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Hiraeth #3
A Loss - Colled
The Hiraeth trilogy darkens. After their victorious battle in Wicklow, Mona disappears without a trace. Despite months of searching, Cai is forced to face life without her and seeks happiness in a life far removed from his Welsh language and community. Mona’s dramatic return throws his life into chaos as she reveals the harrowing details of the past fifteen months at the hands of their true enemy. With the Welsh and Irish Druids uniting behind them, Mona and Cai must stand together if they are to overcome the powerful and evil force to which their own destinies are fatally entwined.
A fast-moving, contemporary action story, ‘Hiraeth’ is a trilogy inspired by the ancient Celtic texts of the Mabinogion and the Ulster Cycle. The story has been woven into an epic power struggle, which straddles myth, Celtic identity and adventure.
A fast-moving, contemporary action story, ‘Hiraeth’ is a trilogy inspired by the ancient Celtic texts of the Mabinogion and the Ulster Cycle. The story has been woven into an epic power struggle, which straddles myth, Celtic identity and adventure.
300 pages, Paperback
Published January 28, 2016
8 people want to read
About the author
Liz Riley Jones
3 books8 followersLiz Riley Jones is the pen name of Sam Holland, a sculptor who lives and works in Kent.
It was the sculpture that Sam made of Dic Evans, an RNLI hero from Moelfre, Anglesey that reunited Sam with her family roots on the island.
Thomas Idwal Jones, her grandfather, was one of Dic’s lifelong friends, yet it was a chance phone call from the Moelfre Partnership over ten years ago that took Sam to Anglesey and changed her life.
Inspired by her newfound Celtic roots, Sam started learning Welsh and studying Celtic mythology, history and identity. This work has culminated in the story of Hiraeth - a mixture of personal experience, fantasy and homage to the great Celtic tales of the Mabinogion and the Irish Ulster Cycle.
It was the sculpture that Sam made of Dic Evans, an RNLI hero from Moelfre, Anglesey that reunited Sam with her family roots on the island.
Thomas Idwal Jones, her grandfather, was one of Dic’s lifelong friends, yet it was a chance phone call from the Moelfre Partnership over ten years ago that took Sam to Anglesey and changed her life.
Inspired by her newfound Celtic roots, Sam started learning Welsh and studying Celtic mythology, history and identity. This work has culminated in the story of Hiraeth - a mixture of personal experience, fantasy and homage to the great Celtic tales of the Mabinogion and the Irish Ulster Cycle.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 13, 2015
Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.
A Loss Colled is the third and final book in Liz Riley Jones’ Hiraeth trilogy, and it brings everything to a neat and tidy closure, although not without plenty of drama along the way. Here, we finally learn the secrets behind Mona and Cai’s strange visions, and we discover the ultimate fate of the characters that we’ve grown to know and love along the way. Cai is at his best in this book, in my opinion; Mona, meanwhile, is battered and broken, but not defeated.
One criticism that I would have is the long flashback scene, where Mona shows Cai what happened to her whilst she was away. I can’t say any more than that without giving things away, but I do think that it seemed to go on for too long, although I admit that it was also necessary to fully establish all of the mythology.
But for me, that’s the only thing that I can comment on, because everything else about the book was exactly as I’ve come to expect – intriguing, well-written, and a lot darker than it might appear at first glance. I’ll be honest, when I first started reading the first Hiraeth book, I didn’t think I was going to like it; now, at the end of the series, I feel like it’s a part of me, and I’ll certainly recall these books with fond memories and check out anything Liz writes in the future.
Overall, then, I think my favourite book was actually the first one, but I find it difficult to choose between the other two – all three were great, and all three of them have exceeded my expectations, with each of them rising the bar as they go. I also love the way that Jones uses gaelic languages to add realism to the story, and I often found myself drifting away, suspending my disbelief and wishing I could run away and go and join the Welsh, as if I could help in some way. So go read this!
A Loss Colled is the third and final book in Liz Riley Jones’ Hiraeth trilogy, and it brings everything to a neat and tidy closure, although not without plenty of drama along the way. Here, we finally learn the secrets behind Mona and Cai’s strange visions, and we discover the ultimate fate of the characters that we’ve grown to know and love along the way. Cai is at his best in this book, in my opinion; Mona, meanwhile, is battered and broken, but not defeated.
One criticism that I would have is the long flashback scene, where Mona shows Cai what happened to her whilst she was away. I can’t say any more than that without giving things away, but I do think that it seemed to go on for too long, although I admit that it was also necessary to fully establish all of the mythology.
But for me, that’s the only thing that I can comment on, because everything else about the book was exactly as I’ve come to expect – intriguing, well-written, and a lot darker than it might appear at first glance. I’ll be honest, when I first started reading the first Hiraeth book, I didn’t think I was going to like it; now, at the end of the series, I feel like it’s a part of me, and I’ll certainly recall these books with fond memories and check out anything Liz writes in the future.
Overall, then, I think my favourite book was actually the first one, but I find it difficult to choose between the other two – all three were great, and all three of them have exceeded my expectations, with each of them rising the bar as they go. I also love the way that Jones uses gaelic languages to add realism to the story, and I often found myself drifting away, suspending my disbelief and wishing I could run away and go and join the Welsh, as if I could help in some way. So go read this!
June 23, 2016
Very readable
I seemed to fly through this book. Not sure if that was the pace of the storyline or I was so adsorbed I didn't realise I was racing. Anyway. I did enjoy it and pleased I found it .
I seemed to fly through this book. Not sure if that was the pace of the storyline or I was so adsorbed I didn't realise I was racing. Anyway. I did enjoy it and pleased I found it .
July 21, 2020
***July 2020 re-read***
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews