Review: The Web

The Web by Megan Chance
Series: The Fianna Trilogy #2
Publisher: Skyscape (2015)
eARC (384 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, 2015 Mythology, Read 2015

Synopsis

The Fianna, legendary Irish warriors, have been magically called from their undying sleep to aid Ireland in its rebellion against Britain. But the Fianna have awakened in New York alongside their bitter enemies, the Fomori. A prophecy demands that a Druid priestess—a veleda—must choose between these two sides. Grace is this veleda.
But being the veleda means she must sacrifice her power—and her life—to her choice. On one side are her fiancé, Patrick Devlin, and the Fomori. On the other are the Fianna—and the warrior Diarmid Ua Duibhne, with whom Grace shares an undeniable connection. Patrick has promised to find a way to save her life. In three months, at the ancient ritual, Diarmid must wield the knife that kills her.
Grace doesn’t know whom to trust. As dark forces converge on the city, she struggles to discover the truth about her power. Can she change her own destiny? Can she escape the shadows of the past and reach for a future she could never have imagined?

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

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I have not yet read the first book but I really wanted to read this one, so I did. There was a bunch of piecing together to do in the beginning because I was missing some of the backstory. That is my own fault. After reading The Web, I feel like I need the next book immediately. Since that isn’t possible, I’m going to find a way to lay my hands on the first book, The Shadows.

The story is set in Victorian New York. The Fianna and the Fomori were summoned to the city by Patrick Devlin who want to help Ireland. What Patrick didn’t know was that, by summoning both the Fianna and the Fomori, he has put an ancient prophecy into motion. That prophecy demands the life of his fiancée, Grace Knox.

Grace has a choice to make. Does she side with the Fianna and Diarmid with whom she has an obvious connection? Or does she side with the Fomori whom her fiancé trusts? The decision Grace makes will influence more than she can imagine. But she still doesn’t want to die which is the prophecy says must happen.

I like Grace. She is trying to figure who is good and which side is right. And she’s discovering that neither side is perfect, neither side is completely honest. So Grace tries her best to figure out what to do. I like this struggle. It makes everything seem more real. In Grace’s confusion, she is more relatable, more real. All of us have been in situations where we don’t know what the right decision is, the best choice to make. I can relate to Grace in this.

Diarmid has some problems throughout the book. First, he knows he’s the one who has to kill Grace as part of the ritual the prophecy demands. Second, he loves Grace. Third, he is Fianna and faithful, loyal to his brothers. He has so much pulling at him, telling him to do different, opposite things. He, too, has some choices he needs to make.

I enjoyed reading this book. Like I said, I want to read The Shadows now. This book had highly believable characters, at least to me. I could relate with Grace. I could understand the decisions Patrick was making. I could feel the tension in Diarmid’s decisions. I really liked this book, more than I thought I would. I wasn’t sure what to expect but even if I had, this book would have met them.

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Which Reading Challenges?

• Mythology Reading Challenge (Irish Mythology)
• Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge (W)
• You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge

I received this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.