Ensuring peace on Fair Isle will take more than diplomacy with the General, Tulkhan - especially when his distrust of Imoshen continues to grow. Her powers are also growing, along with Tulkhan's child inside her and her connection to the rebel leader and T'En prince, Reothe.Imoshen is legally bonded to Tulkhan, ostensibly to unit the Ghebites and the people of Fair Isle, but despite her loyalty to him she cannot help but feel drawn to Reothe, a man who is just like her and understands her. She has Tulkhan's baby, a boy more T'En than "trueman", half Dhamfeer with his six fingers and wine-dark eyes, but when his new life is taken away she must make a deal with the spirits that has as-yet unknown consequences.I read books 1 and 2 while at uni and loved them, and only recently got my hands on the third to finish the trilogy. I've read the first two several times and still find them enjoyable, though now - now that I'm more jaded, perhaps, or just pickier - there are things that bother me about the writing. There's too much repetition of thoughts, feeling, motivations, justifications, that type of thing. My edition of the first book needed a lot more copy-editing and proof-reading, for the mistakes are numerous and that always bugs me. But the pacing is great, there's always something happening, the plot is detailed and you're not always sure where it's going to take you, and the women of Fair Isle hold their own.Imoshen greatly matures in this second book, and Tulkhan is a strong character as well, but it's blatantly obvious that his distrust of her is stretched into a thin plot device to keep them apart. The tension between Imoshen, Reothe and Tulkhan is generally handled well, though in Dark Legacy (and most of the third book) I hated Reothe. But the misunderstandings and lack of communication between them just made me so frustrated! And you never do find out what bargain Imoshen made with the Parakletos to save the life of her son, though there is one tiny little hint - that probably has nothing to do with it after all!
