Review: The Land of the Living and the Dead by Shauna Lawless

Blurb:

The old world will die in flames…

Ireland, 1011 AD. Brian Boru is now High King of Ireland. Gormflaith, his queen, instructs their young son in his heritage - but only on his mother's side. For Gormflaith is a Fomorian, a magically skilled immortal. She plots to finally defeat her hated foes, the Descendants, and establish control over Ireland. And if King Brian stands in her way, so much the worse for him…

Fódla, a Descendant hiding in the mortal world, must protect her loved ones from their leader, Tomas, who schemes to see the Descendants rule Ireland once more. And Fódla must tread carefully, for she has broken one of the sacred rules of her kind: she is in love with a mortal.

As dark endeavours come to fruition, the only possible outcome is war. Ireland has bled red and often… but the coming clash will be a battle for the ages. Strange alliances will form, old defences will fail, and the land will never be the same again.

Review:

I am not rating this book in stars, I will be rating it in sobs. 5 sobs. 5/5 sobs.

As a book, this was incredible and I loved every second of it. As the close in a trilogy I adore, it was everything I hoped it would be despite being distraught and mad about certain character's endings. I don't disagree with anything Shauna did but that doesn't mean I have to like it. 

I genuinely don't even know where to start with this. Even my notations while reading are all over the place with reactions from ‘It’s all kicked off’ to ‘about damn time’.

We first start 9 years later, with Gormflaith reminding us why it's perfectly acceptable that she gives you the chills. She is unbelievably ruthless from the get-go. Then we jump ahead another two years, now 11 years on from The Words of Kings and Prophets, and we reunite with the characters who aren't unbelievably extra. We start with Murchad's POV at war, because that is where he spends a lot of his time. You can tell straightaway he's distant and that's fair because we know his heart is with Fódla. 

Fódla meanwhile is with Colmon and Broccan on Rathlin Island, where they are protected by Colmon's spell over the land. Fódla is given a warning that Broccan will ask to rejoin the world and to grant it. We already know Gormflaith has been anything but still and by granting Broccan's request, they will have to face her but also Tomas. 

We are less than 10% into the book at this point. Less than 10%! So you know the rest of the book is going to pack a punch. I promise you cannot anticipate how much of a punch, how many punches and where they will land. 

Anyway, before they really rejoin the world it's time to see our favourite banished Prohpet, Rónnat! There is so much more behind her words than we could have guessed at. Some make sense very soon after we leave her but others aren't realised until far later in the book, at which point they're less helpful because we cannot stop what is coming. 

There is a ....let's call it a kerfuffle when Fódla and Colmon return to the fortress, and while I won't spoil too much of it, I will say the funeral scenes Shauna writes always get me. I love the practice of leaving loved ones by this central tree and singing to let those passed know there is someone for them to guide to the otherworld. It's so beautifully written and depicted. In fact, the importance of love in life and death comes back repeatedly throughout the book (and series) that you can feel its weight in the characters and pages.

Now being completely honest, throughout all this I was just waiting for Fódla to reunite with Murchad because they both deserved it and also I needed it to settle my heart rate down from frantic-hummingbird to less medically concerning. If you're in the same boat as me, don't worry. Everything is exactly how you'd hope it is. 

Of course, we know things cannot be a reunion that’s happily ever after. We absolutely know there will be a big confrontation between Fódla, Gormflaith and Tomas coming for us but I can absolutely say I did not see it going the way it did. I was never a Tomas fan but after everything in this book alone, he is hands down on my literary hit-list. Nevertheless, nothing he did stood out from what you'd expect from his character. Just like nothing Gormflaith did deviated from her character. There definitely were some characters that surprised me and I think will very much surprise everyone else who reads the Gael Song trilogy. One of them is probably the only ‘loose’ end I’d say we have but even then it’s not really that loose. The rest of them just broke my heart.

I could talk about the Irish politics happening in and around all this but Shauna's note on the historical side of the book really lays out the true events nicely and also how the events didn’t really fit, leading her to wonder beyond what the history books say. Consequently, I think this was a fantastic meeting of magic and history and just brought it all together.

Without question, and despite the endless 'no, no, no' I silently cried while reading, The Land of the Living and the Dead closes off Gael Song beautifully. Not everyone got the ending I would have liked for them, but they certainly didn't feel wrong (but god, I hate Gormflaith so much). And with all three books now done and two novellas to add to the world, I can say with absolute certainty, this has cemented Gael Song as one of my favourite series, if not my no.1 favourite.