This modern adaptation of the Children of Lir story was a delight from start to finish. All too often this kind of fantasy book is weak in the characters, but there was nothing cardboard about Moors' people - they live, they breathe, they are real. Even the minor characters have been carefully constructed - there are no stock figures here.
I do think that it is the character development above all that makes the difference between the ordinary and the special in this genre. It seems to be a strength of this writer's, although this is the first of her books I have read. I look forward very much to further offerings.
SPOILER WARNING
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The one criticism I had was that I felt there was insufficient drama around the initial discovery of Taisie's pregnancy. Finding oneself pregnant for the first time, especially when unmarried and most especially when one's future with the child's father is very much in doubt, is a massively world-shaking experience, and I felt much more should have been made of it - of her own discovery of it. This was, however, a small part of the book.
The Black Swans is available from AMAZON and SMASHWORDS.
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