Review: Silver's Bane

Silver’s Bane is the sequel to Silver’s Edge, which I absolutely loved. The second part of the story was almost as good. I am just relieved that this is the end of the story. I don’t think that I could have lived through another year or more of waiting to find out what happens.

Silver’s Bane continues the story of Nessa, Delphinea and Cecily. Nessa is the daughter of Dougal, who is a blacksmith. He taught his daughter everything that he knew. In the first book Dougal disappeared into faerie and Nessa had been trying to find him. Cadwyr has taken her father’s apprentice, Griffin, with other blacksmiths. Unfortunately, a goblin attack killed all but him.

Delphinea is a faerie that was sent to court by her mother in an attempt to find out why their cows were all covered in sores and dying. What she discovered is that the Silver Caul is at fault. It is poisoning Tir Na’lugh. At the end of Silver’s Edge she was running for her life from Timias. He was blaming the disappearance of the Silver Caul on her.

Cecily is the wife of the Duke of Gar. Unfortunately it has become apparent that he may be dead. In Silver’s Edge he had ridden off to war. Luckily she still has Kian, who is the Duke’s second in command and Cecily’s lover. Now she has to take charge and try to keep her people safe.

Does this all sound a bit confusing? Well I borrowed a paragraph from my review on Silver’s Edge. I think it covers most of the basic background you need. There is the shadowlands as the sidhe call it, or Brynhyvar where the mortals live. There is the Otherworld as the mortals call it, or Tir Na’lugh where the sidhe or faeries live. Last and thus far least important is the wastelands where the goblins live. About a thousand years ago the sidhe queen, Gloriana, one of her advisors, Timias, and a mortal blacksmith, Bran Brownbeard created the Silver Caul. It served two purposes: to keep the Goblins out of the shadowlands and to keep silver out of the Otherworld. Silver is very poisonous to the sidhe. It is the queen’s magic that keeps the goblins out of Tir Na’lugh.

The current queen of Tir Na’lugh is Alamandine. There is something wrong with her, though. In Silver’s Edge we found out that Timias is the father of the queen and her sister Vinaver. They have a half brother who is the son of Bran Brownbeard. His name is Artimour. Vinaver has a son named Finuviel that she swears is the son of Hearne. Hearne and the Hag are the god and goddess.

Finuviel made a deal with Cadwyr, who is next in line to be the Duke of Gar. Finuviel and his mother stole the Silver Caul and used it as insurance for Cadwyr. They gave him a company of faeries to use in the war that is being fought in Brynhyvar. Cadwyr went back on the deal, slaughtered the company after it helped him, and then locked Finuviel in a silver mine.

The war in Brynhyvar is about who is ruling the Kingdom. The current king is, well, crazy. His wife is from another country that has been trying to move in and take over for years. This has given them their chance. Now the Duke of Gar and his heir, Cadwyr are trying to take over.

Artimour, who promised Nessa that he would help find her father, was stabbed. The knife used was made by Nessa, although she had no idea what it would be used for. Luckily he was rescued.

All right, I think that that should be enough information about what is going on without giving away any spoilers. Like I said before, this is an excellent book. It is not as good as the first one, but that is okay. There were a few parts of the story that I wish had played out a little differently. Some things could have had a bit more drama. I won’t tell you what parts; you’ll have to form your own opinion. Like I said I enjoyed both books and I am looking forward to the prequel that is about the making of the Caul. It will be called Silver’s Lure. Please read them, you won’t regret it.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Kayla - student - Kansas City

Book Review: Silver's Bane