Review: Read this Great Viking Tale for the rest of the story!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2012
I enjoyed this sequel to RAELIKSEN, though I didn't think it was quite as good as that first one.At the end of RAELIKSEN, Mara (the Connacht princess and wife of the Northman, Raeliksen), was left a pregnant widow. Not exactly the happy ending you might have been seeking, I know. Now, seven years later, Mara is raising Daegan's son alone, and the man she thinks is her father, the king, is dying. Breandan Mac Liam, the Irish hunter who loved her in book one, is sent by the dying king to retrieve his daughter. For seven long years, Breandan has loved Mara, dreaming of her every night and unable to love any other woman. Now he will be with her once again.I loved Breandan...he was consistently honorable, strong, wise and unafraid of the obstacles to his loving Mara. But what happened to Mara in this sequel? She seemed weaker and more tossed about by events than in the first one where I thought she was a bit stronger. I thought her continued vow of love for her dead husband, Daegan, somewhat distracted from the main love story. And it just brought back the pain of the first book's ending. I imagine the author wants to show you can love two people at the same time (one dead) but it came across a bit disappointing to me. And Breandan's being ok with her loving Daegan was a bit too understanding. After all, it had been 7 years. I liked the side story of Gustaf and AEsa, and their story is coming up in 2012!Some places the story lagged to my mind, though the battle toward the end was quite good. The aftermath was a bit bizarre. Mara, though an Irish princess, was treated like just another person for the whole story, except at the end when the people were suddenly bowing down to her, even Breandan. That was kind of strange.For those of you, like me, who were left hanging at the end of RAELIKSEN, and want the rest of the story, this is a must read.