaction to his novel about unsolved disappearances, Ben is still trying to undo the bloody damage caused by his writing and the unhinged reader who couldn’t tell fiction from fact.
When book pages about a young woman named Alistair begin showing up on Ben’s doorstep, he finds that her story mirrors events in his own ill-fated novel. Still unsure if what he’s reading is fiction, Ben can’t help but act when the pages depict the same people who destroyed his life turning their twisted attention on Alistair.
As their parallel paths spiral toward an impossible revelation, Ben and Alistair learn that seeing this story through may damn the world to darkness before the final page is turned.
The Book of Briars is a reality-smashing tale of fiction and fate, a story that explores what happens when the lines that separate memory, magic, and the mundane world are shattered beyond repair.
The Review
The Book of Briars
8 Score
This book, like the other Briar Archive books, provided everything I want in a book. As much as I love the high fantasy of writers like Tolkien and Eddings, my other favourite authors are Austen and the Brontes, Romantic(ish) novelists writing emotionally realistic characters in contemporary places and situations. But the Briar Archive isn't exactly magical realism as you get a sense that there's something deeper behind the story you're reading, something within that epic high fantasy tradition that is driving the plot.
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