On page 117I am regretting buying this book. The main character is way too naive for my liking and I think it would've worked better if the author made it in a little bit of an Alice in Wonderland style and made her 7 or 8, which is so much more believable. The romantic aspect would only have to be slightly tweaked. Why do authors purposely make their characters stupid? Laurel is in no way a realistic 16 year old. I haven't seen (or maybe I haven't looked hard enough) one bad review on Goodreads for this which surprises me. The writing is very simplistic and I keep imagining this as an advanced children's book that can be read aloud.The descriptions of the Fay, Ireland, and nature are beautiful and there are enough of them to keep me thinking maybe it will get better a third of the book, in but the simplistic writing style puts a damper on my mood.On page 133I just can't ignore it. What's a better way to describe it other than childish? It's meant for a younger audience, there too many cliches... I am 16, my reading's a bit more advanced than my peers but I read a lot of YA fiction and there are so much better things. I feel as if this is the summary written by an eigth grade student of a book that could actually be good if you were reading it and not another school kid's work. It doesn't even really try to make you believe in the fairy world, after a few moments of doubt at the beginning it's all jolly hoe! Laurel doesn't even think to ask the barest of questions like; How exactly am I going to get my sister back? Won't that be a problem if you're trying to hide the existence of Faerie from people? What about the fact that her body is in a coffin? And you just know that the author purposely dumbed her down because if she actually asked these questions the whole premise of the book would probably collapse!Is she just too grief stricken to ask these questions? Something about her grief for her sister always rings false whenever it comes up. Laurel is simply not believable as a human being (maybe an alien?) and her dialogue with Ian is wince worthy. So cliched! It's all fine to read this stuff in books sometimes but actually try to imagine this stuff happening in real life.""I feel like you're looking after me," she said, with a little laugh."Maybe you need some looking after."She concentrated on her sandwich."I think I read somewhere this book was lyrical... Beautiful enough descriptions of Ireland to make you feel as if you were there...(That bit about the summary might have been a bit harsh but I am not used to the short sentenced style...) End...I'll admit, this book perked up at the end but I look at the books I've given 2 stars and I'm not really sorry to say this doesn't rank with them. Hopefully The Light Bearer's Daughter will not make this author a total bust for me.1.5 *sD-
You can find more reviews, along with this one on my blog Hope, Faith & BooksI did enjoy the book. As with The Hunter's Moon (the first book in the series), I really enjoyed the Irish language and culture and we got to learn even more about that in this book. So in this book Laurel travels back to Ireland where a year before her sister Honor died. I found it really sad that all throughout the book Laurel was shadows by her sisters death. She did everything she did for her sister. She came back to Ireland to get answers about Honors death. She wanted to know why her sister was on the mountain in the first place. But to get answers to that question and others she has to pretend to believe in the faeries like her sister did. Along the way she finds out her sister may still be able to live in faerie but she has to free the summer king to light the midsummer fire to be able to free Honor from the place she's in to be able to live in faerie.Laurel really struggled throughout the book. She had to pretend to believe in faeries to help set Honor free to live in faerie but throughout the book she struggles with believing. She would meet a faerie and learn something but then meet another who said the other wasn't telling the truth. It was really hard for her to know who to trust on top of her wavering belief in faeries. She found someone to help though. Her childhood friend from Ireland named Ian. She was not sure if she could trust him at first but eventually he earned her trust and helped her. I can understand her not wanting to trust people. With all that had happened and not even being told the truth half the time I can understand why she wasn't sure of who to trust. In the end though Laurel succeeds with freeing the summer king even and getting the fire lit even though it came with some major struggles. She never gave up though. I got to give her that. She was a fighter, and it was all for her sister. With this book I have the same complaint as with the previous. I felt there should have been more character development. We only really learn about Laurel and a little about Ian. That was about it. I would have loved to get to know more about the other characters. Overall though I'd say the book was still good and I'd recommend it if you enjoyed the first one.
Laurel is in Ireland visiting her Grandparents on the anniversary of her twin sister's death. She is determined to figure out the source of the weird journal entries that appear in Honor's journal prior to her death. This search brings Laurel face to face with the realm of faeries and a mysterious promise that she can save her sister if she agrees to go on a quest to save the king of faerie. The quest is dangerous and brings Laurel many trials as she finds out the true meaning behind saving her sister.I really liked this book because there is a feeling of history behind all of the relationships and because there is a great sense of adventure. The author really gives the landscape and the culture great descriptions to make them come to life for the reader. There is very mild content in this book. a couple curses (though they aren't in English) and that is all.
—Maren
Loved this book. Like the first one, Hunter's Moon, there is lots of Irish language in the book, but this one had the glossary organized in alphabetical order instead of in order of appearance in the book. The language was also not as intrusive as in book 1. I liked the character development in this book too. I really cared about both of the main characters. I couldn't wait to see how it all worked out. You also have to love a book about faeries in our modern times that also lets you meet a fascinating historical character like Grace O'Malley who ruled the Irish coast as a pirate queen for 40 or so years between about 1560 and 1603 (I didn't check the exact dates).
—Julie
I found myself quite engrossed in this book, grabbing for it at nearly every spare moment, which is always a good sign. Melling, as in the previous book, keeps things interesting and fast paced. Her descriptions of the scenery, of the fairies, and of everything else is, as always, detailed and beautiful. My only complaints are these:The relationship between Laurel and Ian seemed to plateau, and not develop any further. I was really looking forward to the further development that didn't happen.I found the ghosts a bit incongruous with fairy. Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed them, I just felt that they belonged in a different book. All in all an enjoyable read. I look forward to the next book in the series!
—Annalise
