Druid

Tales of Silver Downs #3

by Kylie Quillinan

Arlen’s twin sister was stolen by the fey moments after her birth. When he is sent to be an advisor to the king, his plan to search for his missing sister must be put on hold — until he realises that she might be the key to bringing peace to the kingdom. Agata doesn’t know she’s part mortal. Raised by the queen of the fey, she despises mortals just as much as Titania does. When Agata accidentally encounters the twin she was separated from at birth, she discovers that everything she thought she knew about herself is a lie. Arlen wants to rescue his sister and bring her home. Agata isn’t sure she wants to be rescued. To restore peace to the kingdom and retrieve Agata from the fey, Arlen must forge an alliance with the Old Ones who have been in hiding for thousands of years. The balance between mortal and fey is finally broken and one race will be banished in an epic showdown between the children of Silver Downs and the fey. Tales of Silver Downs is a series of historical fantasy novels set in Celtic Britain. For readers who like lush historical backdrops with a fairytale feeling, a fantasy quest and characters who fight their destiny.

Genres: Fantasy

330 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2016

About the author

Kylie Quillinan is an Australian author whose historical fantasy novels reimagine the lives of the remarkable women of Ancient Egypt.

Fascinated by the women history often overlooks, she writes stories about queens, princesses and priestesses who challenge the expectations of their time. Her historical fantasy novels combine extensive historical research bringing Egyptian mythology, palace intrigue, political rivalries, and just a touch of magic, vividly to life.

Whether exploring the rise of Hatshepsut, the twilight of the Amarna dynasty, or the lives of fictional women inspired by history, Kylie is drawn to women who reshape history rather than accept the roles society assigns them.

When she isn't writing, she's usually reading about Ancient Egypt, wondering why jellyfish are so fascinating, or trying to get fit before the zombies arrive.

Subscribe to Kylie's newsletter for behind-the-scenes insights into her research and writing, updates on new releases, and exclusive content. Subscribers also receive Swan — the epilogue to the Tales of Silver Downs series — available nowhere else.

Reviews

[P Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was a very good story and a satisfying close to the series. I do think the ending felt a bit rushed, but only in the one storyline. There are several plot lines going on with the main character. He is a young druid sent on his first assignment to advise a king who doesn't intend to listen to his advice. Also he must deal with Ida, an evil immortal woman created by his uncle and set free upon his uncle's death. While all he really wants to do is search for his sister, stolen by Fey at birth.
All of those plotlines do resolve satisfactorily and with sufficient interest to be worth reading. The author also introduces another line, while he is in the Fey realm he encounters the "Old Ones". The beings that were there before the Fey moved in (centuries ago). They enlist his help to finally fight back and drive the Fey out of their realm. He's told that he needs to find allies. When the book was nearly finished and nothing has happened to further this plot I figured that it would probably be left for another book or a sequel series. Which would have been fine since the major plots were all resolving well enough and this one wasn't important to the flow. But then suddenly he just walked into a scene and it all just goes down and all those allies he was gonna get never even happen and then boom, it's over. So that feels really rushed, but other than that one thing the rest of the book is pretty good.

The world is decent. Mostly a generic ancient Europe with magic kinda thing, with not much original to it but it holds together well. Mostly. (A few things seemed unrealistic but nothing worth mentioning.

The characters are all believable, which isn't as common as it should be, so that's a feather for the author's cap. I think most of the book could benefit from a little more emotion, which would make the characters more endearing, but at least they seem real.

The story is unique, and even though it's a conclusion to a trilogy, it could stand alone if needed.

I read the first book in the series and then skipped ahead to this one. I enjoyed both books and would recommend them to anyone interested.

[Thibault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, this book is good but I don’t think it was for me...
In this final one, everything is so rushed, there are so many loose ends..: like we are being told from the beginning that the Feys are dangerous and in a matter of 10 seconds they agree to leave the country. That’s the same for the death of Ida...
I don’t know, it was so quick and done with. And I don’t feel like I really got to know the character etc. Plus can we talk about how the arc of those never change ? Diarmuid in the first on, grainne in the second and here Agata and Arlen... they’re just not changing a bit...
So yeah, all in all, I didn’t like this series. But I just think it wasn’t for me, cuz I did enjoy reading it ? ( idk if that makes sense ? )

[Brian Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

druid, book 3 in the tales of silver downs, what a romp of a story, another wild ride, i must admit though i would maybe have liked the death of ida to a little more dramatic, and the exile of the fey sort of extended a little, showing their general confusion and loss, but again all in all a good read and i enjoyed every page, thank you Kylie for your work.

[Amy Kovalcheck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the three books, this was my favorite. This series was kind of a slow read for me. I had to refer back to the earlier stories to jog my memory.
The worlds Quillinan creates are palpable and interesting. The characters are flawed and rotten on many levels but magnetic all the same.
I couldn't put the books down.

[Alex Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stands out as one of the best

Great story telling leaves you wanting more. This is the third story and sadly there are no more , I think I would be a patient reader, and smile, but like the starving prisoner I crave more to fill my belly.

[Chris Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this tale. It creates a fitting end to the Silver Downs tale... except for one thing. The tale by Diarrmuid’s father. Perhaps that will come sometime.

But I loved this whole series and the way it rounds out characters present since Book One (Muse).

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tales of Silver Downs as a series was good, but divided up into books that could have been combined. Fortunately, "Swan" was free. But paying individually for a series of short books . . .

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book to end the fantastical and very magical trilogy of silver downs. loved the character of arlen the druid who although he did not have the power of sight had the power of being unseen which was extremely lucky as titania the queen of the fey who had abducted his twin sister at birth never knew of his own birth and hence he could look for agata without her knowing and have the fey finally exiled and replaced by the old ones even though arlen never felt powerful!! he did all this and more in his mortal role too and hopefully in the end returned to find love too!! a brilliant series , love the author and would like to read more books of magic from her!!

[Suzanne Brims · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading Druid. This is a gripping tale of adventure and mystery. It was hard to put down. Can't wait now for Swan.

[Laurie Pringle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting ending - quite pleased with the way the author brought the tale around.

I'm a bit dismayed that the next book in the series "Swan" isn't available on Kobo - in Canada.