Review: Dreams of Sorrow by Shauna Lawless

Blurb:

A tale of magic, power and heartbreak set in the tumultuous world of medieval Ireland, Dreams of Sorrow is the powerful new novella in Shauna Lawless's Gael Song series.

Senna is sixteen and deeply in love. When a traumatic event leads to her unleashing powers she never knew she had, she learns her true heritage: her grandmother was a witch and a Descendant of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the legendary former rulers of Ireland.

But such gifts are hard to control, and Senna's abilities mean that she might forever lose her place in the mortal world.

When she encounters other Descendants with similar powers, things start to look brighter. Anaile, old and wise, can help guide her path. Tomas, deeply ambitious, reveals the truth behind many strange mysteries. And Gobnat, a vivacious young witch, shows Senna how to control her magic.

But torn between a mortal existence and a magical one, Senna must make a decision that will shape her life... in more ways than she could ever expect.

Review:

If you’ve followed my reviews you may have noticed I already reviewed the final book in the Gael Song series and love the books unapologetically. Another reviewer on our amazing team and I agreed I would review The Land of the Living and the Dead, while she took Dreams of Sorrow. Then life happened, and now here I am reviewing Dreams of Sorrow. 

I’m going to start at the back of this because in Shuana’s acknowledgements she wrote “To all readers, I hope you enjoyed this novella, are not too traumatised and are looking forward to delving into The Land of the Living and the Dead!” And to that I say: I did enjoy this novella and I am thoroughly traumatised. Thank you very much.

The other thing I have to say is, when reading this book I had to check with our Head Boe in Charge if I could use ‘bastard’ to refer to a character because I had no other descriptors (or at least ones without more expletives) to really capture how I feel about Tomas. I swear more than half my notes on this novella were just raging at Tomas. 

Tomas: You are with friends now.

Notes: No she’s not, you scumbag!

Anaile: They love us so much that they can forget to look after themselves. Those who are not skilled trainers will find their crows die of exhaustion.

Notes: Like Tomas’. The bastard.

Senna: For the true monster had revealed himself. Tomas.

Notes: We’ve known this for so many books now! He’s just awful! 

Other notes: Even when we know he’s being scummy we don’t even know the full extent of it at the time!

And so on. Tomas just makes you feel gross. Everything he does is awful, he’s awful. His whole existence is awful and I hate him. Shauna did such a great job at making a completely awful and unlikeable character. “Would you say he’s worse than Gormflaith?” You know what, yes. I don’t want to be stuck in a lift with either of them but I want to be stuck with Tomas less. 

If you’ve followed the books to this point, you already know a bit about Senna. Particularly the key bit at the end of The Words of Kings and Prophets. That makes this so much more heartbreaking because Senna was loved and her and her mother trusted that she would be safe. But it’s a tragedy since we know from the start that’s just not how it went. 

It’s not a long book at all (which should be obvious, because it’s a novella) so I don’t have tons to say on it other than it continues the expert writing, worldbuilding and character backgrounds we have come to know and expect from Shauna. It provides further background to Senna, who up until now we have known as Tomas’ minion and watcher. And it breaks your heart because she should have been so much more than that and there is nothing we can do to stop it happening to her. 

We are treated again to rich folklore, celebrations, and wonderful crow-lore which cannot be overlooked. 

If you’re already invested in the Gael Song trilogy, there is no doubt you will pick this up anyway. So all I can suggest is do so after The Words of Kings and Prophets. And if you have yet to dive into Gael Song, reflect on your life mistakes and fix them then read this after The Words of Kings and Prophets. (You can also read it after The Land of the Living and the Dead. It’s up to you. I’m not the boss of you. I’m a book reviewer, not your mother.)