Skip to main content

The Mage's Daughter by Lynn Kurland

I had forgotten how into the first book in the Nine Kingdoms series I was until I got five pages into this second volume and instantly remembered. Oh, right. This story totally rocks. The first volume, Star of the Morning, ends in utter chaos. Nothing is resolved, everyone's in peril, and I remember closing the book in disbelief at the audacity of ending a book in such a way when the sequel would not be out for another year. I wasn't too upset, of course, because the book had been so dang enjoyable. I even wrote an email to Ms. Kurland asking if she had sat back and basked in evil glee after typing the last word. She responded and commiserated with me. She, too, was in utter despair after ending it that way and had to spend some good time recuperating before she could continue. That made me feel somewhat better.

Fortunately, The Mage's Daughter picks up right where its predecessor left off. The chapters alternate between Morgan of Melksham's story as she struggles to survive after destroying the Sword of Angesand and fleeing the Archmage of Neroche, and Miach of Neroche's story as he struggles to keep the realm intact and find Morgan at the same time. Morgan and Miach are both such sympathetic characters. You desperately want them to work out their differences and accept who they are because they deserve a measure of happiness after all they've been through. That and the fact that you want them to join their awesome forces to defeat the perfidious Lothar and figure out just what kind of ubercrap is creeping out of Bain's Well. I enjoyed this book so much I unconsciously dragged it out, savoring every chapter. It's terrifically entertaining and I love Lynn Kurland's writing style. Highly recommended to anyone who loves a good adventure. But make sure you grab Star of the Morning first!

Links:
Genre Go Round Review
Fresh Fiction Review
Labels:

Comments

  1. Sally9:50 AM

    Just wondering if you're going to post about the 3rd book in this series. Did I miss it?

    Thanks,
    Sally

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angiegirl5:57 PM

      Hey, Sally! I don't think I will review it at this point. I read it way back in the day now. It was good and a satisfying conclusion to the main trilogy, if not quite as strong as the first two. This middle novel remains my very favorite.

      Delete
  2. Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard11:11 AM

    I have been eyeing this series for a while now. I'm glad to know you loved the first two books so much! Has the rest of the series lived up to the first two?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angiegirl5:55 PM

      I enjoyed the third one but didn't feel it was *quite* as strong as the first two. This one remains my favorite. I'm behind on the spin-off novels, though.

      Delete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Terms of Endearment

Have you ever been reading a book, moving along quite nicely, and then-- bam --a character whips out a particular term of endearment that just yanks you right out of the story? It happened to me recently, and I'm sad to say I couldn't recover. I did try. But she just kept using that term and I . . . I had to get the hell out of Dodge. Buh-bye, story. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm not saying this is the norm (thank goodness). I can put up with a certain amount of treacly back and forth when it comes to the exchange of terms of endearment, especially if they fit the characters, their background, culture, the tenor of their relationship, etc. And the history of these terms  at home and from around the world is often fascinating (at times hilarious). But there comes a point where I can't see past the cheese and/or weird anymore and I do not want to be with these people any longer . Shallow? Perhaps. But it's a very individual thing, isn't it?...
54 comments
Read more

Interview with April Lindner + Jane Giveaway!

I'm very excited about today's interviewee. As you know, I had been looking forward to the publication of Jane for months when a review copy happened in my lap and I let out a gasp of joy. Being a modernized retelling of Jane Eyre with a rock star-ized Mr. Rochester named Nico and a cover that hits every last one of my aesthetic buttons, it was sort of made to order for this reader. Needless to say, it more than lived up to my not inconsiderable expectations and I have been recommending it on a pretty much daily basis to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors . . . you get the picture. It's now just under a month until the book is out and, in anticipation of the release, I invited  April Lindner over to dish about all things Jane. She kindly accepted. Please welcome April! First things first: The Cover. I am in deep smit with that cover. Did you have any input and what was your reaction upon seeing it for the first time? I adore the cover too, and was blown away the...
76 comments
Read more

Haters to the Left

So lately I've been doing a lot of rereading. Hence the lack of new reviews. I do apologize, but I have to go where the literary whim dictates, you know? Stacks of new books and all I want to do right now is cuddle up with old friends. And so that's precisely what I've been doing and it's been blissful in the extreme, I must say. But this does not mean that I've stopped reading reviews around the blogosphere and on GoodReads . Oh, no. And I have to say I've been a bit bemused by quite a few of them lately. Maybe bemused is the wrong word. Outraged is probably too strong. Flummoxed, or even better-- incredulous --would most accurately describe my feeling upon reading disparaging, even disdainful reviews of books that I love, that own a little piece of my soul. So perhaps you'll pardon me if I go on just a little bit of a rampage. Before we go any further, let me just state for the record that everyone is entitled to her own opinion of any book. And they...
43 comments
Read more