One thing is certain — they’ll need a legion to fight the coming storm.
Following the shattering truth behind the identity of the fifth descendant, and with a myriad of threats looming, Brydie and the others must relocate to Ireland to renew ties with their Druidic cousins, the Fae.
But… everything is not as it seems.
Shocking secrets are revealed as Brydie negotiates not only an alliance, but also the complex relationship she holds with her Guardian. As they seek to recover her best friend from the enemy, a horrifying double-cross has devastating consequences.
Winter’s Legion is the fourth book in a gripping fantasy series based on the legends behind the winter goddess, Cailleach Bheur. The series draws you into a world of Celtic mythology, powerful Druids, dark magic, and fated mates.
Reader discretion: Please be advised this book contains violence and sexual content and is strictly for adult audiences only.
Corina Douglas lives in New Zealand with her husband and four kids. If she's not running her indie editing business, Burning Legacies Publishing, she can be found exploring the forest, doing that stretchy yoga thing, or with her nose in a good book.
She writes dark fantasy romance stories based on Celtic mythology, with a special focus on Scottish, Irish, and Welsh folklore. Her stories are full of emotional punch, fast-paced action, and morally grey heroes.
DNF at 19%. I slogged through the first three books but the characters never developed any significant interpersonal chemistry nor had interesting growth/development.
The author should also be banned from ever using the word "modicum" again.
It's nearing a year since I couldn't bring myself to finish reading this book at around three quarters of the way through. To be honest, I almost flung my iPad across the room I was so upset. In the past ten months, I kept considering picking it up again, but then I remembered why I stopped and all the feelings of rejection, that surged like a wave that day, come back to me and I choose something else to read.
I am writing this review to share my thoughts on why I had this visceral reaction to one scene in this book, which has utterly ruined the experience for me.
Brydie was a character I'd grown to love and respect over the course of the first three books in the series. She is tough but vulnerable, utterly relatable considering the crazy situation she's been flung into and the fact she lacked any real support network. The person who was supposed to provide her with emotional support was actually part of the reason she was emotionally unstable. But it was well written and believable. Well-written and engaging. Additionally, the foil of Cailleach and the history of the "daughter of winter" tradition gave balance because there was this other strong female character who allowed herself to become vulnerable, who chose meaningfulness and love over power, but who suffered tremendously for it. She offered balance to Brydie's story and I had high hopes for the interplay of the dual timeline.
I was loving Winter's Legion too. The double storyline was giving even more depth to the narrative by this stage, Brydie was finally coming into her own and I was really starting to appreciate her character, when she went and made a decision that to me was completely unfathomable. It was simply something I couldn't conceive of this character doing. It was a cliché that robbed Brydie of every characteristic I liked about her and turned her into a soppy idiot. Additionally, this action made Brydie repeat errors that had already been detailed in Cailleach's story, repeating history and creating a truly upsetting scenario because instead of balancing the scales, Brydie's "choice" tipped everything over the edge for me.
Add to all of this the fact that as I read the scene, I could clearly see the clichéd outcome coming and could tell that it was the author pushing for a particular result for the sake of the plot, disregarding the character's true nature. What upset me most was that I could see several ways of generating the same outcome in less used/clichéd ways that would have stayed true to who I saw Brydie as having become over the course of the four books in the series.
When I consider the idea of picking up "Winter's Legion" again to at least finish it, because I'm the type who hates not finishing a book because I always want to judge it in its entirety, I find myself faced with the kneejerk reaction of wanting to both slap Brydie and smash my iPad. So, I still haven't picked it up again. Considering the amount of time that's gone by, I'm actually quite surprised by how violent my disappointment still is when it comes to that scene. I have been utterly shattered by it, and having some understanding through experience and learning about how Post Traumatic Stress works, I fell that is the closest explanation I can offer for what I am going through.
This book has brought me face-to-face with the fact that one can, indeed, suffer from "bookish PTS", just as one can suffer from a "book hangover". I have now decided to make peace with the fact that I will never finish this series, even though that decision fills me with sadness because I really did love Brydie very much, but I have totally lost all respect for her and who wants to continue on an adventure with a person they don't respect or even like anymore?
Although I know this will probably not be the last book to trigger an experience of bookish PTS in me, it is the first to have done so, a fact I cannot change. I hope, in time I'll be able to let go completely and simply forget about this book, but for the time being I am stuck pondering the situation and what it brought up for me, and also what it has taught me about writing. Hopefully, writing down my thoughts and sharing them will help me overcome some of the anguish that surges every time I think about or see the cover of "Winter's Legion".
