Holder of Lightning, Darkhenge
#43: Holder of Lightning
S.L. Farrell
Library book. Though why it was in the YA section, I don't know.
Loved this one. Really did. Have to admit, I'd seen it on bookstore shelves for years but never paid much attention to it, because I'd noticed DAW had been favoring big thick trilogies based on old cultures with strong female protagonists. I picked up a Gypsy one, and it was okay. Tried the Norse one and didn't make it through it. Saw this one was Celtic, and didn't try it.
This one, I should've bought ages ago, though maybe it's more valuable to me now in its own way. Jenna is the first to see the mage lights return to the sky, and picks up a glowing stone that turns out to be the most powerful of the clochs, stones that have various magical powers that can be used for good or ill. Jenna can't put the stone down despite the pain it causes her when it's used, and now everybody wants her, or, more appropriately, the powerful stone.
This is a book that, from the perspective of what all the pros tell you to do, does everything right. Magic has rules and a price? Check. Tension in every scene? Check. Three major turning points for the protagonist? Check. All the loose ends are tied up nicely. And Farrell is very, very good at making things worse. And worse. And even more worse. Several gut-wrenching scenes in here. Characters are all great, and it's hard to tell who's on which side, and it keeps changing. Very nicely done. So is the worldbuilding.
Anyway. I'm off to read the other two in the series here shortly. Can't wait. :>)
#44: Darkhenge
Catherine Fisher
Library book. This is the second I've read by Fisher, and I'm rather impressed. I liked this one better than the first, CORBENIC, but it's mostly because I'm not as into Arthuriana. This one weaves together two tales, the first a myth about Taliesin and Ceridwyn and the second about a boy dealing with the fact that his younger sister has been in a coma for three months after an accident.
So, for a bit of a comparison: both books have protagonists dealing with tragic, real-life issues that just hit you in the gut. Both involve secondary magical worlds in which the protagonist learns more about himself and his inner strength as he overcomes obstacles, including wrestling with the dark feelings that everyone has and no one wants to acknowledge. And both have legendary magical worlds that bleed into the present one--in Wales.
Darkhenge I liked, because it was, well, dark, and had a fun and intriguing cast of characters, all of whom were fully three-dimensional. All characters had good and bad sides and quirks.
It was just neat. Fortunately, the library has three more of her books for me to read.
S.L. Farrell
Library book. Though why it was in the YA section, I don't know.
Loved this one. Really did. Have to admit, I'd seen it on bookstore shelves for years but never paid much attention to it, because I'd noticed DAW had been favoring big thick trilogies based on old cultures with strong female protagonists. I picked up a Gypsy one, and it was okay. Tried the Norse one and didn't make it through it. Saw this one was Celtic, and didn't try it.
This one, I should've bought ages ago, though maybe it's more valuable to me now in its own way. Jenna is the first to see the mage lights return to the sky, and picks up a glowing stone that turns out to be the most powerful of the clochs, stones that have various magical powers that can be used for good or ill. Jenna can't put the stone down despite the pain it causes her when it's used, and now everybody wants her, or, more appropriately, the powerful stone.
This is a book that, from the perspective of what all the pros tell you to do, does everything right. Magic has rules and a price? Check. Tension in every scene? Check. Three major turning points for the protagonist? Check. All the loose ends are tied up nicely. And Farrell is very, very good at making things worse. And worse. And even more worse. Several gut-wrenching scenes in here. Characters are all great, and it's hard to tell who's on which side, and it keeps changing. Very nicely done. So is the worldbuilding.
Anyway. I'm off to read the other two in the series here shortly. Can't wait. :>)
#44: Darkhenge
Catherine Fisher
Library book. This is the second I've read by Fisher, and I'm rather impressed. I liked this one better than the first, CORBENIC, but it's mostly because I'm not as into Arthuriana. This one weaves together two tales, the first a myth about Taliesin and Ceridwyn and the second about a boy dealing with the fact that his younger sister has been in a coma for three months after an accident.
So, for a bit of a comparison: both books have protagonists dealing with tragic, real-life issues that just hit you in the gut. Both involve secondary magical worlds in which the protagonist learns more about himself and his inner strength as he overcomes obstacles, including wrestling with the dark feelings that everyone has and no one wants to acknowledge. And both have legendary magical worlds that bleed into the present one--in Wales.
Darkhenge I liked, because it was, well, dark, and had a fun and intriguing cast of characters, all of whom were fully three-dimensional. All characters had good and bad sides and quirks.
It was just neat. Fortunately, the library has three more of her books for me to read.