After spending one magical summer with her friends, Maeve is not ready to return to school. Why can’t she spend more time pretending everything is okay and that nothing will change? Now that the new school year has started, the cracks she’s been trying to outrun are getting even bigger. The Leaving Cert is looming over everyone but Roe, and the pressure is on. Maeve’s friendship with Fiona is on the rocks due to recklessness born out of fear and loneliness, Lily still isn’t speaking to her, and Roe’s music career is picking up. Plus, The Children of Brigid are getting stronger, and their school seems to be the focus. What is Maeve and her newfound coven going to do now that their relationships are seemingly cracking and a cult is slowly brainwashing the town?
I absolutely love this series. The first book had me fully absorbed in the story every chance I had to read, and this book was no different. We pick up shortly after where the first book left off, and we see Maeve struggling to come to terms with her new powers. While being able to read people’s minds sounds cool, it really just gets her feelings hurt left and right and she knows she can’t complain because she’s the one who took a peek at their thoughts. It’s interesting to see how her abilities differ from Fiona, Roe, and Lily’s and how she feels hers doesn’t really compare.
We also see how the events from the previous book continue to affect each of the characters even when they’re masking. I feel the most bad for Fiona and Lily, who have been affected the most by everything that happened and they don’t really have anyone to talk to about it. Fiona is left with the nightmarish memories of Maeve and Roe sacrificing themselves, and Lily has been affected in more ways than anyone could’ve ever predicted by her time as a river.
One of the things I loved about this book is the friendships as well as the struggles these friendships go through. We’ve got Maeve and Fiona with their friendship on the rocks after Maeve does something out of fear of being split up from her best friend during their last year of school. Fiona and Lily are building a friendship with Fiona not judging her for how she came back differently from life as a river. Roe is starting life after school and meeting people who don’t judge them for who they are. There’s relationship struggles between everyone, but then we also see how they work through it and what changes due to the choices they each make.
Honestly, the cult aspect of the story is the scariest because I can picture something like this happening whether or not there were magic wells to be drained. While the majority of the brainwashing is done through magic to control, the way the Children of Brigid sink their hooks into our core characters is what’s scary. When you take away the magic, it’s so realistic because it boils down to pure manipulation with very evil intentions.
All in all, this was an absolutely amazing book and I’m very excited to read the final book in the trilogy. I’m very interested in seeing how the series wraps up as well as how everyone is going to pull together since I’m assuming the final book will pick up with Maeve and her friends during their post-school lives.
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