#Review - Nightingale by Helen Harper #Fantasy

Series: A Charade of Magic # 2
Format: Kindle, 288 pages
Release Date: November 28, 2022
Publisher: Helen Harper
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy

All across Scotland, the resistance movement is growing in both strength and numbers. For the first time in five generations, the Mages are afraid - and it’s all because of one woman.

But Mairi knows where the real power lies and that it is the Mages who maintain control of the country. She has become the poster girl for the resistance and her magic is growing stronger by the day. That doesn’t mean, however, that she has any real chance of succeeding against the might of the Mages.

And yet strange things are afoot. Crude runes are appearing all over the country while the Afflicted seem to be changing - and not for the better. The very soul of Scotland may soon be up for grabs.

If ever there is a time for a true hero to step forward, this is it.  Nightingale is the second thrilling book in A Charade of Magic and ends on a cliffhanger. The fight for freedom continues.

‘When the martyr dies, her power begins.’

 

Nightingale, by author Helen Harper, is the second installment in the authors A Charade of Magic series. Mairi Wallace, once a nobody who is now caught up in a rebellion, finds herself in Scotland where the land is ruled by Mages and Ascendants, and run over by the Afflicted. Mairi who has found her voice, literally, as well as her own magic after the events of Hummingbird, now stands as the face of the rebellion against the Mages. 

 

Mages have been using females to boost their own magical power, while blaming female mages for creating the Afflicted. Mairi also has a price on her head after she, with help from a demon (Laoch) she is now bound to, killed the previous Ascendant of Glasgow 3 weeks ago. This is an awful world to make my point. Female mages have been blamed for creating the Afflicted who are basically zombies. Almost every child born to a female mage is murdered. Mairi's circle now includes Belle, Farris, Gowk, and of course, Nicholas aka Laoch.

 

When Mairi proves that she isn't going to stand down or bow to anyone, including Noah or Lord Aspen, she is invited to a tournament where the newest Ascendant of Glasgow will be chosen in the City of Edinburgh. To top it off, it seems as though a strange rune has been appearing in places, and things in Scotland are going to go from bad, to worse if Mairi and her friends can't find a way to win the competition and stand for the innocents who have been brutalized by the Mages for centuries. 

 

The Glasgow Ascendant Challenge starts with 23 mages, plus Mairi. In the Gauntlet, she will be attacked by other mages, fireballs, magical traps, and monsters. In another challenge, she will need to face a puzzle in order to advance, and in yet another challenge, she will have to fight another mage in order to advance to the next round. There are also 5 Daemons here to prevent Mairi from using Laoch to aid her in getting past individual challenges. 

 

Then things get dangerous when Noah, who was attacked by an Afflicted, starts mumbling about someone coming. Someone who will arrive just as the challenge is reaching its climax. Thus, you will get a highly entertaining cliffhanger ending leaving you to wonder what the Eff just happened?!?!?! I enjoy the fact that this story takes place in Scotland where I was way back in the 80's while in the Navy. I love Scotland, almost as much as I love Italy! 

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