A beautiful fantasy novel with solid bones and depth, The Willow Branch took hold of my mind and encompassed me. I loved its setting of a Celtic realm and the reflections of Christianity really completed this work for me. Complete with a dragon, elven people, humans and long abandoned dwarven mountain paths, it easily created a wonderful fantasy realm, and the individual characters here really took hold of my emotions and made me care about the characters’ fates.
Tamys, a lad cast out by his seemingly royal father, holds keys to the realm’s destiny but is somewhat blind to that. He does not have the Faith of his companion but seems pulled towards it at times. And Padraig, our main character, is his companion and a man of deep faith who also is highly skilled with a bow, and more importantly, with words. Padraig is my favorite character in any book I have ever read. I don’t say that lightly. My favorite characters used to be Simon in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and Don Quixote. Padraig has swayed me. His depth of mind, heart and skill with herbs, bow, sword and faith make him my ultimate protagonist. To say that I look forward to Markham’s next in this series is a severe understatement. I look forward to her writing for years to come.
Tamys, a lad cast out by his seemingly royal father, holds keys to the realm’s destiny but is somewhat blind to that. He does not have the Faith of his companion but seems pulled towards it at times. And Padraig, our main character, is his companion and a man of deep faith who also is highly skilled with a bow, and more importantly, with words. Padraig is my favorite character in any book I have ever read. I don’t say that lightly. My favorite characters used to be Simon in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and Don Quixote. Padraig has swayed me. His depth of mind, heart and skill with herbs, bow, sword and faith make him my ultimate protagonist. To say that I look forward to Markham’s next in this series is a severe understatement. I look forward to her writing for years to come.
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