I would like to thank Jade from Head of Zeus for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Head of Zeus

Published – Out Now

Price – £20 hardback £5.99 Kindle eBook

Warning this story is the sequel to the fantastic The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless which is excellent and you should read!

Power fades but fire endures...

Ireland, 1000 AD. Clouds of war gather for mortals and immortals alike as the Irish kingdoms strive for supremacy.

Gormflaith, unhappy queen of Brian Boru, schemes to destroy the Descendants, sworn enemies of her Fomorian kind. As her plans take an unexpected turn, Gormflaith discovers her magic is more powerful than she ever realised - but at what cost?

Descendant healer Fódla dwells disguised in the mortal world, seeking to protect her young nephew - but the boy has secrets of his own. Fódla must do all in her power to keep him hidden from those who would use him for evil.

When a mysterious man comes to King Brian's court, his presence could spell disaster for both Gormflaith and Fódla - and for Ireland herself. For he is Tomas, an ambitious immortal - and he will do anything to see his plans become reality.

We all love to think we are the rivers of our own actions but in reality; our pasts, our families, our societies and out culture all impact our decision making. Be it to be aligned with it or to rebel against it. Good stories can explain why people do things and great stories can explain why a whole world acts the way that it does. I am so pleased to confirm that Shauna Lawless’s compelling fantasy novel The Words of Kings and Prophets offers an immersive journey with fantastic characters and struggles that faces Ancient Ireland at the dawn of the Eleventh century and delivers a further excellent instalment in this very strong historical fantasy series.

A brief recap Ireland for mortal humans is divided between many lands and Kings very few of whom work together. It has also been the site for a centuries old battle between The Descendants of the Tuatha De Danaan now in forced seclusion from mortals but spying, watching and internally discussing if they should fee, fight or continue to watch on the sidelines. Their leader Tomas has sent his onetime lover Floda out into the human world. She has found and agreed to guard her sister’s child Broccan. In the process she has arrived in the Kingdom of Munster under the guise of a healer and made friends with King Brian’s son Murchad. To Floda’s surprise she finds she has a home and purpose. But she knows Tomas could very easily upset all of this violently.

King Brian after his last great victory has married the reluctant Gormflaith, previously of the rival Kingdom of Dublin. Gormflaith dislikes her captive role and is also continuing to hide that she is one of the last Fomorians – the long-lived fire-magical rivals to the Descendants. Gormflaith seeks power of her own and the various battles of Ireland brewing everywhere will offer her a surprising way to escape the constraints of being a simple Queen.

There is a beautiful scene where Floda watches two young boys play-fighting with wooden swords and a realisation that the boys are just doing this to prepare for their futures as warriors. It illustrates the predicament that so many of the characters have in this lyrical and intricate tale that they are doing what is expected of them. That road to destruction seems to the one destined for so many of the cast we now meet.

Gormflaith was married as a bargaining tool; her family line of Fomorians has always fought the Descendants and even her Mother just expected her to be an active piece on the gameboard of politics. Is it any wonder that this is both something Gormflaith does to the extreme - constantly plotting and weighing up opportunities for power and yet also hating that she is in this role as woman even if one titled Queen. Only given any respect when doing womanly things be that making polite compliments of rivals at court or bearing children. She manages to be a character we both sympathise with and constantly worry that she is about to release all her anger at the world. Lawless excels at fleshing out this complex character for whom intrigue and scheming is second nature but now adds a potential new magical source of power for her to exploit and watching how she reacts to this drives her plotline into really interesting places.

Floda a one-time powerful member of the Descendants is now at the other end of human society in the guise of a hideously scarred healer. In this tale she must deal with suspicion; be accused of being a leper and losing her place (and new home for Broccan) again society expects little else of a woman but also Floda is finding her time with humans continuing to challenge her pre-conceptions of them.

Floda’s arc is interesting as the Descendants are declining in numbers and the strength of their many magical powers. She finds herself pitted against Tomas her leader and he is also thanks to his history increasingly drawn to taking back power over Ireland. We watch these two powerful beings go on sperate but linked arcs – one into doing increasingly darker deeds for what he believes is best and another who decides to care for others; share her problems and in so doing stand up to those betraying what she feels her people’s right path. From a reluctant passive character she is now ready to fight and that is both an empowering change and one that makes us worry what she will face next.

All of this is happening on a very dangerous gameboard of warring Kings and constant vying for power. This is a society that allows Kings to be challenged and the right person in the right place with the right support (and army behind them) can soon take charge of a throne – and then immediately start planning to defend it. There is a wealth of characters, but I am impressed yet again how Lawless lightly introduces them enough to explain the tale and keep it constantly moving and evolving without ever dragging us into history. Instead, as we watch characters interact, we get a fascinating exploration of the complex society this period represents – the changing of religions; the battles or trading relationships with Vikings (which can easily flip from one to the other) and that this is a society where slavery is a known concept that drives even the economies of certain Kingdoms that say they outlaw it.

Lawless moves us constantly from fighting scenes to court intrigues, tender scenes of people admitting their feelings and scenes of the fantastical powers lurking behind the surface of this world so it is a constantly moving story. In so doing we get to understand social classes, politics and traditions of the time just by seeing it live and breathe in front of is which is a sign of an immensely skilled writer. Lawless weaves actual historical events and figures with a fantastical plotline using the many myths and beliefs of the time and we get the overall feel of this novel is everything is coming to a head – the warring kingdoms, the magical war behind the scenes and the threat of the Vikings ever present.

The second volume in a trilogy can often be a difficult read but for me I hugely enjoyed reading The Words of Kings and Prophets because it builds and enriches the first tale and subtly but powerfully transforms our lead characters into places neither of them (or us) will have imagined when we first met them. It was also a pleasure to read a story by someone who knows how to write great characters, plot a complex story’s development and creates a world that I know little about come alive before my eyes. You feel like a witness to these events and that by the end we understand the world and can savour the final conflicts to come make me both excited to read that story and that Shauna Lawless is very much one of the most interesting fantasy writers to watch. This series is very strongly recommended.