Veena’s review of Dreamspinner (Nine Kingdoms: Ruith and Sarah, Book 4) by Lynn Kurland
Fantasy Romance published by Berkley Trade 31 Dec 12
If you enjoy Epic Fantasy then Lynn Kurland’s Nine Kingdom series is for you. Dreamspinner kicks of the third trilogy in this series. Morgan and Miach are ruling Neroche as the much-loved king and queen are content to rest in their laurels, having fulfilled their quest. Ruith and Sara have just pledged their troth, and now it’s Runach’s turn. Scarred and stripped of his magic in his father’s quest for ultimate power, he has spent his life hiding away in the schools of Wizardry with Master Sollier. Now he hopes to hide away in obscurity as an ordinary soldier in some anonymous corner of the Nine Kingdoms. However, fate is determined to thwart his plans by casting him into the role of an unlikely champion to Aisling of Bruadir.
Aisling of Bruadair was sold at a young age to the weaving guild by her parents and has spent her entire life in cheerless servitude weaving reams of grey, unexciting cloth. But all of that is about to change. A few months short of her majority, when she finally dreams of freedom, she is cast adrift from all she knows by an unlikely set of circumstances and is set out on a path to find a champion swordsman to help save her country. In an interesting series of coincidences, her path crosses with Runach and he is in the position to save her time after time as she is set upon and stripped of everything she owns by people she encounters on her way to Weger’s castle to find a swordsman.
Soon Aisling finds that she is not devoid of weapons but, in fact, she can command strong magic. Runach commits to finding her a champion and they adjourn first to Melksham to research in Nicholas’s library and then on to Neroche to spend time in Miach’s library. As Aisling begins to bloom and Runach is willy nilly led into caring about her fate, we meet some of our old favorite characters and see them flourishing. There are many hints of what is to come in the future for these two characters, if they can find themselves. Ruith and Sara’s story features some of the historical facts surrounding the mysterious dreamweavers and spinners, which it appears that Aisling belongs to.
Will Aisling’s magic restore Runach to his previous stature and skills in magic and spell casting? Is Aisling more than she seems and time will see her secrets and magic revealed? Beautifully told in Lynn Kurland’s voice, this is the start of what appears to be a compelling story that will unfold. I will wait anxiously as we walk deeper into the Aisling and Runach’s world to see how the quest unfolds and what it reveals.
Grade: B
Summary:
Aisling of Bruadair has lived a provincial life, removed from the evil creeping over her land. Her ordinary existence changes forever, though, when she is sent to the opposite end of the world to find a master swordsman. If she fails, her life–and her country’s safety–will be forfeit. She just never expected that swordsman to be a wounded elven prince masquerading as a simple soldier.
Powerless and scarred from long-ago conflict, Rùnach of Ceangail has spent years in obscurity, ignoring battles he can no longer fight. And although he has been drawn back into the world, he fully intends to live an unremarkable life far away from events he knows he cannot change . . .
Until Rùnach meets Aisling and realizes that she is far more than what she seems, that their alliance has attracted unwelcome notice, and that some battles must be fought.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
Nine Kingdoms:
Ruith and Sarah:
