Scepter of Fire

Our Review

Scepter of Fire is the brilliant sequel to the first book in The Mirror of Immortality series, Crown of Ice.

Varna Lund is a plain girl. She doesn’t have a lot of close friends like her sister Gerda and she isn’t a beauty like her younger twin sisters. She is acutely aware of her faults but she also knows that she is a skilled healer.

Varna was 14 when her former mentor Dame Margaret began to teach her how to heal people. She was expecting to inherit Dame Margaret’s cottage on her death and the role of village healer alongside it. However, her current mentor Albrecht Olsen had shown up at the funeral with papers declaring him owner of the cottage and land.

Varna thinks that Albrecht may die soon. It’s his appearance, not my cruelty, which makes me anticipate his death. I don’t know his exact age, but his face is crisscrossed with as many groves as a walnut shell.

Varna dreams of romance but fears she is far too plain to capture anyone’s attention. Albrecht seems to be able to read her mind and discusses these fears with her but Varna is unsettled by him seemingly being able to know exactly what she is thinking.

When she is coming home one night she encounters a wolf and something in its manner makes her think she needs to follow it. The wolf leads her to a cottage where a man with a gun tells her he will shoot her if she tries to come in.

Varna sees there is another man in there and he is clearly wounded so she insists on coming in and explains she is a healer. The two men, Eric and Anders, are soldiers fighting against the ‘usurper’, an emperor who is trying to invade the land.

Varna convinces Eric to let her help Anders and goes to get supplies. She promises not to tell anyone about Eric and Anders but her sister Gerda knows she is up to something and insists on coming with her.

Gerda and Eric end up helping her while she ends up having to amputate Anders’ leg. Varna watches Gerd become closer to Anders during this time despite Anders having a fiancé back home.

During this time things have become more dangerous for the little group as the enemy soldiers have invaded the town. Varna realises there is a danger of the men being discovered and begins to plan for their escape.

On the way to the hut she is waylaid by Albrecht when he reveals to her that he is not in fact a decrepit old man but handsome and young. He tells her his real name is Sten Rask and he works for the ‘usurper’. His real task in coming to the village was to determine whether Gerda knows the location of the mirror of immortality. He tells Varna that he won’t tell anyone of the plan to let the soldiers escape but in return he will take Gerda with him.

Varna realises Gerda is in danger and decides to force her to leave with the soldiers but things go wrong when someone betrays them and an adventure begins. Realising they need help the company asks for help from the Snow Queen, a scholar and an enchantress.

As the story progresses Sten steps up his efforts to seduce Varna to his cause and the readers are frequently left wondering if he might be successful after all.

I thought this book was better than the first book and I really enjoyed that. I cannot wait to read the next book and think 2018 is far too long to wait.

 

Our Final Rating...

Tue, 2nd May 2017