The Solstice Cup

by Rachel Dunstan Muller

Something sinister happened to Mackenzie's twin sister Breanne the last time the two girls were in Ireland. Now they're back and the winter solstice is approaching. Breanne scoffs at their elderly relatives' tales of fair folk and banshees and the thin barrier between two worlds, but Mackenzie remembers what happened to Breanne five years before—at the summer solstice. Mackenzie is convinced the Otherworld is real, but is it a place of enchantment or enslavement for humans?

Genres: Fantasy

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2009

About the author

Rachel Dunstan Muller is the mother of five and the author of four juvenile novels. If she's not researching or writing, you can probably find her hiking in the forests and mountains near her Vancouver Island home. She recently built a kayak and used it to explore the Broken Islands.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially a retelling of the Tamlin ballad, only it's with sisters - and no, I am not counting that against the book, because it actually worked really well. And for being such a short book, the Author was able to capture a lot of suspense and depth. Mackenzie is a heroine easy to sympathize with and like. Meanwhile, her twin sister Breanne is positively horrid. The Reader is not supposed to like her, naturally; Breanne is an absolute jerk. I so badly wanted something bad and irreversible happen to her, and I must admit that if I had been Mackenzie, I might not have even bothered to rescue Breanne from the Fair Folk. Especially when by the end of their trials and tribulations, Breanne doesn't seemed to have altered at all.

The Author's rendition of the Fair Folk is one of the better ones that I have read, though I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of how she portrayed the Wild Hunt. Rather than Faerie horses and Faerie dogs, the Author the Fair Folks' mounts into mish-mosh creatures. For me, there has always been something incredibly eerie about the Wild Hunt mounts being beautiful, but deadly, horses that can never be tamed. It plays with our thoughts of we think we know something, but then we're presented with a darker side of it. There was just nothing scary about the Hunt at all in the way the Author portrayed it.

That is my only complaint, though, and as a whole I liked "The Solstice Cup." It was a good quick read dealing with one of my favorite subjects: Celtic lore.

[Hali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twin girls (one "good", one "bad") constantly fighting.
"Don't do that, it's dangerous!"
"Why are you such a wuss?"
"Don't eat fairy food!"
"Yum...I'm eating it all!"
"You can't just leave! We'll get into trouble!"
"I'm going. You're such a goody two-shoes."
"I hate you."
"I hate you."
And so on. Awful and repetitive. It didn't stop through the entire book. Plot had potential. Not super original but somewhat interesting. The characters, though, were flat and, frankly, annoying. The dialogue was wretched. The ending just bad. I read YA and children's books so, even though I'm not the target audience, I can say this was fairly bad. This MIGHT be okay for a tween...maybe tweens would even enjoy it (which is the only reason I gave it 2 stars) but it is not for adults who enjoy well-written children's books.

[Agirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not put this book down, every page wanted to be turned. definitly a great book. I'm not sure what happened in the listing but this book is a juvenile book written by a very talented writer, i think that many people have been mislead by the listing of "young adult". Either way i thought it was absolutely fantastic and i look forward to reading more of Muller's work.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s wasn’t a bad book. The bad sister was very annoying though. Seemed she lacked common sense. Great book for juveniles though.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the author would have focused more on character development, but mostly all you see is arguing between the two sisters and it gets pretty redundant. It seems like after they move past the arguing, that's when the story starts to develop better.

All in all an enjoyable read, but the writing and development could have been better.

[Teri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a lot more from this book in terms of character development and plot.

It was a quick, enjoyable read, but I wished it would have been longer and gone more into detail about Mackenzie and Breanne and the people they met in the Otherworld.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The twins are only 12 years old. While the story was interesting, there's not a whole lot of character development and what is there is kind of cliché. And it was a shorter story than a normal novel.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute, short and an ok story.

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me reading all day. I checked out from the library yesterday and finished it today. You should read this amazing book. It is a short-read and easy to find the time for.

[Ve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! Couldn't keep the book out of my hands! The story was always on my mind til the end and it still is!

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14138207

[Alexis]

because it looks good