Helpful Score: 4
I was unable to finish this book. What eventually did me in was the tedious overuse of the "falcon" metaphor, although that was only one straw of many that broke my back. I only managed to get to page 160, but by that point the whole "falcon" imagery had been beaten like a dead horse. It was obvious and contrived anyway, and only a skillful writer could have taken a dud device like that and made it somewhat tolerable. This Lowell could not do. Throw in a slow-moving plot where nothing really happens (the pacing was agonizingly slow), a heroine straight from an embarrasingly high-scoring Mary Sue Litmus Test, a risible mysticism/curse, and a really unlikeable "hero", and you have a total dog of a book. Woof, man. Woof.
Helpful Score: 4
This is the first of 3 books that are connected.
Untamed is Dominic le Sabre and Lady Margaret of Blackthorne (Norman-Saxon match)
Forbidden is Duncan (Meg's brother) and Amber the Untouched (she is a truthsayer)
Enchanted is Simon the Loyal (Dominic's brother) and Ariane
These can be read in any order but are more fun if you read them in story line order. The level of "mystical" increases through the three books.
Untamed is Dominic le Sabre and Lady Margaret of Blackthorne (Norman-Saxon match)
Forbidden is Duncan (Meg's brother) and Amber the Untouched (she is a truthsayer)
Enchanted is Simon the Loyal (Dominic's brother) and Ariane
These can be read in any order but are more fun if you read them in story line order. The level of "mystical" increases through the three books.
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed these characters, they didn't act like the typical stereotypes of conquering knights and helpless maidens. I can't wait to start reading the next in the series
Helpful Score: 2
I liked the other two books in the trilogy better. Those I'm keeping.
Lady Margaret marries the Norman knight Dominic le Sabre in the hope that he can protect her Saxon home, Blackthorne Keep, during troubled times. In marrying him, she defies the dying wish of John of Cumbriland, who raised her: that she wed his illegitimate son, Duncan of Maxwell. Meg and Dominic are surrounded by threats: Duncan is poised to disrupt the wedding; Eadith, Meg's attendant, hates the Normans, who killed "her husband, father, brothers, and uncles" (women relatives seem of no concern); Meg's powerful home-brewed medicine has been stolen and her "Glendruid" psychic powers indicate impending danger.
Lady Margaret marries the Norman knight Dominic le Sabre in the hope that he can protect her Saxon home, Blackthorne Keep, during troubled times. In marrying him, she defies the dying wish of John of Cumbriland, who raised her: that she wed his illegitimate son, Duncan of Maxwell. Meg and Dominic are surrounded by threats: Duncan is poised to disrupt the wedding; Eadith, Meg's attendant, hates the Normans, who killed "her husband, father, brothers, and uncles" (women relatives seem of no concern); Meg's powerful home-brewed medicine has been stolen and her "Glendruid" psychic powers indicate impending danger.
Helpful Score: 2
Good early Lowell, she never disappoints.
