A new age has dawned in the kingdom of Eileanan. But the flame-haired twins--Iseult the Scarred Warrior and Isabeau the apprentice witch--must face their oldest fears. Iseult must fight by the side of her husband and Isabeau is off to the Cursed Towers to master her powers, and the family she's never known.

The original book which was part of this bookring got lost in the mail. You can see the journals here

The Cursed Towers(The witches of Eileanan Book 4) by Kate Forsyth

The original bookring participant list is here

eyeofhorus

Mailed to Abs on October by Express post on Oct 1

Just received yesterday. I'm so looking forward to reading these books (I've already peeked into this book).
Thanks, NeedSun! You totally rock!

I read this book this weekend. It was fantastic. So good, in fact, that I had to read the next book immediately. Thanks so much, NeedSun, for reinstating the bookring!

Sent on to Egypt to Cathepsut. I sent it surface mail, so it will arrive in 4-6 weeks. (sorry- that's all I could afford).

Yay, they finally arrived!!! I picked all 4 outstanding books up at the post office this morning. Unfortunately the cover of this one here has been cut - didn't know the customs guys have knifes this sharp!

From the back cover:
"A new age dawns in the kingdom of Eileanan, but not without resistance. Now the Righ, Lachlan the Winged, overturns his dead brother's decrees against witchcraft. But sixteen years of hatred and superstition have cloaked Eileanan in darkness...

The flame-haired twins must go their separate ways. Iseult to fight side by side with Lachlan. Isabeau to the Cursed Towers, to master her powers - and find the family she has never known."

I have omitted some of that, it gave away too much of the plot...

A slow start. The time spans covered in this book are bigger than in the first two. There are less details, everything is painted with a broader brush. It feels a bit as if she's trying get the story going faster, to lead up to a later point somewhere. But eventually the story picks up again. I especially liked to read about Isabeau's time with the Khan'coban. The end almost reads a little like the final part of a trilogy - a nice wrap-up of the main story lines. It'll be interesting to see, how the new plots develop further in the next book. Don't really want to say much, as it would give away to many things.

My book #11 in 2006, published in 1999, 544 pages. My total pages for 2006 so far: 3,057 pages.

As with the previous Witches of Eileanan books, I will start another bookray, as the last participant in the original ray never replied to my PMs. New bookray list:

IrasCignavojo, Tuebingen, Germany (Germany preferred, Europe possible)
Morgaine77, Muenchenstein, Switzerland (International)
hshah, Mumbai, India (Asia shipping)- I am not sure if she still wants this?
hak42, New Hampshire, USA (Shipping anywhere)
Riannone, Austria (Shipping Europe only)
wyvernfriend, Dublin, Ireland (Shipping anywhere)

This is the same list as of the first 2 books of the series. Before sending this book on to the next participant, please ask them first, if they still want it! They might have decided that they are not interested any more... In that case please just skip to the next one down the line and let me know, who dropped out!

Please journal the book, when you receive it, so we know it reached you safely. Let us know, how you liked it and please journal again, when you send it on. Have fun!

Will be on its way, as soon as I have IrasCignavojo's address - I managed to loose it!

Arrived here safely some days ago. As Cathepsut has mentioned it looks a bit battered and has a cut. Otherwise it's fine and I've already started reading the series. I'll send them on serialized.

Done!

I made it to the end of the book, many of the characters made it to their aims, some to their ends, few however to the ends others wished them to have. Not wanting to ruin anything with spoilers, I'll just say that it is a very well-rounded ending.

The book will now move on...

Arrived safely in Switzerland, thanks for sending and thanks for sharing! :-)

I finally picked this book up and read it. As usual, it takes me some time to get into the story of the witches'' saga but I enjoyed it very much. I like that the bad guys are not completely evil and the good ones have a streak of evil... A lot has been resolved, new mysteries opened up...

I''m very much looking forward to read more about Maya and Bronwen and all the other characters!

Thanks for sharing!

RELEASE NOTES:

Shipped off today. Sorry for the delay!

Arrived here safely. :) I'm looking forward to reading this!

It seemed like this book covered a lot of time and the time jumps were sometimes a bit disorienting. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and am greatly looking forward to the next one.

I'll be sending it off to Riannone next week.

Arrived safe and sound in Vienna today!

The author has a real talent for writing characters that have depth and meaning for the reader and the world the story is set in is very well thought out. Although the plot has many standard elements, it is nonetheless fresh in many ways and the elements of an apprentenice coming of age is extremely well done here.

I, personally, was pleased Iseabeau was the main character of book 3. She has ties to all the other main characters and is privleged to learn and live among different races that exsist on the world. There is also spiritual philosophy in the book but it is neither overdone nor preachy but very well presented.

I thought I had marked this as received but I'm currently doing a tidy and decided to check some books.