The Morrigans are rising. After fighting dragons, wild Vikings, and clockwork monsters, Nathair is facing the biggest challenge of his life: proposing to Bryhannon. Apparently, flowers and a three-month salary worth ring aren’t enough because she doesn’t seem thrilled by the proposal. Bryhannon loves Nathair; however, she has a devastating power to control, Reapers to face, and more importantly … to face, and more importantly she has to find the courage to tell him she’s one of the deadly, feared Morrigans.
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I haven’t read the first book, but if it’s anything near as enjoyable as this one, I need to soon! Having not read the first, and this being a sequel, the odds were against me liking it so much, so I’m thrilled to say that it’s a hit!
I loved reading Bryhannon and Nathair’s story, and get the feeling, at least in part, that these can serve as stand-alones as they each seem to feature a different couple as the main characters, which served me just fine! I loved getting to meet some of the other characters too, and look forward to reading more of their stories as I read the others in the series!
I really enjoyed this one, and am glad to recommend it to readers of fantasy with romantic and Arthurian elements. I recommend reading the whole series, as they seem to be intended that way, but if one strikes your interest, then they can also be read as a stand alone, or out-of-order if you prefer. Recommended.
Excellent Round Two!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book of the series. It artfully combined medieval fantasy with steampunk elements (love those!) and was deeply grounded in the Arthurian myths. I was looking forward to this second book, and I am happy to say that I am not disappointed. It certainly is not as humorous as the first one, as it treads more serious ground. But the author still manages to weave in humor with some excellent one-liners and spells that go very awry. The four main characters spend the bulk of the book separated from each other, but I did love seeing them all together at the beginning. Nathair and Tristan are charged with a mission to get a truth serum from the Snake people, but before they head off, they both get to spend some time with their lady loves. Nathair proposes to Bryhannon, but it didn’t go quite as he’d hoped. She has secrets that she can’t share—of who she is and a difficult challenge coming up—and this holds her back despite her love for him. One secret finds her before the dreaded Reapers being questioned to see whether she has magic. I felt so sad for Nathair’s sister, whose self-esteem and confidence issues make her doubt Tristan. How will it shake out for these couples? The story focuses a great deal on three Morrigans, who have been cursed by a jealous god to only be able to do evil acts. I enjoyed this aspect as the original Morgan le Fay is one who has always fascinated me. And, what about that serum? As you can tell, a lot is going on here on multiple fronts. But the author juggled everything well. I read most books while I eat lunch or dinner, and I would find myself lingering at the table just to be able to read more about their adventures.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
This is book two in the New Camelot series and tells the tale of the Morrigans rising, the three most powerful witches ever known. The two brave knights from the first book, half snake Nathair and his best friend Tristan are finding out that true love never runs smoothly. After fighting off dragons, clockwork monsters and more, they are sent off on a dangerous new mission to Snake Mountain for a truth serum, to help them catch a mole within the Swan Knights. Princess Bryhannon has been disowned her by her father, she is also still being investigated by the Reapers for having possible powers as a witch and she can’t tell her biggest secret to the young man she loves, that she is a Morrigan, until she can get a handle on her powers, before she ends up killing him, having come close to doing so beforehand.
Tristan’s love, Nathair’s younger sister Nineveh, believes that with the number of previous girlfriends he has had and his silver tongue, which can even get dragons to do as ha asks, should not be trusted and that he couldn’t possibly love a poor half snake girl with a badly disfigured leg. After meeting a jealous ex or not quite an ex, at the Beltane Ball, she is too upset to stick around and volunteers as a healer out in Londinium, a dangerous place, close to the lines where the Saxons are battling against them and there are going to be many wounded knights to deal with. Tristan and Nathair leave on their missions, Tristan with no voice, due to a badly done spell by the wizard accompanying them, both desperate to hear from their girlfriends and hope everything is alright. What Nathair doesn’t know until much later, is that Bryhannon got taken in by a Reaper for more questioning in the Tower and her magic exploded out of control, when a test for a Morrigan was placed in front of her.
She escapes all alone and without hope, until Torgall the wizard rescued her. He had said in the first book, that she would willingly come back to him, and it seems she has no choice. She has nowhere else to go and nowhere she will be safe in her own lands. Torgall has a plan to reunite the three Morrigans, the first were sisters, all with different powers. One was the Destroyer, one the Deceiver and the other the Diviner. Torgall has managed to get two of them now and knows the location of the third. When all three are reunited, then nobody will be safe, as the original three known as the Raven Goddesses, used their powers doing good, they were cursed to only do evil by a jealous God. Everybody now fears them, same as they fear any female witch, believing all female witches are an abomination and can only do evil. Only men are allowed to use magic!
Another cracking storyline, with quite a few amusing one-liners and silly spells gone wrong. Not quite as comical as the first book of the series, with the setting up of a knight in distress, rather than the damsel, but not far off it! There are plenty of fun situations and very original lines from the characters, with a good few surprises and twists thrown in to keep you guessing and hold your attention the whole way though. I certainly can’t wait to read what happens next and whether Bryhannon can prove they can do good and not allow the evil of their predecessors to take over their own free will. Will good triumph over evil and will female witches ever be free to live an ordinary life, practising their craft in peace? I look forward to finding out. I would recommend this highly to all who love a bit of humour and adventure, as well as magic and thrills. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
Russell proves her literary skills of being able to capture her audience just as well with a sequel as the original, once again. With characters that are well developed into a world well imagined we learn life for Bryhannon and Nathair is far from a smooth adventure. Seeing them grow, learn, work through self doubt as the turns keep coming. Book two carries a serious tone but the humor is cut into it perfectly with a dash of romance just enough from making I
t truly a romance.
With the ending length is book it felt like it could be the end of it but there is enough that I could see book three being possible hopefully!