The Mage's Daughter - Lynn Kurland

This book is the second in the Nine Kingdoms Trilogy. Read our review of the first book, Star of the Morning, and the third book, Princess of the Sword.

Summary: Darkness in the kingdom...

Neroche is under assault by a mysterious magic that has stripped its king of his powers and unleased nightmarish creatures as weapons in a war of evil. Morgan of Melksham is fighting against that menace as well as for her life. Struggling to regain her strength after a near-fatal attack, Morgan realizes that she must decide between two fates: that of being a simple sheildmaiden or accepting her heritage as an elven princess. If only she could forget that she was the daughter of the perilous black mage of Ceangail...

Magic in the blood...

Duty bound to aid his king, Miach of Neroche is torn between what his responsibilities demand and what his heart desires. He is willing to risk his life to rescue Morgan from the darkenss that haunts her, but he must do so at the peril of his realm. Forced to choose between love and the burden of his mantle, Miach sets out on his most deadly quest ever. (Summary from book - Image from http://us.penguingroup.com )

My Review: Sometimes you can blaze through a book, care about the characters, sink into the plot, read the final page, and, minutes later, not really remember what happened in the story. That’s how I feel about The Mage’s Daughter. I had to actually go back and flip through to remind myself of the specific things I liked and disliked.

Everything that I enjoyed about this book was action-oriented and much of it will spoil the book if I elaborate. Miach has to expend a great deal of energy in an attempt to regain Morgan’s trust. The story also explores Morgan’s heritage and introduces some members of her extended family. However, what kept me reading for the first book (Morgan not knowing about Miach’s true identity and the tension between them) was understandably absent in the second. Barring an interesting portion of the book set in Scrymgeour Weger’s legendary fortress, most everything was settled between Miach and Morgan. Yes, you love each other. I like that you love each other, I really do, but at this point I’d also like to know what else is going on and perhaps stop all this chit-chat.

I was also irritated by Morgan’s transition from a fierce warrior to a needy, weeping, clingy maiden, however brief it may have been. At one point in the book, Miach fights to defend Morgan’s honor. In the first book, Morgan would have pushed Miach out of the way and kicked the crap out of his opponent on her own. Does she? Nope. She sits there on the sidelines and trembles in fear for her lethally-trained “beloved”. Give me a break. I’m hoping, that with the third book Morgan gets the rest of her spine back.

I felt that this book was an okay read, but functioned more as a transition period from the first book to the third. Despite my griping here, I am still going to pick up the final book in this series because I’m interested in how it all wraps up.

My Rating: 3.25 Stars. For the sensitive reader: Still very PG.

Sum it up: An okay read, but I wanted a faster pace and less all around weeping. I hope the next one is better.