This was a re-read I read this book years ago and re-read on audio and maybe didn’t like Liadan as much as I remembered.Son of the Shadows is the sequel to Juliet Marillier's evocative first novel Daughter of the Forest.

As always, she does a great job with nice accents and variations between characters. Rosalyn Landor narrated this one and if you follow my reviews you know she is a favorite of mine and this was no exception. There are parts of this book that are very sad for lovers of the first Sevenwaters book Daughter of the Forest, including the reveals comes of just who Bran actually is and why he has such a grudge against Liadan’s father Hugh of Harrowfield, I thought this one did a great job of bringing us up to date on the characters from the first book but also moving on from them to the next generation. There were times I really like Liadan I liked her strength at becoming a single mother when that kind of thing was not done however I questioned her thinking when she took her baby into enemy territory to rescue Bran and his man Gull, I mean really who would do that when you have a whole house full of family and servants, so why in the world would you strap your baby on your back for a dangerous rescue mission.

So now you have the gist of what this installment is about. As you can guess the night of passion has resulted in a child.

When the family finds out about this she is sent off to marry a chieftain who may not be as good a man as the family thinks he is! Liadan is kidnapped by the mysterious and dangerous Painted Man to heal one of his brethren as she spends more time with this band of men she sees a different side of this man than she previously thought, since he won’t tell her his name she decides to call him Bran and she falls in love with him they have one night of passion and then he finds out who her father is and sends her home. About 15 years have passed since the end of Daughter of the Forest Sorcha and Red have 3 children twins Sean & Liadan, and Niamh, Sean is being groomed to take over Sevenwaters, Liadan is a healer much like her mother and Niamh seems to be the spoiled pretty girl who will marry to further the families allies, but she has other ideas when a druid named Ciaran comes to Sevenwaters he and Niamh start a secret affair, but this will not go well and if you paid attention to ending of Daughter of the Forest you will know why this relationship cannot go on.

Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier