Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Tapestry of Spells by Lynn Kurland

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Publication Date: January 2010

One Word Review: Okay

Author Website: www.lynnkurland.com

GoodReads Synopsis: Sarah's brother has embraced the dark arts, vowing to destroy the Nine Kingdoms, and she doesn't have the power to stop him. Now she must risk everything to thwart his plans, even though she fears the quest will reveal the secret she's kept all her life. After seeing his entire family slain by magic, Ruithneadh swore never to use his power again. But when Sarah pleads for his help, he's thrust back into a life of enchantments and peril, and a quest capable of unraveling the entire fabric of the Nine Kingdoms.

Kathy’s Review: I was excited when I found A Tapestry of Spells, since I enjoyed the Nine Kingdoms trilogy I had read before. I knew it was set in the same place, following new characters. After I began reading I realized it wasn’t only the same place but the same time. The story runs concurrently with the Nine Kingdoms trilogy. To be honest, I didn’t like that it was almost the same story, just told from a completely different perspective. It kind of felt like a lot of re-hash and some of the mystery was gone since we know so much from the first trilogy. Although, it has been a while since I read the trilogy so I don’t remember a lot of the specifics.

Anyway, this story fallows Ruith and Sarah. I admit, I didn’t like them as much as Morgan and Miach from the original series. I did like Sarah, she is definitely tough in her own way, stubborn and once she sets her mind to something she will see it through. As for Ruith, I liked him okay. I got a little bored with how tired he got, how he kept his magic under lock and key, and how he never really made any “moves” on Sarah. I guess the lack of romance in the whole story was a little disappointing. It’s hinted at, and maybe Kurland is just saving it for the next two books, but I wanted more. Again, the story felt too similar to the first series, a lot of traveling and contemplation going on, with little else. I’m still deciding if I’ll read the rest of the series, I probably will because I do enjoy the setting and a bit of me is still curious how Ruith and Sarah’s story will end.

Bookworm Rating: 2.5

Nine Kingdoms Reading Order:
Book One: Star of the Morning
Book Two: The Mage’s Daughter
Book Three: Princess of the Sword

Book Four: A Tapestry of Spells
Book Five: TBD
Book Six: TBD

4 comments:

  1. I really couldn't get into this series in general. Even though I have read some of Kurland other books and liked them. I found them under the clean romances on goodreads. Great review my friend...

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  2. I like the cover of this one a lot. I've never read anything by this author.

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  3. Having read every Lynn Kurland book ever written, I couldn't read this one. I started. I tried. I found it seriously lacking, so I went back and read the first series again. I was very disappointed for my first time ever with one of her books.

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  4. Andrea- I've only read her Nine Kingdom series, since you've read so many of her books which was your favorite, what one would you recommend?

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