I knew this book was going to be about Elada because he was the most likely choice from the characters in the series so far. Plus, there was an excerpt of the beginning of this book at the end of the book. 😁

Elada has been bound to the Far sorcerer, Miach, for most of his long life which started before the days of the Romans. To save Elada's life Miach released him from his bond. Now Elada is free to pursue his own life and even marry if he likes.

Thousands of years ago, the Far Court was banished by the Druids to the Otherworld but the wall between worlds is weakening. The Druids were wiped out by the remaining Fae who worked with the Romans to destroy them. At least, that's what the Fae thought until they discovered some Druids had survived and there are a few of their descendants strong enough to bring down that wall.

Of course, no Druid would willingly bring back the Fae Court because they are cruel and lack any kind of empathy. They'd hunt down and kill all Druids and any half-blood Fae. Most free Fae don't want to see the Fae Court back because they have fathered generations of half-breeds with humans.

The Prince Consort, however, would love to bring back the Fae Court. The Queen was his lover and he is just as cruel as she was and he wants his former glory back. He and his followers have identified Druids all over the world and are going after them take away their will and bring down the wall. Now, it's a race for Elada and his allies to find these Druids before the Prince Consort finds them.

When Miach hands Elada a file with a photo of a Druid, he immediately recognizes her. She sings at a local pub and her voice drew him in to watch her. He's been infatuated ever since. Miach tells him to win her to their side or eliminate her because she would be dangerous if the Prince got ahold of her.

Sorcha is a talented singer and instrumentalist. She knows of the Fae and knows to stay away from them. She's seen Elada at the Black Rose where she performs many times but he has never approached her until now. Her last encounter with a Fae had not gone well so she decides to get the heck out of Dodge.

The one thing that always drives me batty is when the female protagonist runs from the good guys when she knows there's a powerful evil guy out there who will crush her if they catch her. It doesn't make me think they are brave. It makes me think they are stupid. The bad guy always catches them and the good guy always has to save them. Ugh!

Luckily, the female protagonist in this series are badasses on their own so I can get over the running like an idiot bit and it didn't ruin the book for me so I can go on to the next book without rethinking my choice in series.

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Review to come

Sorcha never believed her grandmother when she warned her about the fairies, when she took away Sorcha’s violin and forbid her from music – a fate that, for a girl born with the mystical voice of the druids, is almost impossible to imagine

She learned how right her grandmother was when she fell into a fae’s clutches and it was only by chance and her long buried powers that she managed to escape. Now she’s much more careful – but the fae have still come looking for her; Elada with his claims of love and alliance and the Prince who wishes to enslave her for his own terrible needs. Worse, there are many fae with long memories of the druids’ abuses – and are still bitterly seeking revenge.

The framework of this book is interesting. The underlying world building is excellent – we have the ancient druids and fae with a terrible history that is interestingly balanced on both sides. There’s a lot of hatred to bury that is especially difficult and complicated given the immortal nature of the fae who, of course, remember the atrocities the druids committed against them and their loved ones. Asking them to just let it go is complicated. We have at least 3 different fae factions who, to a greater or lesser degree, all fear the Prince successfully bringing the court back. But they all have dramatically different views when it comes to humans and especially druids – the politicking as these groups try to work together but clash is excellent to navigate.

But when you look at the details it doesn’t follow through so well. There’s too much call-back to characters from previous books (and I think part of this is, I admit, from my missing the second book), like Conn and Beth and Helene – I’m not sure why they’re even in this book since they didn’t really add anything to it.

The plot itself starts quite well – though romance is a large part and (as mentioned below), I’m not a fan of it. Sorcha is interesting enough – but the ending is a rather clichéd kidnapping complete with “I must go alone because bad guy said so” which is so infuriatingly overdone and hardly ever makes sense – especially considering Sorcha’s complete ignorance over what she’s dealing with. We have a side order of trusting the bad guys to keep their word (complete non-spoiler: they don’t). And relying on her super power kicking in despite her being very new to it, barely able to control it, not even able to use it most of the time AND not expecting the bad guys to have a counter measure for even though they know she has it and are all super worried because of that. As an extra bonus, the bad guys who super-duper want her dead, are going to wait a long time before they actually kill her.

It’s one of those plot lines where she should probably be dead. Really really dead.

One of the recurring threats presented in this series from the fae is that they are super-duper sexy and their voices are impossible to disobey unless you’re touching cold iron. This opens the door to lots of sexual abuse – and that happens. When Sorcha and the Prince face off, he tries to seduce her – with lots of groping - and there’s no real story reason for it. Once he forces her to remove the iron ring, which he’s quite capable of through non-sexual means, there was no need for any more. And there was certainly no need to give her the wine of Uber Horniness. I have wracked my brains for an excuse for this – especially since this wine is supposed to be super expensive and rare and I can’t think of anything he achieved having her drink it that he couldn’t have achieved by threatening her best friend (which he did anyway).

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The third book in the Cold Iron series, Stone Song is a great addition. The main character Sorcha Kavanaugh loves to sing and play Celtic instruments, even though her grandmother forbids it for her own safety. Her silence will keep her safe from the Fae discovering her special Druid powers.
Eldad Brightsword has been watching Sorcha, he want's to protect and help her use powers to her advantage, but must find the right time to approach her. He doesn't want to scare her away.
When an enemy get to close Eldad has no choice but to take Sorcha to a safe house for her own protection, and also be taught how use her powers.
The storyline is full of action and thrills and the chemistry between Eldad and Sorcha is great as their relationship grows through out plot. A very entertaining series, well worth a look at. ( )