I’m officially emotionally invested in this series. Winter’s Legion encompassed everything from romance, betrayal and tentative alliances to Scottish and Irish folklore and family bonds both by blood and choice.
As we witness Brydie coming into her legacy, we still recognize the many flaws and hurdles she needs to work to overcome. Gage is forever her rock to lean on, and it will only get better now that he chosen to recognize his love for her.
The cliffhanger was hard for me, because I love Logan’s character and his devotion to his brother. Regardless of the fact that he doesn’t feel he has a lot to offer to the prophecy, he is unwilling to let his brother go through anything alone. I would have probably been okay with this ending involving either Ian or McKenzie, truthfully, but choosing Logan is probably a genius move from the author knowing the readers have fallen for him.
If the druids thought that Andrew is dormant then that means that Ian could also be like him. It just makes sense that he would keep that secret to himself. Especially, if it will benefit him in the end.
Holy crap, I was wondering who Gage's ancestor is from the beginning. To think that I never thought of Drust is so stupid of me. It was shown that he is far too different from his brother and I thought that he would be neutral, but I'm obviously wrong, he align himself with the people that his brother despises. Gotta love Drust for his moral compass.
Are we really forgetting that she owns a cat? I still can't believe that they left him on his own. I know that cats can live on their own but he has to eat foods on the street.
I want Lorcan to have his own story. I also felt like he's going to end up with Carman's descendant.
Why do I feel like they're going to fail their mission? I just have this feeling that everything they planned is not what is going to happen.
I knew it, it's going to be Ian.
The thing is I understand why Cailleach is acting the way she is in this book. A mother's love towards her children is unparalleled.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A nine year old boy raised in the US would sooner recite the Declaration of Independence backwards in Pig Latin than say, “The fortnightly payments?”
I finally looked up the publishing company, and it’s clear that the author started her own company to publish her books. She is in DESPERATE need of a real editor and proofreader. I was aghast to see that’s what she sells on her website. This story is interesting and deserves better than this.
And the sex isn’t sexy. Ugh.
Yes, I’m going to hate-read book 5. This is what they call irrational escalation of commitment.
This was a fun read, but the book is in dire need of editing. Some pieces of the story appear jumbled and contradictory, as if sections have been rewritten but not merged.
Okay first of all...I did have to slog through this book a bit over the course of the summer. I'd get through 25%, and have to put it down for 5-10 more brainless books, then do another 20%, and so on. This book, rather the entire series, is a true fantasy story, with all the accompanied plot building and world building and flashbacks and lineage discussions that entails. It's dense and no page goes to waste.
That said...the action has started rolling. I'm not entirely sure how many books are planned for this series, but hopefully the next one is the last one because I think it'll be the perfect opportunity to just wrap everything up.
There's definitely a few decisions made throughout this book by assorted characters that made me a little suspicious or confused. Like a couple of the prior books, there's also one or two continuity blips (outside of the flashback chapters obviously) that caused confusion in the moment and made me worried I'd missed a chapter. But overall, this is another five star read for me (even if it did take me a while to get through it) and I'm excited to tackle the next.....after 5-10 spice-focused books, probably!
OKAY. I take back most of what I said about books 1-3 as this book was way heftier than the previous three. There were points where I debated throwing in the towel because it was dragging, but once we were rolling we. were. rolling. It brings me sadness that I am now a majority of the way through this series even though I thought I'd give up at first.
Brydie (whose name I feel I never say right in my head) is coming into her legacy and her and the rest of the descendants are working together to solve all the problems they are trying to fix before their big final battle.
But my god was I PUMPED when Brydie and Gage finally did the thing. Then my heart was immediately ripped out of my chest and stomped on for a few chapters. Now we have to see if it gets put back in its place of if the author is just gonna jab a knife in there while we're at it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Magic and Ireland, a great combination! This, the latest book in the author's daughter of winter series, sees main character Brydie and her companions head to Ireland for sanctuary.
I've enjoyed reading how Brydie's powers have developed across the four books in this series. She's now a force to be reckoned with. But the enemies ranged against her, modern as well as ancient, are extremely powerful too. The story plunges toward an exciting confrontation.
Readers will find this book is significantly longer than the previous ones, as the author adds more depth to the plot. So I think it would make for an engrossing read during the Holidays. Looking forward to the next one in the series.
