Rating: 
Summary: Bleh!
Review: I ordered this book (and the second in the series) after reading the numerous rave reviews here, and I can't remember the last time I was so seriously disappointed and bored by a book. I bought the book several months ago and still pick it up periodically to slough through a few more pages, still hoping to find the magic that everyone else apparently has. To date, I am only half-way through the book.**I devour books. I have read hundreds, if not thousands of books, in my life. In that entire time, I can count on one hand the number of books I have not been able to finish because they were so abyssmal. This book is about to be added to that collection.** I had to add that last bit because even though I can almost always find something to enjoy in a book, this book is defying me to find anything redeemable. The characters are shallow, the story is marginally original, and the world is even less so. And the writing? Ugh. If you are going to write dialect, write it well. If you are going to write a story, well another reviewer put it best - "show, don't tell". I figure so many Amazon reviewers can't be wrong, so you should probably take my review with a grain of salt. But, if you can't look past the problems that I've mentioned with this book, then maybe you should pick this up from the library and skim it before investing in buying it and any others in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Mildly interesting, somewhat amateurish though
Review: I found this book to be mildly interesting; it held my attention more or less long enough for me to finish it. The detailed description of witchcraft was good, I thought, and there were some interesting touches like the skeelie woman who held Isabeau captive in her hut, but honestly, I've seen Celtic mythology done so many times before it's just not that new anymore. I did feel a certain lack of depth to the characters, and there were some amateurish touches--for example, the entire book being written in dialect was, I think, the mark of a new author and I felt the torture scene was somewhat unskillfully handled. It's good enough light fiction; if I want something more serious, I'll read Stephen R. Donaldson or Michelle West's Sun Sword books (Broken Crown, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing.
Review: I hate to be the lone dissenter here, but I was terribly disappointed by this book. I read all of the glowing reviews and so ordered it, fully anticipating enjoying the heck out of it. Forsyth has some interesting ideas and even a good plot. I found the more pagan ideas on witches a nice break from most medieval fantasy. Thus the two stars. Her downfall is her incredibly sloppy writing and poor characterization. The phrase "show, don't tell" came to my mind on almost every page of the book. I don't want to be told that
Isabeau longed for adventure - it strikes me as amateurish at best. Show me by her actions. If you have to go into her thoughts, then don't make such general, I need to establish a character statements. Trust your reader to understand her through her actions, and if the reader doesn't, then you need to work on the character. And even when she went out of her way to say that a character was one way, the actions sometimes disagreed with it. Meghan of the beasts, having bowel actions all over the place because she's talking to dragons. Er... I thought she was a leader, someone who communicated with animals, and somewhat brave, level-headed, and clever. It's okay for a brave character to be scared, but bowel actions? Falling to the floor in awe? I know a lot of people enjoyed this book, and if you order it, I hope you do as well. But if you're as annoyed by sloppy writing as I am, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
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