The Fathomless Caves: Book Six of the Witches of Eileanan [Paperback]

Kate Forsyth (Author)

Book Description

Series: Witches of Eileanan | Publication Date: November 5, 2002

In Eileanan, the sea-dwelling Fairgain have refused to sign the Pact of Peace. Driven by ancient hatreds, they have devoted themselves to destroying all who dwell upon the land. To help bring peace, Iseult's flame-haired twin Isabeau must face her most difficult challenge yet.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Roc (November 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459024
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459022
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great ending to a great series, February 15, 2003

By 

Susan Bischoff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fathomless Caves: Book Six of the Witches of Eileanan (Paperback)

Book six, The Fathomless Caves, is a great ending to the Witches of Eileanan series. Though I can see points at which the author could branch off to write other books, there is definately a satifsying closure for the main characters and action.

Leading up to the final trial, which is a no holds barred, battle to the death that stretches everyone to their limits, there is a test of the royal marriage, Iseult's return to the Spine of the World, a confrontation between Lachlan and Isabeau regarding his behavior toward her, Maya's capture by the Righ, and Isabeau's confronting of her personal demons and her feelings regarding Dide the Jugglar.

The main focus of the action here is the war with the Fairgean, the sea people who are sworn enemies of the humans. Obviously, they are bad creatures, because they keep coming up onto the human's land and killing everyone, even children, raping women, taking slaves, all that bad war stuff. But Forsyth does the same thing in characterizing the Fairgean as a people that she does with her individual characters. She shows them as a product of their experiences, most specifically, their experiences with the humans over the last few hundred years. The humans come to be seen as less than virtuous, less than completely in the right, and the Fairgean become not quite the mindless villains they may have seemed. One wonders if, with hundreds of years of history of war and attempted genocide, these people could ever find a way to coexist. And whereas a few books ago we might not have been upset had the humans managed to wipe out the Fairgean completely, now that we have met a few and are seeing them as a people, that no longer seems a viable option for a good ending. Or is it?

The struggle between these two peoples becomes something like a good romance novel. You know both sides have their flaws, and everything's against them, but you really want them to work it out, no matter how much it hurts.

Well, you throw that in with all the individual conclusions, and the amazing action of the finale, and it makes for a great ending.

I have enjoyed this series immensely. It's great to read strong female characters, especially when those characters are actually women, and not just more guys in drag with girlie names. The characterization is brilliant, with characters who continue to grow, from the first pages to the last, who make mistakes, who fall into peril, but who, while ever-changing, mangage to hold on to a sense of self that made you fall for them in the first place. The imagery is lovely, and varied, and the use of Celtic and Wiccan lore highly enjoyable.

If you're coming to read this review not having read any other the other books, I would suggest you look up The Witches of Eileanan, because you deserve to enjoy this from the very beginning. It will be worth getting here the long way.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars okay conclusion to a good series, June 13, 2003

By 

Mary Hannah (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fathomless Caves: Book Six of the Witches of Eileanan (Paperback)

The conclusion of the Witches of Eileanan is good, maybe not as good as some of the earlier books in the series, but good. Iseult travels away to get the support of her mountain people, leaving Lachlan feeling very forlorn. In addition, the war against the sea creatures is not going so well. Meanwhile, Isabeau is struggling to finish her training as quickly as possible while a certain wandering musician struggles to catch her eye. The end of this series was a little anticlimactic to me, but still very interesting and definitely worth reading if you've made it this far in the series. The whole series gets the thumbs up.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome books, awesome writer., August 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fathomless Caves: Book Six of the Witches of Eileanan (Paperback)

A while back, after I had just finnished this book, I e-mailed Kate Forsyth, not really expecting anything in return. I thought to myself, those books are REALLY good. She'll never have time to read all her fanmail, much less write back.
Whoa was I surprised. The email I got was not a two word reply but two paragraphs about what I had asked! Not only are the books fantastic, but the Author was super- nice!

Well, as nice as she was, the books she wrote were even better. From beginning to end, they are captivating. The hardships of war and peace, trust and denial, are all played out fully in these colorful works. Thank you Kate Forsyth for a fabulous read. It doesn't get much better than that!