Synopsis
Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t set foot on Cadence in 10 long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind; plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instill fathomless fear. The spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership blossoms. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.
Rating
★★★★
Thoughts
Each book I read by Rebecca Ross is as lyrical as the last, and this one was indeed enchanting. This Celtic-inspired fantasy is filled with light and darkness, beauty and wickedness—and oh, the music and prose!
Ross is an expert world builder and character creator. And this world and its characters were easy to get lost in. My only grievance is that the story’s cadence felt a bit slow. I do look forward to the encore performance when I continue this duology with A Fire Endless!
Quotes
- “I will comfort you in sadness; I will lift your head and be your strength when you are weak. I will sing with you when you are joyful. I will abide beside you and honor you for a year and a day, and thereafter should the spirits bless us.”
- “I am but a verse inspired by your chorus, and I will follow you until the end, when the isle takes my bones and my name is nothing more than a remembrance on a headstone, next to yours.”
Edition
This spellbinding edition of A River Enchanted comes from Illumicrate.