Book Review – and Blue Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht

And Blue Skies From Pain by Stina Leicht
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s 1977, Northern Ireland is still in the midst of the “Troubles” and Liam Kelly is trying to put his time as a wheelman for the IRA behind him and come to terms with both his half fey heritage and his grief from the death of his wife and unborn child.

Father Murray wants to build an alliance between the Catholic Church and the Fey, but first he has to prove to the Church that the Fey aren’t the Fallen. To help Father Murray, Liam reluctantly agrees to submit to some testing by the Church to prove he’s not Fallen. However, some members of the Church consider anything inhuman to be evil, and will go to significant lengths to ensure Liam fails.

Meanwhile the IRA aren’t too happy with losing Liam’s active support, want him back as a wheelman, and won’t take no for an answer.

“and Blue Skies from Pain” carries straight on from where “of Blood and Honey” finished and takes us deeper into the Fey and Catholic Church.

Leicht continues to build on the world she introduced us to, and the politics within the Church, Fey and IRA are very believable, as are the character’s motivations. Whilst we don’t understand what drives the Fallen, neither do any of the characters, so although the Fallen appear somewhat villainous just for the sake of it, it’s consistent with our, and the characters’, limited knowledge.

Liam continues to be the main protagonist of the story, although we also get some perspective from Father Murray of his initial exposure to the Fallen and how that shaped him to be the priest he is now.

Whilst the IRA aspects kept the story grounded in our world and contributed to the suspense, I wanted to spend more time with the Fey, Fallen & Church, so hurried through those bits.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this and look forward to the next one.

If you’ve read and liked “of Blood and Honey” then pick this sequel up, otherwise start with the first one. If you didn’t like “of Blood and Honey” then you’re unlikely to find this an enjoyable read.

prk.

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