Customer Reviews

Divine By Choice - A Classic Tale Of Partholon

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am always leery of continuations of books that I have enjoyed, often I end up wishing that the author had left well enough alone. However, I didn't find this to be the case with DBC, I was pleased to find that the people/horses whateever that I came to know in DBM where themsevles in it's sister novel. That is to say, there was nothing that made me go wait a minute, Shannon wouldn't say or do this or that, no out of left field plot twists and nothing that felt out of place. I liked Divine By chioce quite as much if not a little more then Divine By Mistake. A thing for which I am greatful because now I can eagerly awiat Divine By Blood(September, 07)without worrying about the quality of the novel. Though there were difficult sequences in the story, an unexpected confrontation, two rather brutal deaths, and a look into the past of a major character that was a little hard to read. these only add to the richness of the book and are a credit to Cast's writing ability. In case your curious and didn't know. The Partholon Saga is ordered like this.

Divine By Mistake which is an improved reprint of Goddess By Mistake
Divine by Choice
Divine By Blood( not yet released)
Elphame's Choice
Brighid Quest
Happy Reading:)

I have to put my feelings for this book squarely in the middle of the other reviews. I loved "Divine By Mistake" and felt the author wrote a woman who was real in body, emotion, and personality. Shannon speaks to all of us with her good nature, silly jokes, and real sensuality. I felt Partholon was a well developed and unique place with characters that really separated themselves from other fantasy authors.

I was not pleased to feel that was missing from "Divine by Choice." Because the experience Shannon has returning to Oklahoma really only takes up about a week to a week and a half in book time, the action moves from event to event to event with a rapid pace that misses some of the narrative moments and human relationships of the previous book. We get one moment of something with her old friend Suzanna, and only briefly longer with her Oklahoma father. We also only have review glimpses of her relationship with Alanna and ClanFinton in Partholon and for anyone that doesn't read the other book first, it will make them wonder why she bother wanting to return at all. There is little of the background and setting that made the other book so full.

However, the magic in this book is much more real. Although the Goddess speaks to Shannon in the previous book, through the dream visions, and through instruction, in this book magic is a much bigger tool. Especially the dark magic, which I thought the author did an excellent job writing. Yes, it was perverse, but it's supposed to be. What Shannon witnesses and how she comes to understand Rhiannon is very well crafted. I was nonetheless confused by an incongruous lack of horses in Shannon's magic. The keys to Shannon's power in Partholon is intimately connected to horses and her status as a warrior Goddess incarnate. As such, I was really expecting her to rely on animals for her power as opposed to trees, for which there was no development in the previous book.

Lastly, I want to comment on the thing that upset me the most, as it did in other reviews listed here on Amazon. She should not have slept with Clint. Her relationship with Clint is not written well, and it really seemed out of character for the way both Shannon and Clint were described. I find it hard to understand how a man who was written like a hero, could have so completely been unable to respect that she was off limits, and I also find it hard to believe that while Shannon did not take her decision lightly, she gave in to it with so little reflection. I guess we as readers were supposed to understand the magnetism and confusion of being faced with the mirror images, but I didn't. I didn't feel sympathy, I felt betrayal. Shannon was distinguised as a character from Rhiannon repeatedly by being described as having had more discipline and a better upbringing, which in turn allowed her to make better choices, but this is not evidence of it. I'm disappointed in her and I'm disappointed with the story.

I loved this book. It was totally different than I expected. The introduction of Clint was a surprise to me, though I don't know why based on the mirror image phenomenon we were introduced to in "Mistake". But I thought he was well written.

I also liked that Cast explained the history behind Rhiannon. I don't think she was excusing Rhiannon's behavior in any sense, just giving us a more insightful look at some of the choices she had made.

I am puzzled by the comments regarding Shannon's sexual interlude with Clint. Shannon repeatedly refrained from furthering a relationship with Clint during the majority of the book. Even though she was afraid that she might never make it back to Partholon, she wanted to remain true to ClanFintan. Clint looked like ClanFintan and the similarities didn't stop there. She thought she might actually be unable to return to Partholon and would most probably spend her life with Clint, but she continued to refrain. It was not until Epona asked Shannon to "love him tonight" that she made that move. Is Shannon not Epona's Beloved? Is she not to do as the Goddess asks knowing that Epona is guiding her? I felt that Shannon needed to help heal Clint and that was the whole purpose of the night. Clint was a Shaman and the spirits guided him as well. It seemed there was more at play here than the individual wishes of two humans.

Overall - I was very pleased with the story and I'm eager to see how she resolves issues in the next book. Cast is never afraid to have her characters enter into conflict and high drama. It makes her one of my favorite reads.

I really enjoyed the first installment of this series "Divine by Mistake" and looked forward to the second. It was hard for me to finish the "Divine by Blood" because I got so mad I almost tossed it. The fact that Shannon, who is supposed to be so in love and recently married to ClanFintan, decides to sleep with another guy was bad enough. What really angered me, however, was the horrific description of Rhiannan's brutal rape, in a so-called religious ceremony, which she was told nothing about. While those involved found it impossible to force her to take the date-rape drug prepared for her, they had no problem listening to her scream while being forced into sex with a huge, out of control, drugged male. Having the religious leader of this fantasy world basically blame this young girl for being tramatized during the event because she wouldn't drink what she was told to drink, infuriated me. Not only did this event make me side with Rhiannon's revenge, it undermined the entire story. I just don't know what the writer was thinking. I still have the third book sitting here and I'm not sure if I will even read it.

I was really looking forward to reading DIVINE BY CHOICE after DIVINE BY MISTAKE. But I was so disappointed in DBC. ***SPOILERS***
The book begins almost where DBM ends. Rhea, Epona's Beloved, is a newlywed and finds out she is pregnant.

