3.75 stars

This is book 2 in a trilogy. It’s been a very long time since I read book 1, but it’s not really necessary to have read it, as it’s the next generation that is followed in this book vs the 1st. I remembered nothing from the first book, and I don’t think it mattered.

Liadan and Niahm (pronounced Nee-av – have to say I was happy to have the glossary and pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book!) are sisters. When Niahm falls in love with a druid and disgraces herself by giving herself to him (all in secret), her family hurriedly marries her off to the older man they want to make an alliance with. Liadan accompanies Niahm part-way to her new home, but is kidnapped on her way back. She is a great healer and has been asked to help some “outlaws” heal one of theirs. While there, Liadan becomes friends (and more with one) with them, and hates to leave, but needs to go home to her dying mother.

It took a bit at the start for me to get into this. I’m not always “into” fantasy (Liadan also has a “sight” of a kind), and difficult to pronounce words (thank you, glossary!) also make things harder. But once Liadan was kidnapped, the story really picked up for me. There were a few times I kind of lost interest, but there were many happenings that made the book “enjoyable” for me. I’ve never been a fan of a “story within a story”, and this one does contain a bunch of those (oral storytelling is popular in Liadan’s family). On rereading the review of the first book, I wasn’t sure if I would continue the series (obviously I did), and I do plan to continue on from here. It looks like it was originally meant to be a trilogy, but has expanded beyond that. ( )

3.5 stars

It has been years since I read the first in this series, Daughter of the Forest, so it was nice to return to world of Sevenwaters however by about 60% I was a bit bored and skimmed the rest. I want to finish this series, or at least the first three books - I will be back! ( )

How could the second book be as good as the first?! I’m in love with this series. Bring on book 3! ( )

En el reino irlandés de Sieteaguas, los años de relativa paz tocan a su fin. Todos los presagios indican que los tres hijos de Sorcha deberán enfrentarse a tiempos oscuros y tal vez a la guerra. Lidiam es la única que parece haber heredado de Sorcha sus poderes y su aptitud para las curaciones a través de las hierbas. A cada uno le tocará un camino difícil que sobrellevar en el que se cruzarán pasiones, amores prohibidos, odios antiguos, guerras, etc., en espera de que se cumpla la profecía.

The disappointment.... Years ago I read this book and I really enjoyed it. I read it some months after the first one and, even though I never liked the romance, I remember liking some elements of the story. Now that I reread it, I have no idea how I excused so much.

This book is a sequel to Daughter of the Forest and follows Sorcha’s daughter, Liadan. Liadan has powers of her own and her story influences future events just like the path of her sister Niamh.

At first I was enjoying this book. I even tried to excuse everyone thinking how Liadan was so special and the best woman ever as the story being told from her self absorbed perspective. However, given the events of the story, that justification doesn’t hold. Everyone really does think all of those things about Liadan. This main character also has magical powers that are very convenient for the plot because she not only can communicate with her brother, she can also read someone’s thoughts and see visions of the past, present and future! I ended the book really disliking this character.

If there is one character I hate more than Liadan, is the love interest. Bran is the sexist man that hates all women and tells Liadan how unique and not like other girls she is. I have no idea how he is known as this great clever warrior when his actions make no sense strategically. Besides that, Bran and Liadan are each other’s one true love after “knowing” each other for a few days only. There is an hint that them being together is the will of mysterious ancient forces, but if anything that makes it worse!

I also can’t stand how unfair everyone was to Niamh, Liadan’s sister, and the treatment she got from her parents was so out of character. I absolutely hated how Liadan thought she was so special and how she acted when Niamh told her what was happening in her marriage. Contrary to Sorcha and her brothers, Liadan’s bond with her brother and sister feels weak and disconnected. Liadan thinks more of herself than anyone else while being complimented for being so selfless. There is a moment in the book when someone says Liadan is the favourite daughter... what a great family. I feel so sorry for Niamh, even though I didn’t really like her at first too.

While the former book had a mention of love and marriage between cousins that was in the background enough that I could ignore it, but in this one the incest is essential to the plot. The characters see it as wrong, but their behaviour about the situation was so horrendous that it seems like readers are meant to see it as right (especially given how the story ended). Once again there is also a romance between a 16 year old and a 20 something year old, which I guess it’s just common in old fantasy at this point.

There were so many stories! Why are there so many tales in the middle of the book? Everything was an excuse to tell a story often very loosely related to the plot.

The “emotional” moments didn’t work since I wasn’t invested in any of the characters after some chapters and reading the last 150 pages of this book was a struggle.

The reason that this book gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because I was engaged at first and I liked the writing for the most part. I read the Portuguese translation and occasionally there were odd word choices, but overall it was still a nice translation. Not atmospheric like the first book, but some passages still had a mysterious magical feel to it.

In the end I am left very disappointed and with the hope that the third book is better even though I know already it will not be as good as the first one, given the premise and the fact that it’s a sequel to this. I will never reread this book again, but I will still reread the first one and treat it as a standalone. ( )