Customer Reviews

Brighid's Quest (Luna S.)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The evil race of demon Fomorians kidnapped and raped the women of Partholon taking them into the Wastelands to bear their offspring. The Goddess Epona united the people of Partholon to defeat the demons and a century later touched Ephame who took as her mate a hybrid Falorian and drank his blood and took the madness that existed in the hybrids into her self. Now the descendants of the children of rape can go home to Partholon.

Cu, whose lover was killed by one of the hybrids, goes to the wastelands to check out the New Fomarians to see if they are as good and gentle as his sister's lifemate says they are. Brighid, the female centaur goes after Cu and finds the seventy children and handful of adults pure of heart. When they return home, Brighid's sister comes to the keep to tell her that the centaurs are going to war because their High Shaman, Brighid's mother was killed by humans. Brighid, who was running away from her legacy, knows she must drink from the chalice of Epona and become her High Shaman, and fight her brother and his allies before the land is bathed in the blood of battle.

Although Brighid is a centaur and Cu is human, they love each other and mate for life. Their marriage can only be consummated if Brighid drinks from the Chalice because then she will be able to shapeshift into human form. P. C. Cast has written a fascinating action packed romantic fantasy where true love can conquer all. Both hero and heroine go through many hardships and it is only through their love they feel they can overcome all their hardships. This is a special work that will appeal to a variety of readers.

Harriet Klausner

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Venture to a time and place beyond reality, where dreams and magic linger....

Brighid Dhianna has left behind her centaur home of revenge and hatred to build her own destiny as Huntress to Clan MacCallan, blessed by the Goddess Epona. Here she has finally found peace and acceptance. When her chieftain, Elphame, sends Brighid on a quest to bring her brother home, she readily accepts.

Cuchulainn's soul was shattered when his young wife was brutally murdered by demonic Fomorians, winged beasts cursed with a madness that will eventually destroy them. Some of these beings have survived war and live in peaceful exile, scraping out a meager life in the mountains. "Cu" goes there full of hate and bitterness to return these hybrid New Fomorians to Partholon. What he finds there shocks him.

Brighid follows Cu to save him, having to call upon her dormant and long-denied Shaman blood to retrieve his soul and heal him. Just as hope springs new, fate intervenes once more, making Brighid choose between the life she has built in Partholon and the destiny of her blood as High Shaman to the centaurs. Which will she choose? Only Goddess Epona knows.

Brighid's Quest is a fantastical adventure that will lure one to dream of another world. The story draws readers in from the beginning and holds them captive in its grasp through the hopeful conclusion. The landscape is brilliant and so incredible that it is easy to envision the beautiful Partholon and the grass covered plains of the centaur domain. When the beloved characters venture into the spirit realm, readers will see the beauty and hear the stirrings of wind through the trees. Though this is a sequel to Elphame's Choice, most of the storyline is easily followed and readers should have no difficulty understanding what is happening.

Brighid's turmoil is real as she tries to put the life she hated behind her, only to be pulled back to it just when she thinks she is finally free. Her journey on the path to adapting to her Shamanic abilities is a hard one and easy to feel and understand. Cu's shattered soul struggles with living in an imaginary world where death has not taken his love away. He must learn, with Brighid's help, to come back to the real world and accept the fate he has been dealt.

This novel is written almost as if in different acts of a play. The first segment is about Brighid's journey to the mountain to bring Cu and the New Fomorians home and all she encounters along the way. Then comes the story of how she journeys to the other realm to bring Cu's soul back and heal him. The final segment deals with Brighid's growth and acceptance of the fate dealt her, when she must choose which life she will live. All three individual stories are blended together masterfully, to build the overlying story which encompasses everything.

Of course, romance is never missing from a book by P C Cast, and it shows itself in Brighid's Quest. As Cu's soul heals, his relationship with Brighid deepens from respect and deep friendship to the more powerful bond of soul mates. How these two come together in their love is inspired and bound to make readers sigh in delight at how they bridge the gap.

? Kelley A. Hartsell, March 2006. All rights reserved.

Well, PC Cast wanted us to believe the impossible and I am hooked. As usually I was blown away by one of her books. She has become one of my favorite authors and I suggest that everyone read about Brighid and her exciting and romantic quest. Superb!

