Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone

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).

Two thousand years ago Virgenya Dare overthrew the 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 Anne Dare must become the queen her country needs while monstrous assassins stalk her. Sir Neil MeqVren must learn that the politics of the court are as deadly as the battlefield as he tries to safeguard the queen. Aspar White must face murderous creatures of legend as he tries to unravel the mystery of the Briar King.

This series provides examples of:

 * Abusive Precursors: The Skasloi, though
 * Action Girl:
 * A God Am I:
 * And
 * Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence:
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Big Bad Ensemble: There are lots of villains in this series, mostly operating independently - the most notable are, but in the end the most dangerous villain is probably.
 * Berserker: Neil, full stop.
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Cool Sword: Feyswords in general; Draug in particular.
 * Cool Old Guy: A few: z'Acatto, Duke Artwair, Sir Fail.
 * Corrupt Church
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Fastia.
 * Drunk On the Dark Side
 * The Determinator: Sir Neil in battle. Queen Muriele in pretty much everything else.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Skasloi give off this vibe.
 * Evil Prince:
 * Evil Sorcerer: The Black Jester. Also a Sorcerous Overlord.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Eslen is Colonial America rather than the typical British analogue. The tribes of Hansa possibly correspond to the Francs. Vitellio is Italy more or less right down to the heart of 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.)
 * Five Man Band:
 * The Hero: Anne, and/or Aspar.
 * The Lancer: Austra and Cazio.
 * The Smart Guy: Stephen.
 * The Big Guy: Neil.
 * The Chick: Winna.
 * Handsome Lech: Cazio
 * Historical Domain Character: Virginia Dare.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Cazio has these a few times.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Oh yes.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Sir Neil again.
 * Ley Line: Possibly faneways.
 * May December Romance: Aspar and Winna.
 * Magic Is Evil: The general opinion by most, especially the Church. Although
 * Multi Melee Master: Aspar.
 * Musical Assassin:
 * And
 * My Nayme Is: There are a few names with "y"s thrown in, and several monster names do this as well.
 * No More Lies: 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.
 * Only Mostly Dead:
 * Our Elves Are Different: The Sefry.
 * Our Zombies Are Different:
 * Prophecy Twist
 * Rebellious Princess: Anne.
 * Royal Brat: Anne starts out as this, but subverts it pretty soon.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Anne, especially
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: The Kept, aka Qexqaneh, the last of the Skasloi. He's kept around deliberately as a source of knowledge for the royal family.
 * Time Skip: Happens 3 times during the first few pages of the first book.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Stephen
 * He's also a Badass Bookworm and a Badass Preacher.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Neil's battle rage.