The Wickerlight by Mary Watson (review)

Unbeknownst to Zara, the small Irish town she and her family recently moved to is a major site of struggle between the judges and the augurs, two warring sects of the draoithe (Druids) who have been fighting over Ireland's ancient magic for centuries. Zara's sister Laila forced her way into the fight and ended up dead, but Zara knows nothing about her sister's involvement. As the rising son of a fallen judge family, David has the opportunity to prove himself a warrior if he can fight his way to becoming the War Scythe and make up for his brother's shame by locating the ancient artifact he lost. As Zara searches for the true cause of Laila's death, she too is drawn into the augur and judge conflict, a matter complicated by her growing attraction to David and her budding friendships with several other augur girls. Watson reprises the setting and characters of her debut The Wren Hunt (BCCB 11/18), shifting the focus from the augurs to the judges and providing a fuller look at the magical laws that govern the draoithe and the political machinations between its feuding families. Narration switches between Zara and David, but David is the far more compelling one here, torn between a violent past that was nonetheless filled with purpose and a future unmoored by new doubts about his family's principles and motivations. Readers of the previous novel will appreciate this expansion, and the ambiguities about who is right here and who is wrong will intrigue fans of sympathetic, complex characters.