Brighid's Quest (Partholon Series #5 Review) by PC Cast Review

Hi ForeverBookers, 

This book was good. 

It took me about 150 pages to really get in to unfourtunately, and even then I really only enjoyed the last half of the book. 

This tells more the story of centaur huntress Brighid, although we do see others stories' within this book as well. 

Spoilers below!

The first 100 or so pages have nothing to really do with the overall plot. It's just Brighid and Cuchulainn (Cu) going to find the femorians that killed Brenna, Cu's lost love. Cu is hell bent on redemption at first but when he gets to know the "new femorians" he doesn't want to hurt them as most of them are only children without parents. He wants to bring them back to find their own redemption at Macallan Castle with Clan Macallan. The new femorians are given the power of restoration by the Goddess Epona. This kind of does come into play right at the end of the novel but I didn't think we needed everything the author gave us to understand what Cu and Brighid were going through. The author could have just written finding the new Femorians part with just a lot less drama. I probably would have enjoyed it more. 

Cu is still in denial about Brenna up until Brighid saves his soul. This part was written well I thought. I could see a definite change in Cuchulainn's character after Brighid had bought back his soul. Before she found his soul, he was rather insolent towards others. This is what causes Brighid and Cu to fall in love, I think as well as them sharing dreams. 

After they fall in love the story takes a twist. We see Brighid's sister briefly, who tells Brighid that their mother has died. Brighid and her mother never got along. That was the main reason for her joining Clan Macallan in the first place. She didn't want a part of being the centaur High Shaman. She wanted to forge a new life for herself. However, when she hears of her mother's death she's not sure what will become of her tribe of centaurs under her brothers leadership. Being centaur high shaman is the only way that she and Cu can truely become lovers as well as it's the only way she can become human for a short time. She chooses to go on this quest to drink from a certain goblet in the hopes of getting there before anyone else from her herd. Cu and Brighid are married after this as Cu doesn't want to be separated from his love. Cu, of course goes with her to find the goblet.

The next 100 or so pages are about Brighid and Cu finding the centaur plains and the entrance to the underworld (where the goblet is). There was romance within these pages, which I enjoyed. It's obvious here that Cu cares deeply for Brighid. When they find the goblet Brighid's brother also happens to be there. Cu fights him and although neither is hurt Brighid is able to drink from the goblet. 

When Brighid and Cu get back from the Otherworld they're able to be together in all ways. Although Brighid gets tired and is in pain after her first transformation into a human transforming back to a centaur is a lot less painful. Cu still wants to protect his love however and tells her not to overstretch herself. Brighid is captured at this point, when Cu goes to find food. She's captured by the Dhianna herd. This is now her herd as she is the Dhianna high Shaman. She's taken and held captive by male centaurs, who wanted her brother as their new leader. This was believable as Brighid's brother was led to believe that Brighid was evil by their mother. Cu of course saves the day by killing these centaurs and saving her. Brighid and Cu then have to race against the horizon to not get burnt as the centaur high plains become lit with fire. While they do manage this, it's hard on Brighid who has just become centaur high shaman but with burnt high shaman plains with nothing growing because of the fire. When the new femorians place their hands on the damaged land however things start to grow through their goddess given gift of restoration. 

While I liked this book it certainly wasn't my favourite of the Partholon series. I'm giving this book a 3.5 stars (3 stars on Goodreads) because while it had romance and a few comic moments it also had very slow moving parts as well for me. The first half of it took me 4 days when the second half took me a day. That's how slow I found it. The fact that there wasn't any romance in the first half probably didn't help either. There's one love scene near the end and kissing, holding as well as dreaming in the second half of the book. Although the love scene isn't described I still would only allow above 16 year olds to read this. PC Cast can definitely write a good love scene. That's why it was a shame that there were so few many in this book. 

I'll be picking my next book to read soon.