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Daughter of the Wildings #4
To the Gap
This is an alternate cover edition for B0137I0GQY
The secret of Lainie's forbidden magical gifts has been exposed, and Silas wants to take her far away from the Wildings to a place where she can be safe. To earn money for the journey, Silas signs them up to work on the big annual cattle drive to the Gap.
Lainie dreams of making the Wildings into a place where she and Silas and other mages can live in peace. The cattle drive is the perfect opportunity for her and Silas to show the Plain settlers of the Wildings that not all mages are wicked, heartless monsters.
While Silas has reason to believe that the danger to Lainie is worse than he thought, Lainie can't agree that leaving the Wildings is the answer. As they travel with the herd, Lainie and Silas must avoid being captured or killed by mage hunters and discovered by the mage-hating Plains, while protecting the herd from renegade mages looking for money and trouble. And they have to find a way to resolve the disagreement between them - do they seek refuge in a faraway land or stand and face the dangers of being outlaw mages in the Wildings? - before it tears them apart.
The secret of Lainie's forbidden magical gifts has been exposed, and Silas wants to take her far away from the Wildings to a place where she can be safe. To earn money for the journey, Silas signs them up to work on the big annual cattle drive to the Gap.
Lainie dreams of making the Wildings into a place where she and Silas and other mages can live in peace. The cattle drive is the perfect opportunity for her and Silas to show the Plain settlers of the Wildings that not all mages are wicked, heartless monsters.
While Silas has reason to believe that the danger to Lainie is worse than he thought, Lainie can't agree that leaving the Wildings is the answer. As they travel with the herd, Lainie and Silas must avoid being captured or killed by mage hunters and discovered by the mage-hating Plains, while protecting the herd from renegade mages looking for money and trouble. And they have to find a way to resolve the disagreement between them - do they seek refuge in a faraway land or stand and face the dangers of being outlaw mages in the Wildings? - before it tears them apart.
- GenresFantasy
253 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Kyra Halland
33 books96 followersKyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. She combines those two loves by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she loves to read, tales of magical worlds where complicated, honorable heroes and strong, smart, feminine heroines work together to save their world - or their own small corner of it - and each other.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 2, 2016
Well, that was a ball of fun, and no mistake. I've been loving the whole Daughter of the Wildings series, but I positively inhaled this fourth installment, quite unable to tear myself away from it. For anyone who likes a little fantasy served with their westerns, and a side helping of romance, this is absolutely the series for you. Start with Beneath The Canyons.
Silas is a trained mage from Granadaia, sent to the Wildings as a bounty-hunter, catching rogue mages. Lainie is Wildings-born, with untrained mage power, which taps deep into the natural power of the region. Now they're married and on the run, while Lainie learns to control her power and the two of them avoid mage-hunters and the hostility of Plain folk (those without magical ability). All they want is a safe place to live, and to be left alone, but those are proving hard to find.
In order to make enough money to escape the mage-hunters, they join a cattle drive, and this part of the story was fantastic fun. Dealing with weather, stampeding cattle, river crossings and possible rustlers while trying to keep their magic out of sight provides plenty of entertainment in the first half of the book. But when they encounter some mischief-making mages, all hell breaks loose and things get very tense.
Silas and Lainie are a lovely pair. In most fantasy that I read, I look for characters that are complex and not solely black and white; a little grey makes things more interesting. But here there's so much old-fashioned charm in these two that I wouldn't change anything about them. The side characters could do with a touch more depth for my taste, but it's not really a problem, since it all fits perfectly well with the western black-hats/white-hats style.
The magic is quite complex, and each book reveals a little more about it, and about how Lainie can use it. There's also some intriguing political backstory going on behind the scenes, which is becoming more significant as the series progresses. I love the fact that Lainie is both more powerful than Silas, and also more inventive (which is logical, given that she's untrained; she doesn't know what she's not supposed to be able to do!). I also love it when they work together as a team.
The ending is a bit of a humdinger, although not entirely unexpected; not exactly a cliff-hanger, more of a can't-wait-for-the-next-book moment (and it will be called City of Mages! At last we will get to Granadaia, which I'm desperate to see! Write faster, Ms Halland, write faster!). This book is possibly my favourite of the series so far, enjoyable from start to finish, with an awesome mage battle, and Lainie's little victory near the end a terrific punch-the-air moment. Five stars.