So here is my review for the series up until this book. I DNF the next book as I got a tad bored. The story was great and it also had potential to be even better.
I love a good slow burn but this series takes that to a whole new level. It took way to long to get into the main love interest. I also think that the series didn’t even need to be this long. It could’ve been a trilogy easily. I think way too much time was spent on the Celtic folklore chapters, which I found to be very long…. To the point where I skipped them entirely. I think the Celtic folklore portion could’ve been interwoven into the chapters of Brydie and Gage’s POV.
Also, I found Brydie to be kind of weak. I wish she had come into her powers sooner and had a bit more spunk.
I was really excited about this book --It did not disappoint. Ms. Douglas has written another page-turning Celtic mythology. Just when I thought everything was going to go well for Brydie, the author upped the stakes and Brydie was in peril again. Of course, I had to turn pages and read faster to find out how she managed to survive the catastrophe. And then there is Gage. "Be still my heart." Would Brydie and Gage get together was another page-turning quest. I had to know. I highly recommend this book. Book 5 is due out in April 2021. I have it on preorder. I enjoy Ms. Douglas's writing style so much.
The previous books in this series were amazing, but Winter's Legion is my favourite so far! Corina Douglas has an incredible ability to write in a way that sucks you right in, so you are right there in the mythical world with all the characters - it's as if you're feeling their emotions, fighting their battles and forming their relationships.
Winters Legion takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride like no other! You will feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows as plot twist after plot twist happen, leaving you on the edge of your seat, unable to peel yourself away from the book. Only to be left with the ultimate cliff hanger that will have you screaming!
With new unexpected twist and turns in this forth part of Corina’s book series she had me glued to the pages and did it again: ending it with a cliffhanger. So once more I cannot wait to read what happens next.
This new book keeps developing both storylines (present day and 3rd century BC) cleverly adding depth to one and with doing so enables greater understanding of the other. The more I learn about the characters and all the things they face the more I wonder how it all ends - in both timelines!
Move over Sarah J Maas and Karen Marie Moning, there is a new Queen of fantasy and her name is Corina Douglas!
I loved absolutely everything about Winter's Legion, I can't fault it. It had everything you could want in an epic fantasy. Strong characters, magic, mythology, the fae and romance. I started reading it today and I just couldn't stop, I had to finish it.
I'm starting Winter's Vengeance tonight. This is definitely the best fantasy series I've ever read and I read a lot of fantasy books. Well done Corina.
Another great read from Corina, this book is a brilliant lead up to what is to come next, the character development was awesome in this book, I now have someone I hate more than Talorgan, didn't think that was possible. This book took it to the next level with a darker twist and more adult themes. I can't wait to see what Book 5 has in store for us in April, I am so excited it is already preordered
Far out, this is getting so intense, in the best way! Leaving more and more from the past timeline which is making little things from the previous books click into place. They was I kept getting shocked as things started to play out, I am so invested in this story, and the way it is written.
Winter’s Legion is definitely getting a lot darker than the first three books. I cannot wait to keep reading!
This series is utterly captivating. The story the characters I’m completely invested and have no idea how it will end! Each character is complex and there are so many things happening at once that I literally cannot wait to turn the page. Do yourself a favour and start at the beginning you won’t be able to put it down.
3.5 ⭐️ "[...]life is not ruled by the movement of the sun and the moon. Life is measured in the moments we share and the moments we enjoy."
Finally the slow burn ends, and then exactly what Gage was afraid of happens. I'm going to keep reading because now there's really 2 villians and I want to know how the good guys vanquish their foes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
OMG SAUL! Logan has been entrapped by Talogren and what the hell is he going to do?! Poor Saul knows some but not all! He obviously did not get enough about the prophecy through Logans memories because Logan wasnt as close to it as Gage and now Saul are! Saul is like Brydie at the beginning! And i really hope he is not harmed!
Honestly what can I say about this book that I haven't said with all the others. I was utterly captivated with the intermingling of the Celtic gods with Current society it was omg. you've got fae, gods, dragons, and an underworld that wants to come up and smell fresh air.
I love this series! The "Winter's Legion" story was filled with love, adventure, intrigue, magic, and it was very entertaining. I couldn't put the book down. The author is an excellent storyteller.
Goodness, things certainly are getting twisted. The story is intriguing, filled with satisfying scenes and I cannot wait for the next book in this series.