I liked the first book in this trilogy, Star of the Morning, enough that I had hardly turned the last page before I dove into the sequel, The Mage's Daughter. I felt like I was reading a totally different series, about characters I'd never met before, and didn't like all that much. In Star of the Morning, Morgan was tough, no-nonsense, and a good leader. The force of her personality convinced a passel of hardened men to follow her lead, and she was competent enough to handle the responsibility. In The Mage's Daughter, Morgan is frail and weepy, constantly in need of reassurance, always following someone else's lead. At first, I understood. She almost died at the end of Star of the Morning, after all, and it takes time to recover. She learns a few things about her ancestry that are hard to swallow, and that would knock anyone off balance. A quarter of the way through the book, I was glad the author took the time to show us that even heroes are human. Halfway through the book, I was ready for Morgan to act a little bit more like herself. And from there on out, I just started getting mad. Who, I wondered, is this weepy little miss who couldn't take care of a potted plant, let alone a troupe of adventurers? Not the same leading lady I got to know in Star of the Morning, that's for sure.

And Miach...well, admittedly, Miach is dealing with the new, feeble Morgan, not the old spunky one, but that doesn't really excuse his behavior. In Star of the Morning, Miach was troubled because the woman he loved was a magically gifted warrior, fated to live a dangerous life. But he loved her confidence and determination, and he had a lot of respect for her. He didn't try to upstage her position as head of their traveling band, and trusted her to guard his back in a fight. He worried for her, but he understood that fear was simply the cost of loving a woman like Morgan. In The Mage's Daughter, Miach treats Morgan like a delicate piece of glass that will break if it's exposed to a vigorous breeze. He keeps her out of the loop as he continues to investigate the evil threatening Neroche, he doesn't discuss his discoveries with her, and he won't accept her aid. Even as it becomes increasingly clear that Morgan's help is essential to his success, Miach schemes to keep her out of danger.

Star of the Morning was a fantasy romance about two strong, powerful people who fall in love. Miach and Morgan were equal partners, stronger together than apart. The Mage's Daughter is a damsel in distress novel, and Miach gets to perform all the heroic deeds. He's pushed to the limit, juggling the herculean tasks of saving his country from disaster and winning his lady-love. It was the opposite of what I hoped to see. Once the romance fell apart for me, the weakness of the fantasy elements was doubly apparent. What is this evil, and why is it always described so vaguely? What are these nightmare creatures, and could I get a decent description of them? The nature of magic in the Nine Kingdoms is a little frustrating too - it's so plentiful, and there's no system of checks and balances.

I think I'm done with this series. Kind of a shame, since it started out with so much promise. ( )

Awwww. Total filler! Very disappointing. Didn't learn anything new about the characters--most of it was full of people working up to telling each other things the reader found out about in the last book. Fights were had. Tears were shed. Stoic silences were...silent. The first one in the series was good enough to make me hold on and read the next one. Fingers crossed it's better! ( )

Book 2 of the Nine Kingdoms series. At the end of the last book Morgan was poisoned, but once she has returned from near death and is able to stand on her own two feets she flees back to Gobhan, home of Scymgeour Weger. When she enters Gobhan, where no magic exists, archmage Miach heand determines to get her out of there, even if it means he has to gain entry himself and earn Weger's mark.

Meanwhile the kingdom of Neroche is still under siege by nightmarish creatures and Miach is struggling to maintain his wards which are under constant attack. He must also discover who is behind the attacks before it is too late. A good read. ( )

Moving on in the Nine Kingdoms series, the best book of the first trilogy is the second one, The Mage's Daughter. In this book, Morgan has to make a choice. To take on her magic and her past, and in exchange have the chance to build a lasting love with Miach, or to run away from her past and her magic and lose Miach in the bargain. But Miach is not willing to let Morgan go quietly into the night. He is willing to fight for her - and fight for her he does! :)

This is the best book of the first trilogy for me because it is far and away the most romantic of all the Nine Kingdoms books. The gentle love story that was set up in the first book comes to full life in this book. We see Morgan and Miach come to terms with the quest that they realize is before them and we see Morgan grow into the young woman she was meant to be before circumstances took it away from her.

If I had one criticism of this book, which I really don't, it is that this book doesn't have much action til the end. The first 3/4 of the book focuses on the relationship between Miach and Morgan and not much else happens. For me, that was not a problem! :) In fact, I loved that about this book since I came to Nine Kingdoms from Kurland's other books which are romance novels. However, I will warn that it is possible that one could be turned off of the fact that the book doesn't move along much in terms of events until the end. ( )

I was greatly disappointed in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Star of the Morning, but this party two just seemed a completely different writing style. Morgan, the main character contradicts herself all throughout the book. She is constantly insulting the whole idea of love and how she is a fool to even consider liking Miach. Within the next moment, she will be thinking how much she loves Miach. Morgan's thinking goes back and forth so much in this manner that it became irritating and even confusing at times.

There was no action. Weger, introduced as a rival/friend of Miach and Morgan never adapts a role in the book despite his important part in it at the beginning of the novel. He goes back and forth between being an "enemy" and being a "friend" to Miach and Morgan. Later in the novel Morgan constantly brings him up which is just awkward.

I love Kurland's writing and Morgan the fearless shieldmaiden in Star in the Morning, but she did nothing but cry ( )