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March 2009
The Sarsen Witch by Eileen Kernaghan
Carla Lee is currently a law student, and co-editor in chief of Scribbles, her law school's journal of literature and arts. Her book reviews have appeared in Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley; Paper Cuts, a column at InsidePulse.com; and the Broadsheet. You can find her writing at www.carla-lee.com.
The Sarsen Witch is the third book in Eileen Kernaghan's Grey Isles series, but it isn't necessary to read the first two books (Journey to Aprilioth and Songs from the Drowned Lands) in order to enjoy the third. It is a tale of magic, megaliths, and the monstrous emotion within the hearts of men and women, of the origins of Stonehenge and the people caught up in the complexities of its power. It contains numerous references to ancient religious rituals, and reveals a mix of societies which is both entertaining and thought-provoking. The thoroughness of Kernaghan's research is obvious, and it is incorporated smoothly into the prose. The Sarsen Witch tells the story of Naeri, a young woman of the witchfolk in the bronze-age world of the Wessex warrior-chieftans. Her tribe was destroyed by the horse-lords as they conquered the land, and she survived alone for years on the cold and lonely chalk hills before she violently collided again with the horse-lords. She is a geomancer who can use and control the power of ley lines and stone circles created by previous tribes, and when one of the horse-lords wants to build a great stone temple in honor of his greatness, she is caught up in making sure it will instead tap into the power of the lines and be used for the benefit of her fallen people. Naeri is a fully developed character: she is a woman who is intelligent but makes mistakes; a woman who knows what she wants, some of the time; and knows how to get it, once in awhile. She isn't perfect, but she is believable. Though she is frequently aware of her apparent lack of control over her own destiny, feeling that "from the instant of her birth her feet had been set upon a straight track, leading arrow-true and unswerving from one landmark to the next until it brought her inescapably to this high, lonely place," for much of the book she is stubborn enough to try to change things anyway, for herself as well as for her world. Then there are moments where she simply accepts what she considers to be her fate, and times when she trusts the wrong person despite all the ways which she is mistreated; readers may find these moments incredibly frustrating, but the experiences help develop her as a character. The other women in the story do not fare so well. The women of the horse-lords are flat, often petty and cruel, or simply weak-willed, and all are shown to live the lives the men demand of them without questioning. The horse-lords are Naeri's enemy, and as such are not presented in a positive light, but the women, in particular, are underdeveloped, almost caricatures against Naeri's fullness. Similarly, the other women of the witchfolk Naeri meets mostly fade to the background, and only a few are distinguished by their talents in hunting or war. They are not developed, nuanced characters; they seem to exist only to go to war, or to be kidnapped by the horse-lords, or to walk the line between life and death. Nor are the majority of the men well-developed. Even the smith, Gwi, who rescues Naeri when she is caught by the horse-lords, is but a shadow of a man. He is one of the most developed, but his characterization is built on how he relates to Naeri, and since this is Naeri's story above all else, perhaps that is understandable. The men of the horse-lords are simply the enemy, gluttonous warriors bent on fighting and feasting and ruling the world, and the men of the witchfolk, with two exceptions, are not distinguished at all. One of these exceptions is the wise old teacher who helps Naeri learn about her powers, and the other is Daui, the cousin who gives her back her people but is more interested in his opinion of what is best than what she thinks. His manipulations are clear to the reader, but few characters seem to realize what he is doing, though his actions come across as heavy-handed and obvious. This is Naeri's story, and Naeri's world, and her growth from wild child to powerful woman is at the heart of the tale. Despite the lack of development of the other characters, Naeri's world, and her trials and tribulations, are realistic, believable, and, above all, attention-grabbing. It was frustrating at times to have the other characters be so much muted background against her colorful vibrance, but this is her story, and her characterization nuanced. The growing friendship between Naeri and Gwi adds romance to the storyline as well. Though Daui's manipulations pull them apart, Naeri makes her way back to Gwi, and he is one of the things she tries to change despite feeling that her life is fated to go a different direction. Their romance is very much in the background of the story; at the front is Naeri's experience with the horse-lords and the reclaiming of her family and heritage. Despite the often frustrating lack of development in the other characters and the way Naeri, time and again, falls for her cousin's manipulations and tricks, the story is still an enjoyable read. For the majority of the book, the plot progresses at a good pace, neither too slow nor too fast, but at the very end, the resolution comes in a storm of speed and shocking revelations for the characters — though not the readers — which isn't really balanced with the pace of the rest of the novel. From Naeri's survival on her own, to the surprises awaiting her within the camps of the horse-lords, to Daui's manipulation of those around him — including Naeri, the horse-lords, and the witchfolk — to the friendship and love between Naeri and Gwi, this historical fantasy is compelling, twisting, and rich.
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