Silas is a trained mage from Granadaia, sent to the Wildings as a bounty-hunter, catching rogue mages. Lainie is Wildings-born, with untrained mage power, which taps deep into the natural power of the region. Now they're married and on the run, while Lainie learns to control her power and the two of them avoid mage-hunters and the hostility of Plain folk (those without magical ability). All they want is a safe place to live, and to be left alone, but those are proving hard to find.
In order to make enough money to escape the mage-hunters, they join a cattle drive, and this part of the story was fantastic fun. Dealing with weather, stampeding cattle, river crossings and possible rustlers while trying to keep their magic out of sight provides plenty of entertainment in the first half of the book. But when they encounter some mischief-making mages, all hell breaks loose and things get very tense.
Silas and Lainie are a lovely pair. In most fantasy that I read, I look for characters that are complex and not solely black and white; a little grey makes things more interesting. But here there's so much old-fashioned charm in these two that I wouldn't change anything about them. The side characters could do with a touch more depth for my taste, but it's not really a problem, since it all fits perfectly well with the western black-hats/white-hats style.
The magic is quite complex, and each book reveals a little more about it, and about how Lainie can use it. There's also some intriguing political backstory going on behind the scenes, which is becoming more significant as the series progresses. I love the fact that Lainie is both more powerful than Silas, and also more inventive (which is logical, given that she's untrained; she doesn't know what she's not supposed to be able to do!). I also love it when they work together as a team.
The ending is a bit of a humdinger, although not entirely unexpected; not exactly a cliff-hanger, more of a can't-wait-for-the-next-book moment (and it will be called City of Mages! At last we will get to Granadaia, which I'm desperate to see! Write faster, Ms Halland, write faster!). This book is possibly my favourite of the series so far, enjoyable from start to finish, with an awesome mage battle, and Lainie's little victory near the end a terrific punch-the-air moment. Five stars.
May 22, 2021
This was definitely better than the previous books but it was still lacking.
It was a bit boring, filled with herding cattle more than anything else it seemed like. The same 'ol being shunned for being wizards despite saving their lives. But, I will say at least there were some that weren't too disturbed.
The ending was a cliffhanger and definitely has me curious.
It was a bit boring, filled with herding cattle more than anything else it seemed like. The same 'ol being shunned for being wizards despite saving their lives. But, I will say at least there were some that weren't too disturbed.
The ending was a cliffhanger and definitely has me curious.
October 7, 2023
This might be my favourite of the series so far. For the most part the narrative is slower paced than the preceding books in the series, but it certainly doesn’t suffer for that. Lainie and Silas have joined the big cattle drive and whilst, for the most part, the journey is uneventful there are dangers from cattle rustling wizards and the general harsh environment of the Wildings themselves. There is also the ever-looming threat that those they are travelling with will discover Lainie and Silas are both mages themselves. A “crime” the Plains folk, who have no tolerance for the average magic wielder, punish with a good old-fashioned lynching.
I loved that the slower pace not only gave Silas and Lainie a little room for some good character growth individually but also as husband and wife. Lainie is gaining some much-needed maturity and the pair of them are starting to communicate better and realise that they truly are a team.
I cannot wait to see where the story goes next, especially with THAT ending.
I know I am repeating myself but if you like romantic fantasy in a gritty western setting soaked with strange magic then this series definitely is one to try.
I loved that the slower pace not only gave Silas and Lainie a little room for some good character growth individually but also as husband and wife. Lainie is gaining some much-needed maturity and the pair of them are starting to communicate better and realise that they truly are a team.
I cannot wait to see where the story goes next, especially with THAT ending.
I know I am repeating myself but if you like romantic fantasy in a gritty western setting soaked with strange magic then this series definitely is one to try.
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November 2, 2015We're going on a cattle drive! Danger, romance, magic, adventure - and cows. Did you know cows could swim? Silas didn't. You learn something new every day! Book 4 of Daughter of the Wildings.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews