The Witch’s Daughter is the second book in The Chronicles of Ynis Aielle by R. A. Salvatore and picks up thirty years after the first book. Del and Brielle’s daughter Rhiannon has just turned twenty and wishes to explore the world outside of Avalon. With her mother’s assent and the company of the rangers Belexus and Andovar she travels to the realm of the humans. At the same time a young half-elf named Bryan leaves his hometown of Corning to spend time in the wilderness with a group of friends. What neither of them know is that the evil creature composed of Martin Reinheiser and Morgan Thalasi has finally achieved a blended personality and has decided to restart the war with his army of talons. As the army steamroller through the countryside containing the human realm both Rhiannon and Bryan find themselves caught up in a war that they were not prepared for. Now they both must find their inner strength and trust in their abilities as they work to stop the talons and ultimately Thalasi as well. Something made potentially more difficult as Rhiannon struggles with her magic and Thalasi resurrects Mitchell to lead his armies.
This was an interesting addition to this series as it does continue the story but only by introducing almost entirely new characters with almost all of the previous characters relegated primarily to the background. It also has slightly different types of conflicts present in this story than the previous one. In all honesty I rather enjoyed the new conflicts as they allowed for a lot of character growth for certain characters. The predominant conflict was, in many ways, an internal conflict between two different sides. This was most obvious in the two sides of Martin Reinheiser and Morgan Thalasi but also in the dual sided magic, destruction and healing, that Rhiannon struggles with. It was interesting to see it reflected on both sides of the larger conflict. The character growth is primarily see in Rhiannon as a result of this internal conflict though. The story itself was good if somewhat predictable at times as it definitely echoes the good vs. evil archetype seen so frequently in fantasy. What made this version more interesting is how the series as a whole seems to be showing how this particular conflict or series of conflicts is rather drastically affecting the culture and landscape the characters live in so I am rather curious how the series is going to end. I did enjoy the book though as it was pretty good and it did add some more background to the cultural landscape in which the series is set by the slight change of setting from the eleven realm to the human realm. We also got to see more detailed glimpses of the various wizards and how they utilize their individual magic which also added some depth to the world. I was happy with the book and am happy to give it four out of five stars.
This book was a good example of the fantasy genre which should be expected considering the authors so if you enjoy a good fantasy book or happen to already be a fan of Salvatore than you should seriously consider trying this book. Something to keep in mind is that this book is the second on in the series and while you could read it independently of the first one you would understand more of the background and nuance if you read the other book first. It is also primarily aimed at an adult audience but I could also see it being read and enjoyed by older teens and young adults without any problems. There are some somewhat graphic descriptions of the war so I would recommend readers over the age of fifteen only though. Overall it is a good book and one that I hope you will consider trying. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments if you do.