P.C. Cast's "Brighid's Quest" is a good, solid story about a centaur (Brighid) who has run from her family for good reason -- most of them are cruel, sordid sorts who have done horrible things to their own people -- and has forsaken her birthright as a shaman because she quite rightly refused to study magic and religion from her mother (the previous shaman, and the only teacher available), as her mother was an extremely wicked person who was at best extremely narcissistic and vain; at worst, she was cruel and vicious.

In "Elphame's Quest," Brighid the centaur was a minor character; she had come to Elphame's abode, the castle of the Macallen, and had asked for a place as a Huntress. (This is a job that's not as sacred as that of a shaman, but it's just as important and necessary. Without an adequate food supply -- including fresh meat -- no castle or city would be able to survive.) Her family name, Dhianna, gave everyone pause -- the Dhianna Herd is known for being closed-minded, sheltered, and obstinate (those being its best qualities; see above for its worst) -- but Brighid more than proved her mettle in the previous book.

Because this is a sequel, I have to mention at least a little bit of "Elphame's Quest" in order to review this; otherwise it makes no sense. (I'll try not to discuss too much of Elphame's story; that's for a later review.) In that story, one of the secondary plots dealt with Elphame's brother, Cuchulainn; he had always been a rough and ready "love 'em and leave 'em" type, but had inexplicably fallen in love with the shy, needy, talented and scarred healer, Brenna. They intended to marry, and had consummated their relationship and pledged before witnesses, but were unable to enjoy a marital relationship because Brenna was killed by some malicious fools who wanted to hurt the community at large (going after a Healer is fair game in war).

Cuchulainn was shattered; he'd never expected to find love, much less with Brenna, and giving so freely of himself was extremely and extraordinarily difficult -- but worth it, so long as she was alive.

At the start of "Brighid's Quest," Brighid the Huntress, being Cuchulainn's friend, is trying to help him through his grief. As a centaur -- someone who cannot shapechange -- she doesn't even think about Cuchulainn as a possible mate; how could she?

But Cuchulainn notices her, and feels guilty; Brenna isn't long-dead, and they should've had years ahead of them. Instead, all he has to remember are a few, short months of intense joy -- then intense sorrow, as her life ended so violently. Cuchulainn knows that shamans can shapechange; his own father is a centaur shaman (his mother being the priestess of Epona, who mates with a centaur of her choosing/Epona's choosing), and he has no prejudices about mixed-marriages.

Brighid, gradually, falls in love with Cuchulainn, but doesn't realize it until about halfway through the book. There's a precipitating event; the Dhianna Herd is causing problems, and with Brighid's mother being dead, the head shaman is now her brother, a very difficult and bitter man who does nothing but harm.

Brighid, consequently, has to attempt to become a shaman -- not because she wants it, necessarily (even though her romantic interests have definitely made her wish she could; shamans, after all, can shapechange), but because she knows it's better for her people and everyone else on the Plains where the Dhianna Herd makes its home. (Brighid doesn't believe in maurading, or taking what she wants that isn't hers; as a Huntress, she believes in hunting animals within season, and is a conservationist/ecologist.) That the Dhianna Herd has more or less raped the land they live on is part of her reasoning as to why she finally decides to become a shaman; she figures no one can do worse than her brother has, and that someone must try to do better.

Cuchulainn, of course, supports her, but his own journey isn't over. He still feels guilty over it all, and needs the help of a shaman to put himself back together.

The way these two come together in what seems from the start to be a star-crossed romance is extremely sweet, but not saccharine; Cuchulainn is able to build on what he'd learned about himself with Brenna and take all the good from that relationship into his new one with Brighid, and both become better and wiser people as they take up their burdens.

I found this book to be a very good, solid romantic fantasy; it is believable, the characterizations are excellent, and Brighid is a woman worth knowing -- kind, wise, resourceful, but with a hot temper and the variety of faults you'd find in a real person. (Cuchulainn, as previously stated, is obviously no saint. I find that refreshing in fantasy literature; far too many heroes are saintly, and that doesn't ring true to my mind. People are not meant to be saints, even in fiction.)

I think this is Ms. Cast's second-best book, behind solely "Goddess of Spring;" I rated that a four as well, but that one has some odd wordings at times that threw me out of the reader's trance. This one doesn't; it's better-written, better laid out, better plotted, and yet uses all of Ms. Cast's strengths -- her writing of dialogue, her humor, her characterization, and her knowledge.

