KnitAFett reviewed The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea
I don't know how to describe this other than "lovely".
4 stars
I decided to read this book because how could I not give a shot to a book that says on the cover that you should read it if you loved Harry Potter, and with all the issues with Rowling, I've been game for anything that gives the same vibes to introduce my kids to. It's not a well-known book by any means (here in the US at least) and I wasn't really sure what to expect going into it. I slogged through it because of my own doing, but the journey was well done! Since this is meant to be a children's book, the tension was not very high because you expect that the children are going to be able to succeed in their journey.
The main characters are children who have been chosen by the Dagda to help with finding a pebble that needs to be destroyed to prevent …
I decided to read this book because how could I not give a shot to a book that says on the cover that you should read it if you loved Harry Potter, and with all the issues with Rowling, I've been game for anything that gives the same vibes to introduce my kids to. It's not a well-known book by any means (here in the US at least) and I wasn't really sure what to expect going into it. I slogged through it because of my own doing, but the journey was well done! Since this is meant to be a children's book, the tension was not very high because you expect that the children are going to be able to succeed in their journey.
The main characters are children who have been chosen by the Dagda to help with finding a pebble that needs to be destroyed to prevent the destruction of the world. They are then followed and hunted by the witch queen Morrigan and her hounds, who wants the pebble to be able to regain her full power and bring about the destruction. The biggest catch is that Morrigan and the Dagda have a deal of some sort that they cannot raise a hand to the kids, to help or harm, so there is a lot of sneaky dealings on both sides.
Pidge and Brigit were very enjoyable characters. They felt like real kids that you would actually see in the real world. O'Shea did a great job with writing them. Too many authors have difficulties with writing children characters and either make them too grown up or too babyish.
It clocks in at over 450 pages and every page has importance to the story. Everything ties together at some point and there are no wasted words. The magical realism was well done, all of the characters were likable (except the baddies, obviously, but they were great as well), and there was constant movement through the book. If you can manage to get a copy, I would recommend the read, it took me by surprise and I really enjoyed going through the journey with Pidge and Brigit.
