Immortal Witches. You decide.
Written: Feb 16 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting mix of first and third POV.
Cons: Pretty much a retelling of the Highlander mythos.
The Bottom Line: It feels very much like Highlander, and keeping the two worlds separate is very difficult. Maybe a better read for a non-HL fan.
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| spalmero's Full Review: Maggie Shayne - Infinity |
I begin, as I usually do, with a statement that goes something like this:
I am a die-hard Highlander fan. I've always loved the first movie. My best friend introduced me to the television series, and I was immediately hooked. I loved the characters and the stories and most especially the rules of the world.
If I were not such a die-hard Highlander fan, perhaps Ms. Shayne's Infinity would not have read the way that it did.
The book opens with a first-person narrative from the hero, Nicodimus, a centuries-old and Immortal high witch. His heart has been removed from his body, and he lies in a grave in a curious state between death and life, quite aware that his wife, Arianna, has his heart and is returning it to him.
It's really not as gruesome as it sounds.
The book then proceeds to tell us the story of Arianna and Nicodimus. Arianna has just lost her sister, Raven, in a drowning accident. She is a young girl who spends a great deal of time by herself in Stonehaven Village, Scotland 1511. She also visits a trio of old women who are known as The Crones, and who are actually mortal Witches. Nicodimus has returned to the village after an absence to visit the clan chieftain and his old friends.
Nicodimus, already centuries-old, already a High Witch, knows that Arianna is a High Witch as well, though she does not. He assigns himself her protector after a fashion, and as in all good books, is soon forced to take up that role more seriously when she faces a village who has turned on her, after hanging and burning the Crones. He claims her as his betrothed, and marries her.
Arianna's determined to make him love her, even though he swears that he won't, because of the loss of a former wife and children. There is trouble from Marten and Kohl, the two brothers of his lost wife who hold Nicodimus responsible for her death. They've become High Witches as well, you see, and have hunted him for ages.
And we're introduced (or reintroduced) to Raven and Duncan, from the book preceding this one, Eternity. Raven is Arianna's sister who drowns in Infinity. Arianna has cast a spell that ensures that she will be reborn into a new life and return in the next as a High Witch, herself. You needn't read Eternity to follow this book, however.
Of course the good guys win. Of course the bad guys fail. This is, again, a romance, with fantasy overtones, so there is a happy ending. And, despite the fact that this is another book written in dialect that often comes across as stiff and stilted, that's not what kept pulling me out of the book.
It was the world. The High Witches are Immortal, as stated. They can sense the presence of other High Witches. There is a jolt of power that passes between them when they touch one another. They find and protect and teach one another, both before and after their First Death. And there is only one True way to kill a High Witch once and for all: their heart must be removed, and both it and the body destroyed by fire.
It all smacks a little too closely of Highlander to me. Granted, Highlander doesn't make use of reincarnation. Nor do Highlander's Immortals have identifying birthmarks, but as for all the rest?
If you are a Highlander fan, this may not be the book for you. It's not a bad story, but the world similarities were distracting at best for this reader.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
spalmero
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Member: Sarah Palmero
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 10 members
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