Meridedd walked into the sea at the end of the last book, replacing Taminy in the spirit union with the Meri.

Taminy walks out of the sea in return, and returns with Bevol and Gwen to the Osread. Meanwhile Wyth and Leal also return, having been "kissed" by the Meri, and each with doctrine changes to be made: that girls are to join the ranks of the prentices and that something is wrong in the court of the Cyne (who hasnt held court meetings in two years).

Taminy is unwilling to become a prentice, already having control of much of "the gift" - whilst she tries to gather her self confidence, one of the traditional Osraeds takes offence at her and tries to expose her as a Wicke.

The rest of the book is pretty fast paced, starting with Taminy's trial in front of the Osraeds, through being effectively being kidnapped by the Cyne, to being manipulated and tried again in the Cyne's court. The Cyne is trying to have her found innocent of being a Wicke, in order that he can become a king divine by sitting at her side. However, things dont go according to plan for him, and Taminy escapes again, with her followers, including the Queen and Prince.

This is a much faster paced book than the previous one, and I felt it flowed a little better (I struggled to read the previous one, I admit). The world is better formed in this one, the author has to spend less time explaining who, what and where.

( )

Not a winner. The story is all politics - even the arguments between the young folk is politics. History plays a major part...but we're seldom told what the history is. There were easily half a dozen references to "what happened to the Wicke last Cusp" before we actually got told what happened...and I think that was the only bit of history that's really explained. And then there's the language - Celtic names and I-presume-Celtic words, which means unpronounceable and, for me, unmemorable names. I finally translated "cailin" to "colleen" - young woman - but I can't pronounce it that way, which means every (b***y) time I read it I had to stop for a split second, recognize the word, remember the meaning, and...try to get back into the story, since I'd been thrown out. Cyne is even worse - I cannot make that sound like King, so every time I read it I would try another half-dozen pronunciations, fail, and again try to get back in. And at least partly because of that, none of the characters feel solid; Taminy is never allowed to be Taminy, she's the struggling cailin and then the accused Wicke (witch) and then the embodiment of a god (sort of)...and even when we're in her head, there isn't any person there, only whatever role she's playing at the moment. Author's puppets, all of them. I didn't think much of The Meri, but this book is worse. And it's apparently the second of a trilogy (or more) - there's no conclusion, only a stopping place. I haven't read the third one, and I have no interest in doing so. ( )

Taminy continues the 'Mer Cycle' that began in The Meri, and will continue in The Crystal Rose. In many respects the second book suffers from the same issues as book 1, in that, particularly in the first half of the book, Bohnoff's text is self conscious and overly long - slow to come to the point. However this becomes less of an issue later in the book, where the story moves on at a more balanced pace.

While the spiritual message remains a strong one, and I particularly enjoyed the struggles enjoyed by a being struggling to find a peace with returned mortality from a state of divinity, the reader can sometimes struggle with unfamiliar words, used to build and maintain the otherworldly feel of the novel, (as in book 1), which can jar them from the story.

If you have the patience to sift through the issues that this and the previous book have, you might be rewarded by enjoyment of what is essentially an interesting premise for a story in which politics and magic collide with male dominated (goddess) spirituality - which is in itself an interesting dichotomy. ( )

An excellent continuation of The Mer Cycle! I loved getting to know characters from the first novel, seeing their growth, and observing their interactions with Taminy and her enemies. Can't wait to read the next one! ( )

I found it to be an enjoyable book, although it was better the second half than the first. The names and some of the words were hard and disrupted my reading pace. I will be reading the 3rd book, and picking up the first book.