http://teensniper.tumblr.com/post/58002385234/150-books-in-2013-59 ( )

(Second of 6 : Witches of Eileanan series. Fantasy)

The story continues on from Dragonclaw with Iseult and Lachlan travelling with Meghan to meet Isabeau who is hiding in the castle under the very noses of the Awl. The Righ is dying and Meghan needs to re-unite the three pieces of the Key so as to recover the Lodestone, whose power is linked to the Righ. But time is running out; it all needs to be done before the eclipse of the two moons of this planet for the prophecy to be fulfilled.

The rebellion is fizzing and we see a bit of Maya's powers. We find out who the Hunchback is and more heirs to the throne appear.

(hah! Just worked out that the dreaded Awl is the acronym for the Anti-Witchcraft League. Sometimes these things have to be spelled out for me. All this time, I've been thinking of a pointed leather-working tool).

The witches are currently outlawed in Eileannan and continue to practice their rites in secret. But I have to wonder, since they came from another world, if their rites have any power on this world?

I did find Bachaiche’s grumpiness starting to be a pain in the neck. I managed to gloss over the accents as I read (unless I came across an unfamiliar word - like uile-bheist) and follow the story more easily.

Still admiring Neal Armstrong's cover illustrations.

(Reviewing four months on from my notes.)

3*** ( )

This is the second book in the Witches of Eileanan series. I read the first couple hundred pages of this book and then stopped. I just could not get into this book. There are so many characters and so much jumping around that I started to keep notes on who was who and who was involved with what.

The above coupled with the phonetically spelled out speech was driving me nuts. I loved the first book and the world it built, but this book just jumps around between too many characters. Additionally the phonetic spelling of the dialogue is hard to read.

I don’t understand why authors have to rune perfectly good books by phonetically spelling out speech patterns. It is just as effective to day “they talked with a Scottish accent” or “they spoke with rounded consonants” or something else that tells you how the speech sounds without making you struggle through reading it phonetically.

Overall I was disappointed in this book and will not be continuing the series. ( )

Finally! After starting the series three times with [b:The Witches of Eileanan|264069|The Witches of Eileanan (The Witches of Eileanan, #1)|Kate Forsyth|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348601956s/264069.jpg|4290355] I moved onto book 2!

I still would like a map but I enjoy this series. A lot more happened in the book than I was expecting so I am interested to see where it will go from here. ( )

Meghan of the beasts knows the time is near. By the pool of the Two Moons in the ancient city of Lucescere the future of the witches of Eileanan will be decided. Our heroes have to travel there to try to solve the issues and to make a future happen.

It's a long read, but I can see that it's going places and I want to know more. Honestly I prefer some of her newer stuff. ( )