Gael Baudino

It's one of the books that changed the way I look at life, and I wanted to pick it up and re-read it for the umpteenth time. This is the 3rd copy of this book that I have, since I kept giving it away to friends to read. Never heard back about their take on it, though.

So the premise is that a young woman with a harp lives in Denver in the 1980's teaching harp lessons, but she is really from 6th Century Ireland and her harp is from the immortal lands of the Sidh. She took it with her when she escaped their lands, but sadly, her lover, Suidb (Judith) did not get out with her. Chairste has been living a half-life of despair, wondering how to bring Judith back when the gates between our world and the Lands of the Sidh are growing ever more fragile.

Enter one of Chairiste's students, a bass player, who introduces her to the world of the hair bands of the 80's, and guitar teacher Kevin, and Chairiste finds out how she can open up the gates, rescue her lover, and overcome the Master Harper who would keep Judith enchanted forever. Gael Baudino does a masterful job telling this story, interweaving threads of the dark side of Catholicism, women's efforts to make their mark in rock music, and how men can come to revere women as Goddess. The interweaving of music and magick is extraordinary.… (meer)

I received a copy from Netgalley in enhange for an honest review.

This book was not for me. I gave up at 40%. The novel started out quite interesting, I've not read much of this type of epic fantasy before. The blurb on Netgalley sounded good. Though I read the first 20% reasonably quickly, I found I did not like the main character Miriam. I found her cold, bitchy and couldn't relate to her or really feel anything for her. I can understand why she is that way due to the terrible hardships she's been through and why she is so cold and angry...

But the more I read, the less and less interesting I found the plot. I did like the Elves, but even their calmness became irritating. Not a series I will be continuing.

So thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to view this title, even though this book was not to my taste.… (meer)