REVIEW of "Silverwitch (Olive Kennedy, Fairy World MD, #4)" by Tamara Grantham

*****(5) out of 5 stars!

SYNOPSIS:

It's Faythander's legend of King Arthur. And it's not for the faint of heart. 

Olive Kennedy, Fairy World MD, isn't ready to go back to work. But when her dragon stepfather shows up on her doorstep with bad news of the world-ending variety, that's exactly what she'll have to do. He wants her to stop the elven queen from obtaining seven weapons of King Arthur fame, and he wants her to break into a dragon's vault to do it.

One problem. Silvestra, the silverwitch of Dragon Spine Mountain, guards the weapons. And she's not willing to give them up. With the help of Kull, her newly reunited, half-crazed Viking boyfriend, she's hopeful they'll stand up against the dragon. Plus, she'll have the help from Kull's warrior princess sister and a professional thief.

But Olive has never had great luck. What starts as a routine quest quickly turns into a life or death fight. And one of her companions won't make it out alive…

~

REVIEW:

This book is most definitely my favorite volume in the series – at least so far!  It contained so much intrigue, action, and suspense that it was almost unbelievable, and yet it carried an emotional depth to it that was equally as fascinating.  Once again, there was a lot of cross-play between the worlds of Earth and Faythander.  And quite a bit of travel across the fairy world takes place as well, exposing us to different aspects of this wonderful world the author has created that we haven’t been privileged to see before. 

There is so much going on at all times in this story.  It is pretty much non-stop action for the main characters: Olive, Kull, Heidel and the thief Maveryck.  Not much of that can be explained without giving away key elements of the plot, but suffice it to say that there is hardly a dull moment.  The time spent in the adobe of the Silverwitch does drag a bit.  And some of the interchange there seems a bit stilted; for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, the writing there seemed a bit clunky, and those scenes didn’t ring quite as true to the rest of the novel.  I kept expecting Kull’s character to be an imposter, for the destruction of property to have been a ruse or a mistake, for their escape to be thwarted (which it kind of was, but not until later on).  

We also see a lot of Fan’twar in this volume.  Viewing him in his human form is quite unique and exciting.  Many of the other scenes are rather unusual as well, really showing different sides of him that we haven’t seen before.  That he trusts in Olive so much that he knowingly sends her into harm’s way is a bit disconcerting, especially given that she basically fails at her assigned task and has to resort to extreme measures to escape.

This book was not without its share of depressing events and dreary atmosphere.  The prophecy regarding Olive seems unable to be foiled, relations with Kull’s mother and any in his kingdom are quite tense, the future actually looks completely hopeless, especially in regard to Theht.  When one of their comrades dies, it also seems rather unsettling.  But everything seems a bit more tolerable because Olive was at long last able to open up a little.  She finally shares her secret from “Bloodthorn” with Kull.  (And I was so relieved when she did so!  It really speaks to the power of the author’s storytelling that I feel so strongly for these imaginary characters!)  Olive tends to keep things to herself, especially when it comes to anything that could be considered bad news, of which they certainly have more than their fair share.  That she finally allows herself to be vulnerable with someone is quite amazing, and she even goes so far as to share some of her fears also.  Hopefully there will be some way found to resolve everything to let Olive and Kull have their happily ever after, or at least let the world survive.  I can’t wait to read the next installments! 

I received a free Mobi copy of this book from the author

and I have willingly provided an honest review.