She gets "pulled" back to Oklahoma (literally) and meets the mirror image of her husband, the fabulous ClanFintan (who didn't see this coming?). His name is Clint and by the end of the story I really don't like Clint or Rhea/Shannon for that matter. I feel for ClanFintan.

At one point Cast describes (and wants us to believe) Clint as an honorable man. Uhhh...as far as I know, "honorable men" do not try to sleep with married women. A few chapters later, Shannon comes to the realization that Carolan, Alanna, and their mirror images Gene, Suzanna, look alike and have similarities, but are different people. Okay...but then after being with Clint for hours, Shannon is ready to jump into bed with Clint (ClanFintan who?) and she realizes she "is in love". I also found the aldultery ironic because at one point Shannon compares herself to Rhiannon and comes to the conclusion that her self-control is one of the things that sets her apart from the former Chosen One.

Rhiannon and Nuada are back. There is a graphic and unnecessary incident with Nuada where two innocent pups are killed in a greusome manner. Rhiannon and Shannon finally come face-to-face and the climatic confrontation is lukewarm at best.

Cast adds the obligatory sex. The portions that involve Rhiannon are disturbing and anything else is embarrassing, not erotic.

In general, the book just lacked the Magic of DBM. I am not even going to bother with DIVINE BY BLOOD.

I never thought a new Partholon novel could ever disappoint me, but, I find myself very ambiguious about DIVINE BY CHOICE. It just did not end as I expected and I was somewhat disappointed in our heroine.

Shannon, the Beloved of Epona, winds up back in our world. She finds her friends, family and herself attacked by the spirit of Naruda. Rhiannon has summoned him to this world. Shannon also finds the doppleganger of ClanFintan, Clint Freeman.

Clint is a brave, air force pilot who saved alot of people but gravely injured himself. He is a shaman in our world and lives among the forest where he draws power to heal himself.

I will not discuss the ending, which so totally turned me off, but I will say at first I did not have much sympathy for his obsession with Shannon. After all she is married and pregnant. But his loyalty, warmth, and caring kind of grew on me. I blame this on the author.

Shannon acted somewhat stupidly at times lusting after him, she does have a wonderful mate back home. She was a bit wishy-washy. I needed her to be more devoted. Also her aura and Rhiannon's are the same and I have always thought that your aura convayed your intermost being. So to find one kind and one able to murder easily was not what I expected.

At once she protrayed Clint and ClanFinton as the same, and Gene and Carlon as different. The more I learned about Clint the more I wished for a good conclusion but I knew that I would be totally unhappy if she left ClanFintan.

I was just so torn at the end it didn't feel like I got closure with the final epilogue. If I have discouraged you I am sorry but I can only tell you my feelings. And the book left me feeling a little mad. For that I can only blame me and the author.

I've read every book this author has written and loved them for the magical places it transports me to. Every book before this one I finished in a single night. But this one was hard to finish. At one point I almost quit reading it. What was so bad about it? She cheats on her husband. Even though the goddess Epona gives the main character permission to do so, it sure wasn't okay with me the reader. After reuniting with Clanfintan he states she is his only love... she melts into his arms...and I'm supposed to buy that? Just as Shannon isn't Rhiannon, Clint isn't Clanfinton. The sexual parts in this book became way too graphic. Shannon was going "ew" and so was I.
So what are my 2 stars for? Cast tapped deep for this book and her writing was very real and poignant. It's too bad I lost my respect for the character.
I was left at the end just hoping her other books won't be like this one.

I just finished reading Divine by Choice and I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter in the life of schoolteacher turned Goddess Incarnate Shannon.
This book had all the humor that her previous book Divine By Mistake, {formerly Goddess by Mistake- the one I read}had, and that some of her later books, Elphame's Choice and Brighid Quest lacked.

I found myself tearing up near the end, the hard choice she had to make, the compassion she found for someone so like her, yet so different and losing someone she loved..made this definately a good read.

You need to read Divine by Mistake before reading Divine by Choice,and hen read Elphame's Choice.. I am so looking forward to her next installment Divine by Blood.
I have read all of P.C. Cast's books and highly recommend them to anyone looking for something different in a Romance book.

The first novel in this series is absolutely, positively my all-time favorite book. This is NOT an exaggeration. When I found this sequel at the local bookstore, I was (needless to say) ecstatic.

It didn't take long to discover that this book was simply not as much fun as its predecessor. The heroine spends the first part of the book reminding herself that she is married, putting off advances by her husband's duplicate. It was rather endearing in this day and age. Her goddess later shoots her integrity to smithereens by ordering her to commit adultery. Sorry, but I like ClanFinton too much to have enjoyed any part of that!

I guess the main failing is that the author did too good a job of creating a love interest for Shannon in book 1. Clint was just superfulous.

And the way Shannon got home at the end? Ugh! Too depressing!

For the first time in a long time, I actually felt emotionally connected to a book's protagonist! Shannon (Rhea) Parker's journey of being ripped from her adopted world to arrive back in her native Oklahoma had me enthralled. Even more so was her involvement with Clint (*I so wish he'd had a different name - I still have disturbing images of a squinty, older man asking me if I feel lucky...ugh*) - despite it not being her husband, I could see how she'd be attracted to him, eventually loving him. His ultimate sacrifice to help Shannon at the end was intense to the point I actually cried! (Where are all the REAL "Clint-esque" or "ClanFintan-type" men nowadays? Hell, most of us have trouble finding men who'll open doors for us!) *sniff* Now I'm awaiting anxiously for Fall 2007 for the next installment in this spectacular series!