Shauna Lawless: The Land of the Living and the Dead

Hi everyone

The Land of the Living and the Dead is the third book in Shauna Lawless’ The Gael Song Trilogy. This book was a birthday gift from my husband, and it turned out to be the perfect conclusion to an amazing trilogy.

"Ireland, 1011 AD. Brian Boru is now High King of Ireland. His queen, Gormflaith, instructs their young son in his heritage - but only on his mother's side. For Gormflaith, an immortal Fomorian skilled in fire-magic, intends to finally defeat the Fomorians' hated foes, the Descendants, and establish control over Ireland. And if King Brian stands in her way, so much the worse for him…
Fódla, the Descendants' spy in King Brian's camp, treads a wary path. She must protect her magically powerful young nephew from their leader, Tomas, who will do anything to achieve his aim of the Descendants returning to the mortal world and ruling Ireland. And Fódla is on dangerous ground, for she has broken one of the sacred rules of the she has fallen in love with a mortal.
As the schemes of Gormflaith and Tomas come to fruition, the only possible outcome is war. Ireland has bled red and often… but the coming clash will be a battle for the ages. Strange alliances will form, old defences will fail, and the land will never be the same again." 

What a conclusion! What an end to an amazing trilogy! We’re left with some open endings, hints of things to look out for in the second series, and I can’t wait to buy and read the first book and we're lucky because it’s already published!

Every single character reads like a real person; it’s amazing how Shauna Lawless manages to give everyone a distinct voice and personality. It’s impossible to mistake one for another because they are all so unique. Fódla and Murchad are my absolute favorite characters, but I also loved Broccan, Colmon, and even Gormflaith. The main antagonist of The Gael Song Trilogy is a fully rounded character, and we can understand her motivations, sometimes, we can even root for her, especially when she broaches the subject of equality between men and women. And yet, at other times, I could have roared in anger at her for what she does or thinks.

Shauna Lawless is a master at building suspense. There was never a dull moment, I was constantly anticipating what would happen next, trying to guess, but Lawless managed to surprise me time and time again. Not a dull moment in the entire series.
The Land of the Living and the Dead was heartbreaking, and I had to sit with my feelings a few times. I paused my reading to do something else (like puzzling) to digest what happened. I needed time to recover.

The writing is amazing; it’s engaging, engrossing, and so vivid. She wrote the characters and their relationships in a nuanced, open, thoughtful, and complex way, and I truly, truly applaud her for that. All the romances in the series are difficult, different, and even unstable, and Lawless wrote them perfectly.

The Gael Song Trilogy is a brilliant series, and I am reading everything Shauna Lawless publishes. Have you read The Gael Song Trilogy? Did you love it as much as I did? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena