A Dance with Fate

The lovely second mythic fantasy in Marillier’s Irish folklore–inspired Warrior Bards series (after The Harp of Kings) chronicles the youthful romance of Swan Island warriors Liobhan, a talented singer, and Dau, the embittered son of a chieftain. Evenly matched in combat skills, Liobhan and Dau celebrate the completion of their strenuous training as spies with a three-round display bout that goes horribly wrong when Dau slips and is blinded. Under interclan law, the injured Dau must return to his father’s home, Oakhill, where his older brothers once cruelly tormented him. The only comfort keeping Dau from a fatal depression is Liobhan, who volunteers to spend a year at Oakhill to care for him. Despite expectations set by the first book in the series, very little music or warrior training leavens their unhappy lives at Oakhill, until fate intervenes in the person of Liobhan’s bardic brother Brocc, who returns from the Otherworld to save them from their misery. Marillier’s strength lies in her ability to convincingly convey the genuine trust and compassion between her characters as they come of age in a magical land. Series readers will eagerly await more. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary. (Sept.)