This is book three of the Seasons of Magic series and sees Ezri facing more difficulties in her role as the Saviour. She has to face more problems caused by the Order, when it seems they are taking magic from members of the Council. But it isn’t just one person that is affected, it is the whole family line who has had their magic taken. Ezri is left to figure out how it could have possibly been done, whilst also having to work out what the newest prophecy means, as she is linked to yet another one! Time is running out as Autumn is now here and the winter solstice is approaching, where the Order and their magic users will have more power and an advantage over Ezri and the Council.
She uses her magic to look into the memories of the first woman and her child who lose their magic completely and she manages to trace it to one man. Her police partner helps to link this man to a pawn shop and it seems the user’s magic is being transferred into objects and then picked up from the pawn shop by others, as yet unknown members of the Order. What they are trying to do is unknown and the bigger problem is how on earth Ezri is going to stop them from draining all the members of the Council! She asks her father to check on anything connected to her mother and her magic and family. He finds a link to a professor in Ireland that her mother was in contact with, just before her death.
So this leaves Ezri, her boyfriend AJ and her cousin Dominic, off on a trip to Ireland, where their magic was originally from. She can immediately feel the magic surging in the land, when she arrives. While she is in Ireland, the rest of the Council members are vulnerable to attack, so they have all been told to stay somewhere safe and not go out. A bit like the restrictions of the current time for all. As with this, some of them will obey the guidelines given, but some won’t and they will reap the results of their own actions! Ezri learns a lot more about the woman called Aoife, at the head of the ancestral magical family tree, through visions and even some dreams. A very powerful wizard made a drastic decision all those years ago, as Aoife and her people were looking for peace between the opposing groups of magic users. His influence on the Order is still strong and they have already tried to resurrect him and his power.
Now Ezri is having dreams with an evil figure within, who she has to presume is this ancient wizard. Luckily Aoife is able to give her some guidance in how to protect the remaining members of the Council to keep their magic safe, but they won’t be able to fix the magic for any whose magic has already been given to another. When they get back home, they immediately work on this issue, to ensure the Council will remain at full power, but that means bringing new families in, with weaker magic. As magic somehow diminishes, the newer the magic user is. Only the oldest of family lines are really powerful and Ezri now has another powerful witch to help her when needed. Some who have lost their magic, may not be happy with the decision to replace them, leaving her with less allies for any fight that is coming. Nut coming it is!
It seems the Order know exactly what they are doing, before the Council or Ezri even do it. Whether Ezri can save light magic before it is all stolen and dark magic overthrows the balance, is going to be a fight much harder than any she has undergone so far. She thought her role as Saviour was difficult with the first prophecy, but this next one leaves her with no answers and only hints about what it means. She must discover everything by herself and at the time she needs it, as none of her ancestors can tell her anything directly. She must come to a conclusion by herself and battle the difficulties she faces, with what she has at the time. Hopefully, it will all come together in time, but not without a few heartaches along the way. A shocking ending, which leaves you wondering what else Ezri may have to face in the next book! I can’t wait to find out. This series drags you in and keeps you engrossed as Ezri tries to live up to a difficult and often unwanted role. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.