Weekly Reader: Water Sight (Last of the Gifted Book Two) Marie Powell; Continuation Ups The Power, Plot, and Characterization

 

Weekly Reader: Water Sight (Last of the Gifted Book Two) Marie Powell; Continuation Ups The Power, Plot, and Characterization 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: When last we left 13th century Wales Marie Powell's Spirit Sight, Prince Llywelyn Ap Gruffydd was killed during his battle to defend his homeland from the invading army of the English King Edward de Longshanks. Rather than move on, his spirit accidentally hijacked the body of Hwy, a young man who is the son of one of his strongest supporters. Hwy also has the ability to share his consciousness with those of animals and see the world through their eyes. Meanwhile, Hwy's sister, Cat discovers that she can scry, see images of the future through water. Spirit Sight was a book that was a terrific blend of Welsh historical fiction and medieval fantasy.

With the sequel, Water Sight, Powell must have studied the maxim go big or go home. In the second and clearly final book in the series, Powell increased the magic by developing Hwy and Cat's powers, the plot by providing more suspense and quests, and characterization by reflecting on Hwy and Cat's relationships with each other, friends, family, and lovers.

Just as Spirit Sight had Hwy be the primary protagonist (though technically since Llewellyn is inside his body shouldn't that be deuteragonist?) Water Sight has Cat serve as the primary protagonist. She and her fiance, Rhys go on a dangerous mission to retrieve and keep safe some artifacts that are important to the Welsh people. This mission is rather suspenseful as the two encounter various obstacles and find themselves in the direct path of enemies.

One of the more intriguing conflicts that involves Cat is that as her precognitive abilities increase so does her role in society. Rhys even believes that she could be The Morrigan, a legendary figure with the gift of prophecy. 

Unfortunately, this oracular gift could be lost if she marries or has sexual relations. Rhys is even willing to step aside if this is to be. However, Cat has to weigh which is a more important duty for her people: to develop her gift of prophecy or to marry and produce heirs. Keep in mind, this is a society that has just had their prince die, his brother and heir is held captive, the prince's child is an infant, and they are fighting a losing battle against the English. So this is a society that more than likely needs as many of the younger generations as possible. Either decision is not an easy one and Cat is aware that no matter what choice that she has to make, she has to give something up.

Cat isn't the only character that has to go through such changes. Her brother, Hwy now has the ability to shapeshift into animals as well as share consciousness with them. In principle, it's a pretty interesting gift and there are multiple chapters which beautifully describe the feeling that he gets flying through the air as a bird or sneaking through castle walls as a mouse. It even comes in handy when he does a recon mission for the Welsh by infiltrating a castle in bird form. Unfortunately,his gift comes with a price and that is his humanity. Each time Hwy uses his shifting ability he becomes more animalistic and needs to be reminded of his once human form. 

Like Cat, Hwy finds a soulmate that helps him with his power and it's a very interesting one. While Hwy has a flirtation with a female ally, she ends up not being the one to pull him out of his animal form. The one who does is James, a young Englishman who had been living in the same castle where Hwy was trained. James, in fact, already knew of his ability to see through an animal's eyes. When Hwy regresses to an animal form, it is James who reminds him of who he is and has the power to bring him back. While not overly stated, the undertones suggest that Hwy and James' love for each other is beyond platonic.

Since this is the last book in the series, things get wrapped up neatly and because of real world history very darkly for the protagonists. However, by the final pages Cat and Hwy have emerged as true heroes ready to take their place in this new changing world.