In other words, "Goddess of Spring" would've been a five without the problems I found in it; this is a very strong four that's nearly a five, and is just short of the pathos and romance I enjoyed so heartily in "Goddess of Spring."

But it's very good; very well-written, very enjoyable.

Four-plus stars (just short of five stars), highly recommended.

Barb Caffrey

I love all of PC Cast's books. It helps to do a little research and read the books in order to help track the characters and how the intertwine through each book. I liked this one in part because it stays in one time space. Each of her books asks that you stretch your imagination and they bring folklore alive. Can't wait for the next one!

I didn't come away from Elphame's Choice with a great liking for Brighid as a character, but I'm glad I picked this up anyway because it completely changed my mind abouut her. I was so impressed with her development, as I read and the power of her emotional conflict. There are so many moments in this book that make it well worth the length, not just involving Brighid and Cu's interaction. but also the absolutely amazing sequences regarding the New Fomorians. Plus you gotta love a cliff hanger ending. Brighid's Quest really adds to the depth and richness of the Partholon saga. and only adds to the anticipation for future books.

I am hooked on PC's books. This story was so good ~ not to put any spoilers in but I have to say I love who Brighid ends up with. We meet up with characters from Elphame's book & meet the new Formians & centuars from Brighid's clan. I know there is a long wait for the next books but honestly, they are worth it.

After hearing wonderful reviews for the works of P.C. Cast and one glowing one for this novel in particular, I rushed off to buy Brighid's Quest, intrigued by the premise of a centaur heroine.

I cannot in any way fault P.C. Cast's writing. Her prose is beautiful, her descriptions lush. The word she built is unique and detailed. It's a fascinating mix of mythologies with Goddesses Incarnate, centaurs, and Fomorians.

However, as lovely as the world and writing are, they can't make up for the total lack of conflict in the story. Everyone is just wonderful and lovely to everyone else. The children and bright, happy, and exuberant, not a brat in the bunch. Their leader is sweet, understanding, sweet, powerful, sweet... It's almost mind-numbing how perfect everyone is.

250 pages into the book, Brighid and Cu have helped bring the perfect children and their perfect leader through the Fomorian land and across a pass. Thinking back on it, I'd be hard pressed to remember anything else that occured over those pages... And those pages were a trial to get through because I kept putting the book down out of sheer boredom. Nothing about the characters made me want to explore their futures.

If you enjoy books where everyone is lovely and wonderful to each other, rather like a literary version of heaven, then this is the book for you. If you like something with conflict, characters making mistakes and learning from then, then you might want to give this a miss.

I was really hesitant with buying a used book for the first time. But with a price tag of $0.01 I had reason. Fear not, the company will take care of you. I got an almost new book that was from a previous library. I don't mind... The book was in amazing condition, especially from a library.

I really enjoyed reading this book. But right around page 300, I had a moment of frustration when I realized I still had 236 pages to go. That being said, I didn't want the book to end, and I wish that Bridhid had another story, AND now that I am done reading it, the 536 pages wasn't enough. My frustration lies in the fact that once I start a good book, I have to read it through. This book was a little long for me to finish in one night, so I had to put it down-around 2 A.M- and go to bed; and it was a very hard thing to do.

This is probably my favorite P.C. Cast book. I know this book was published awhile ago, so maybe her writing was of better quality then, or maybe she needs to stop letting her daughter write for her; I went into this book, not really expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised.

Also, I know teenagers are well versed it what sex is, but there is one sex scene, that would probably make me uncomfortable letting a young teen read- it's the only page of the entire book that's a bit questionable.

I enjoyed watching Brighid and Cu grow and their characters develop. Brighid is rather flat and one dimensional to begin with, and Cu, can't seem to recover from the death of Brenna, the woman he was to marry. As the story progresses we get the pleasure of watching them both become what they were meant to be.

I do have to admit that for most of the book I did have some trouble in my mind, picturing her as half "horse" half person and I still do to an extent. I had no problem with the winged people, and the hooves instead of feet, but this big beautiful centaur- all I see is a horse with a human upper half. This beauty everyone describe was difficult to imagine- the cover of the book helped, but still... a horses butt; I am sorry, I mean centaur butt.
Setting that aside, this story was about forgiveness,love and of course healing.