This is the 5th book in Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series and in my opinion one of the best. I actually read this for the Read It 2011 Twitter challenge. The theme of May was #grrlpower and there was a lot of it in this new instalment.The Skull of the World focuses on the journey of Isabeau, our original protagonist. It takes off where she left off in Book 3 - in a self-imposed exile on the Spine of the World. Isabeau is learning from her father's people, the Khan'cohbans, and is soon to embark on her Journey of Initiation to the Skull of the World. It is here that she discovers her remarkable and unique power (there's no way I'm telling you what it is, you'll just have to read the book). She returns to Luceshire and continues her study to become a Sorceress only to find her life uprooted again when the evil Margrit of Arran strikes. Isabeau, using her newfound Sorceress skills and that talent she found in the Skull of the World (the one I'm not telling you about) is the only one who can stop Margrit.
This is one of my favourite books in the series and a great choice for #grrlpower. We've known Isabeau from the first book where she was nothing but a 16-year-old girl with very little understanding of witchcraft and the world outside of the woods in which she lived. Now she's grown into a powerful witch with the potential to be one of the greatest Sorceress's of all time. Along the way she meets with adversity and has to fight her mental and physical demons to get where she is today. These include the memory of being tortured, her horribly maimed and disfigured hand and the realisation that her path may not be like that of her Sister's. Isabeau makes a choice to overcome these difficulties and this choice leads to an inspiring personal journey.
I really enjoy Kate Forsyth's style of writing. She draws the reader in with her intriguing plotlines and (while I know it sounds cliched) if I had hours I'd be completely immersed in this series. It's great to see her characters develop and grow, and, after 5 books, it will be sad to see the series get completely wrapped up in the next book. Great read!
No comments:
Post a Comment