‘Daughter of the Otherworld’ is the first in a new trilogy set in the same world as Shauna Lawless’s ‘Gael Song’ trilogy. The daughter mentioned in the title is Isolde, daughter of Fódla and Murchad, a descendant of the Tuatha Dé Dannan. Broccan, Fódla’s nephew, is also a Descendant and is watching over Isolde on Rathlinn Island, waiting for her to show signs of having a magical gift. She is a late bloomer in that respect, and it is only when her home and the lives of the people she loves are threatened by the fire-wielding and immortal Fomorians that her gift surfaces. Isolde is an innocent girl who has been kept away from the world at large for her safety. She has to learn about life quickly when she finds herself needing to head to the monastery where other Descendants live, who will help her learn to control her gift. Her journey is fraught with difficulty as Ireland is full of warring factions led by egotistical kings, and she finds herself caught up in the politics of war. Lawless includes details and figures from Ireland’s history, and her knowledge of the customs and laws of the time is clear from the grounded feeling of her writing. She includes historical battles, bringing them to life by placing her own characters in the thick of the action. Some familiar characters from the first ‘Gael Song Era’ return in this book, since both Descendants and Fomorians are either extremely long-lived or immortal.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and felt fully immersed in medieval Ireland. The word building is so good that you can smell the fires and imagine the sights and sounds described by Lawless’s flawless prose. Her blend of Irish folklore, magic, and historical detail is seamless and beguiling, and her characters are fully fleshed-out individuals with believable motives and back stories. I am already looking forward to the next book in the ‘Gael Song Era II’.
Find more information about Shauna Lawless and her work here.
