Third and last in the Darkness Falls fantasy series,
this
tale gets right into the mindset of the medieval, magical
world of Encardia. Kate is getting armour made for her by
a friend when her partner Arland arrives to warn that
battle is close. They live among people who dwell
underground for protection and whose language is similar to
Irish. Following a celebration the
warriors male and female leave to find horses and fight
daemons.
The trouble with WILDE'S MEADOW is that if you come to it
as a standalone, as I did, you have no idea what is going
on and the author is in no hurry to explain. I got the
impression that Kate was a stranger in a strange land,
perhaps because she mentioned sandwich bags, but only many
pages in did I learn that she had traveled, somehow, from
modern day Virginia to this place, and halfway through the
book there was a partial explanation involving her
Virginian parents having actually been Encardians all
along. The girl has adapted well, if she still doesn't
understand many customs, and she's learned the use of magic
and swords.
A dark cave passage is the first test of Kate's courage as
the party must traverse a narrow bridge of rock over water
far below, and sinister whispers entice her to flop in
despair or climb off her horse and find the water. Later
there are pitched battles with numerous daemons, from
hounds to winged creatures, whose blood alone is poison and
who are driven by an evil god. While Kate's magic isn't
the fireball variety, more a summoning of spirits from her
surroundings, she's still able to contribute, and her
sister Brit is an accomplished archer. Some of the warriors
communicate telepathically to share information among the
force. Realising that they are outnumbered the party splits
up and Kate travels through a portal she has summoned with
a handful of people. The portal brings Kate back to
Virginia to fetch more help, and she returns with two farm
people - I failed to see the point, given she was away two
months and her forces were decimated in her absence.
If you've read Krystal Wade's first two books you'll
doubtless be keen to see how the story wraps up, and
whether Kate and Arland get to live happily ever after, but
otherwise my advice is to hold off reading WILDE'S MEADOW
until
you've read the earlier installments, whereupon you can just
enjoy the lovely descriptive writing and realism instead of
wondering what is happening and what the battles are all
about.
Happy endings are hard to find, and even though Katriona is
in the middle of a war with someone who's already stolen
more than she can replace, she aches for a positive future
with her Draíochtans. Armed with hope, confidence in her
abilities, and a strange new gift from her mother, Kate
ventures into the Darkness to defeat a fallen god. Losses
add up, and new obstacles rise to stand in the way. Is the
one determined to bring Encardia light strong enough to keep
fighting, or will all the sacrifices to stop those who seek
domination be for nothing?
Wilde's Meadow is the epic third and final installment of
young adult author Krystal Wade's Darkness Falls trilogy,
where Katriona, a new adult, must endure a battle with
demons and gods, testing the strength of family bonds and
herself, as she learns what it feels like to lose someone
she loves.
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