JULIET MARILLIER


Reviewed by Jill Smith - March 27, 2024
Neryn had always lived a difficult life. Her father was not the man he’d been. She protected him as best she could. When he went to a boat to gamble and drink, Neryn waited by the door to help him. She never expected him to use her as his wager. A man accepted the bet and took her away from the only remaining family she had.
Alban was not the land it had once been either. Keldec reigned and healers and people with the canny craft were hunted and killed. The Cull had begun and the soldiers in Keldec’s army would burn villages, and kill any magical people.
The man that paid the wager, built her a fire and offered to protect her on the journey. She refused to accept his help, he was a stranger and she had a canny gift that was a danger to herself and anyone she knew.
Travelling on, would be dangerous but, as an orphan, what choice did she have? The man said she had a choice. Stay with her father and die in a burning boat, or die in the cull, or go with him.
Her solitary journey led her to meet many canny folk. To meet up again with the man who bought her. She became ill and he helped her travel and recover.
The twists and turns Neryn met were shadowed by fear of commitment, sadness recalling the past, and living to meet her abilities and potential. Would Neryn be able to fight to save Alban when everyone around her was afraid?
There is so much happening within this story. The journey ahead is likely to be three more books at least. The journey Neryn had seen ahead in the vision in the pool at Odds cave.