We will be man and wife, if you still will it, but we two must wait until our people are safe.”‘ “I know your value, Cat, and not only as a morrigan. When he drew back, the blue of his eyes had darkened, and his voice was husky. Then he kissed her gently, as he had in the garden at Bere, and this time she responded. Once the English return to their own land…” He bent his head to her and waited until she raised hers to meet him. “Do not think you will get away so easily. His quick response surprised her, and she let herself be drawn. “How can we risk it? Your visions may be our only advantage now”… Cat turned away from Rhys, but his arm came around her shoulders and drew her toward him. The ending for Rhys and Catrin is one of a ‘happy ever after’, but after their toil and stress, I feel as though they deserved it! While she did manage to escape, she came back and created a brilliantly thought-out ruse to trick Rhys’ captors into allowing them to waltz in and take Rhys back. When Rhys instructed Catrin to escape her captors, he said that should they hurt her he would not be able to stay silent and might give away information about the Welsh Revolution. The love story between her and Rhys is as powerful as the love story between Rose and Jack from Titanic, while it’s not about two warring families or communities, the love and passion they hold for each other holds strong enough to keep them connected throughout the whole story. Being a YA novel series, Last of the Gifted showcases fantastic examples for young people on realistic scenes that they can take inspiration from, as well as be inspired to write and read more. Lady Catrin’s character is such a beautiful role model, who is ready for anything thrown at her, intelligent and I think she is a really important character to focus on in this story. Then there’s an absolutely fabulous tale of a woman who shows her worth by outsmarting one of the Kings’ generals, gaining his trust (to a point) and repeatedly manages to save her people over her own safety. I say this because it seems as though it could be real! However, Powell has identified this and has created her own version, which feels much more authentic and threatens to bring the world of magic directly into the world we reside in. Managing to bring a piece of ancient lore into a story with realistic timelines is a difficult job to handle, and the idea of the Morrigan, is one that has been covered in the likes of TV shows such as Merlin and popular mainstream video games like Dragon Age Origins. He is a strong man, who dearly adores Lady Catrin, but is aware of her gift, and is loathe to distract her from her path as he believes her to be the ‘Morrigan’. Listening to Water Sight was no different as I quickly built up tender feelings to the characters, my favourite being Rhys. These memories made me feel strong emotions and inspired me, at the time, to dive into reading, discover new worlds and completely immerse myself in the story I read. Alongside managing to deliver accuracy in the language and history of the time, Powell weaves a detailed and wonderful story, it made me reminisce about stories I would read as a child. Being raised in England, I was intrigued by the history that Powell delved into, it was very much a love story about the country and its people and I was enchanted from the first chapter onwards. I found it fascinating how Powell has such energy and passion in doing her research of the era, studying the Welsh language and delivering such a moving novel. She plays a pivotal role during the conquest of Wales and how the people fought against King Edward. The first book seemed to be centred around Hyw and his journey with his extraordinary gift of shapeshifting, in this book we are given more detail in the story surrounding his sister, Lady Catrin, who has the gift of foresight. Unlike the first installment, Water Sight had a focus on one particular character who I felt drawn to as a listener. The audiobook was gifted to me in return for an honest and thorough review. Water Sight is an epic fantasy novel, the second installment of the Last of the Gifted series written by Marie Powell in 2020.
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