Brighid's Quest by P.C. Cast

On the Back of the Book

When she searched out prey for her Clan, Brighid scented more than the air. She breathed in the spiritual essence, the dark trail left by evil and lies...

When she leaves her ultra-strict family, Brighid also strays from her pre-ordained life. Born to be the Chief Shaman and ruler of a herd of centaurs would be tough for any girl - and Brighid wants out.
Joining Clan Macallan as a Huntress and helping out broken-hearted Cuchulainn on his mission seems mich simpler - if befriending bat-winged creatures and helping them gain acceptance in society can ever be described as simple.

As Brighid uncovers more about her heritage (and her feelings for a certain someone), she realises her powers cannot lie dormant forever...

My Thoughts

***This is an adult book and not YA as is suggested on P.C. Cast's website.***

I have a confession, I approached this book with dread, the previous efforts had left me frustrated and annoyed but I really liked this one. The plot had a nice pace and I didn't find myself getting bored after a few minutes. In fact I was comfortably reading this for hours at a time (something my attention span doesn't always allow). Don't get me wrong this book is far from perfect but the strength of the actual story made them less noticeable. That doesn't mean they aren't there though,  I saw some spelling and grammar issues.

I didn't like Brighid in the previous book, Elphame's Choice, but somewhere in this book she grew on the. I liked the way she matured and stopped being selfish and thinking she knew everything. I think the turning point for me was definitely the way events unfolded with Niam. By the end of this book I still didn't like Cuchulainn, he never managed to convince me of his integrity, he reminds me of a footballer. I did like Liam though. He was super adorable, actually, now that I come to think of it so is Kyna.

This book is a vast improvement on those that came before this. I found myself wanting to read the book and not just picking it up because I like to read a minimum of 100 pages a day. I wasn't happy with the epilogue but you can't have everything. Although I will appeal to P.C. Cast not to do it. I'm happy with the end of this book and any more would kind of make it feel like she was just using the series to cash in.

My Rating

3 stars - I genuinely liked this book and I know I keep saying it but I've surprised myself with that fact. In a way I'm glad that I'm so stubborn and feel the need to finish every series I read.  Saying that though I can't recommend this book because in order for you to read it you have to read three extremely bad books and one that had a bit of a crisis. This is a hidden gem but it's a case of too little too late.

A Final Note

There is sex in this book and other sexual acts. This isn't for younger readers and it does state that on the back cover of this book.