Fantasy winner UK Authors Opening Pages Competition 2008Highly atmospheric, and we were caught up all the way through. The concrete details are beautifully inserted in the story, vivid and convincing. “My enchantments are only the magic of the earth itself and the things that grow. I heal not harm. I repeat ”" you have no need to fear me.” “You won't turn me into a frog, will you?” I had never believed that particular story anyway. “I prefer you the way you are,” he replied with a smile. Manannan McLir escapes his enemies and finds sanctuary, for a little while, on the Isle of Man. Both feared and urgently needed, he uses his skills and the strange knowledge from the East to cure wounds and sickness. Among his patients is Renny, a young Celtic girl who falls in love with him and is witness to a terrifying experience one night. As he tells her later,“My visions are the only true magic I possess, and this knowledge must be kept a deadly secret, otherwise my life, and perhaps yours, is in peril.”These visions predict the future, for other forces are stirring in this Year 800. A Viking chieftain has sent his son to look for land that he can conquer and settle.This young man, Edan, hears about the Magician, as Manannan is called, and alerts his people. When the Vikings invade, bringing with them Manannan’s bitterest enemy, a great battle takes place and Manannan must escape from the island. But he is surrounded and only cunning, not magic, can help him now.˃˃˃ "Very compelling and dynamic write. The descriptions of the kind stranger are wonderful. This period piece is done well."UK Authors Reader Five˃˃˃ This Author certainly has a gift for story telling. UK Authors Reader One˃˃˃ Strikingly well written ”" lovely, lyrical flowUK Authors CritiqueLose yourself in a magical world today - add to cart now.