Twilight of a Queen: A Novel

by: Susan Carroll

Published by: Ballantine Books / Random House

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

Carroll has five books now in the series featuring the Daughters of the Earth, on Faire Isle, off the Coast of Brittany. Twilight of a Queen is set in 1588.

Ariane Cheney is the leader of the women of the island, talented healers and thought by some to be witches. This book focuses on Ariane and her student Meg (the Silver Rose) and Lady Jane Danvers, an exile from England. Catherine de Medici, the Dowager Queen of France, and mother of Henry III, is determined to get the dark magical knowledge in the The Book of Shadows. Meg’s mother had the book, and before it was destroyed, Meg had read much of it and had committed it to memory.

Catherine hires pirate Xavier to kidnap Meg and bring her to Paris. Xavier however has his own secrets–he is the half-brother of Ariane. He has never met her or her sisters, and bears some ill will towards them for the affection his father felt towards their mother. When he is approaching Faire Isle, a terrible storm throws him off his ship, and he is found in the rocks of the island with a broken arm.

Xavier awakens with Lady Jane, who he is sure is an angel-looking after him. He does not believe his arm can be saved, and resists Ariane’s ministrations, until Lady Jane convinces him to comply. The dark magic of Catherine de Medici has a long reach, and she is able to keep track of her emissary, and eventually realizes that he is not going to cooperate and bring her Meg.

Catherine sends assassins off to kill Xavier, who has been asked to leave Faire Isle when the inhabitants discovered his original mission. He has decided to side with his half-sisters and protect Meg and her knowledge–and his love Lady Jane. Unfortunately Jane has gone to Paris to assist her silly cousin, and Catherine discovers their relationship and captures her as well as Xavier. Meg knows that Faire Isle might be attacked by the French Army, and ponders what she can do to save the situation and the people of the island she loves.

Armchair Interviews says: Romance, magic, betrayals, history during a turbulent time, this sequel has all the excitement and chills of the earlier books: Huntress, Dark Queen, Courtesan, and The Silver Rose.