Review: Brighid's Quest

My Synopsis:

Brighid's Quest (Partholon series - Book 2) by P.C. Cast

(For review from Harlequin Teen)

Brighid Dihanna the Huntress for Clan Macallen, is asked by the Chieftain of the clan, Elphame to go to the Wastelands in search of Elphame's brother, who is leading a group of outcasts to their new home in Partholon. When Brighid finds Cuchulain, she begins to understand that Cu's soul has been shattered by the death of this lover, Brenna. Unable to deal with her death he has lost a part of himself that he may never regain without her help.

The Fomorian's have long been outcasts because of their demon blood. When Elphame sacrificed herself and took on the madness within their blood they became new. Now the Fomorian's will enter Partholon and try to find a place in a land that believes they are capable of anything. But, with the help of Brighid and Cuchulain the Partholonians begin to see that the New Fomorian's are so much more than they could have known.

Brighid must face her past as she quest's to take her place as High Shaman and leader of centaurs. She must undo the damage created by her mother when she could not control her hunger for power. Will Cuchulain find the shattered part of his soul and love again? Can Brighid find the Chalice of Epona the beloved Goddess and drink before her brother seals the fate of the centaur herd. Will the New Fomorian's find a home or another prison in Partholon?

My Thoughts:

Brighid's Quest is the second book in the Partholon series. This is the first book I have read by author P.C Cast. I had heard many good reviews of the Divine series also by P.C. Cast and was excited when I got the opportunity to review this book. I was certainly not disappointed. I don't usually go for novels that are what I would term "fantasy" even though I do like the paranormal. This book would have to be an exception. I really liked the world that P.C. Cast has created in this novel. Partholon is full of different creatures from centaurs to demon's with wings and yet it has features we would expect of any world, like waterfalls and rolling hills, and the plains.

There were several themes going on in this book. Brighid's quest was about so much more than drinking from the chalice and becoming the High Shaman. It delved into overcoming your past and making choices to break the cycle, when Brighid must figure out how to use the same power wisely that drove her mother crazy with the hunger for more. The book also dealt with the issue of what happens to a person's soul when they experience not only trauma but deep and agonizing grief, when we see Cu's battle to get over Brenna's horrifying death. Another theme in the book was tolerance and being able to look at a what's inside of a person and not judging them on what others like them may have done, with the New Formorian's entry into Partholon. So, this book may have been fantasy but there was whole lot of reality going on it.

Author, P.C. Cast has done an excellent job with this book and I was really impressed. I going to give this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

If you've never read anything by this author you should definitely give the Partholon series a try. The first book, Elphame's Choice and the second book, Brighid's Quest are available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

Here is some information about the author, P.C. Cast.

P.C. Cast was born in Illinois and grew up being shuttled back and forth between there and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter Horses and mythology (at about the same time). She could ride before she could walk, and she read every horse story she could get her hands on until her father introduced her to The Lord of the Rings when she was about ten. She went from that to Anne McCaffrey's Pern -- and was hooked on fantasy for life.

Five days after graduating from high school, she joined the United States Air Force, which is where she began speaking professionally. After her tours with the USAF, Ms. Cast attended college as a literature major with a secondary education minor.

Her first novel, Goddess by Mistake, was published by a small press in 2001. Thoroughly shocking the author, it won The Prism, The Holt Medallion and the Laurel Wreath, as well as being a finalist for the National Readers Choice Award. Since then Ms. Cast has gone on to win numerous writing awards. She is the author of the very popular Goddess Summoning Series for Berkley, and is thrilled that with her Partholon series for LUNA Books she has been given the opportunity to continue the world she created in her first book.

P.C. Cast lives and teaches in Oklahoma with her fabulous daughter, her spoiled cat, Patchy Poo the Pud, and her Scotties -- better known as the Scottinators. The daughter attends college. The cat has decided against higher education. The Scottinators are as yet undecided about their future.