Review: Arlais, "a girlchild born with a healing hand . . . "
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
. . . learns that her life will follow - sometimes too tragically - the pattern laid out in the Prophecy that has been passed down in her family for at least the last two generations.  And the reader learns along with Arlais that getting ahead of yourself in trying to fit the prophecy to the present situation or the people you find yourself with, well, that just won't help you make sense of things.  Tragedy turns into a beautiful relationship; fulfillment turns into deception; as death turns into new life.  The Welsh girl makes new starts, turns corners into new patterns for her life, all the time learning how her life is following that pattern she had learned to recite so early in her life.  There are notable descriptive moments, epiphanies for the reader along with the characters, and finely evoked insights into how disappointments and crushing life blows can serve to forge stronger character.  "It seemed that no matter how dire the situation, Arlais would always find cause to be happy."  Plenty of fine passages that help us overlook typos or other linguistic flubs, like "one of the vastest forests" and "one of the principle roads."