(Isla’s Inheritance #2)
Publication date: January 20th 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Australia is a long way from the Old World and its fae denizens … but not far enough.
Isla is determined to understand her heritage and control her new abilities, but concealing them from those close to her proves difficult. Convincing the local fae she isn’t a threat despite her mixed blood is harder still. When the dazzling Everest arrives with a retinue of servants, Isla gets her first glimpse of why her mother’s people are hated … and feared.
But Isla isn’t the only one with something to hide. Someone she trusts is concealing a dangerous secret. She must seek the truth and stop Everest from killing to get what he wants: Isla’s oath.
Synopsis:
Australia is a long way from the Old World and its fae denizens … but not far enough.
Isla is determined to understand her heritage and control her new abilities, but concealing them from those close to her proves difficult. Convincing the local fae she isn’t a threat despite her mixed blood is harder still. When the dazzling Everest arrives with a retinue of servants, Isla gets her first glimpse of why her mother’s people are hated … and feared.
But Isla isn’t the only one with something to hide. Someone she trusts is concealing a dangerous secret. She must seek the truth and stop Everest from killing to get what he wants: Isla’s oath.
Excerpt:
Jack led me to one
side of the walkway, against the window of a bank. After looking around to make
sure we weren’t being watched, he reached into his messenger bag and pulled
something out to show me.
Cupped in his hand
was a creature the size of a large mouse. It—no, he—was dressed in ragged,
miniature clothes; his hair was a tangled mass of gold and his eyes were little
blue flecks of summer sky. On his back, a pair of diaphanous wings like a
dragonfly’s beat slowly, only visible because of the tracery of veins. Around
his neck, strung on a piece of cotton, was a glossy pink bead.
The creature
resembled Tinkerbell, if she were down on her luck and had grown sharp around
the edges. A fairy made from mosquitos rather than butterflies.
“Isla, this is
Welkin. He is a piskie.”
“Uh. Hi!” I said
brightly, trying to pretend I’d heard of a piskie before now.
“Hello,” Welkin
piped. Jack held his hand up so that the tiny fairy was at eye level with me.
Welkin bobbed his head in gratitude.
“Please tell Isla
what you told me,” the hob said.
He looked me up and
down, a gesture that only took in my face. He pursed his lips, eyes narrowed. “Okay,”
he said after a moment, putting his hands on his hips. The gesture was adorable
but also reminded me of my year seven science teacher. “Do you know about
energy flows?”
“Pretend I don’t.”
He craned his neck
to frown at Jack before looking back at me. “Right. Every living thing in the
world sheds energy. It’s a lot like air. Sometimes it pools, still, and
sometimes it flows and you get a breeze or a storm.”
“Like water?”
Welkin scowled.
“Like air. This is my metaphor, lady.”
I bit my lip so I
didn’t laugh, nodding to indicate he should continue.
“Well, some aosidhe
are like mountains. The air bends around them and continues on, but becomes
more turbulent. And if there are a bunch of them together you can get wind
tunnels and it gets really tricky to fly…” He trailed off, staring distractedly
through Jack’s fingers at a passing couple, absorbed in their conversation.
“And other
aosidhe?” I reminded him gently.
“Oh, yes. Other
aosidhe are more like cyclones, throwing everything around and making a mess.”
He sniffed in disapproval.
I wondered which
type I was, but decided not to ask. “So you can sense the presence of aosidhe
based on this energy movement.”
“Yes. There was one
here—” he narrowed his eyes at me “—and now there are two.”
“When did the other
one arrive?”
“Today.”
Interview with Cassandra Page, author of ‘Isla’s Oath’
ISLA’S
OATH is the second book in the ISLA’S INHERITANCE trilogy. Tell us a bit about
the first book.
The
series is a young adult urban fantasy set in Australia. Isla’s Inheritance
follows Isla’s journey as she discovers that her father has been keeping
secrets from her. She thought her mother died during childbirth, but during the
course of the book she learns there’s a lot more to it than that. Her mother is
fae, one of the ruling class called the aosidhe, and is very much alive—Isla’s
father fled to Australia with Isla when she was a baby to get them both away
from his angry bride.
Unfortunately,
when Isla turns eighteen and becomes an adult, her half-fae heritage starts to
manifest and it draws all sorts of unwanted attention.
What
can we expect from ISLA’S OATH?
In
short: kissing, self-discovery, a sexy bad guy, and some running. (Love the
running!)
The
fae, or duinesidhe, in Australia are almost all refugees of one kind or
another: “lesser” fae who want to live free of aosidhe oppression. Members of
the fae ruling class are renowned for their cruelty. Needless to say, the
duinesidhe wild about discovering a half-aosidhe in their midst, as they’re
concerned not only that she might try to enslave them but about what she might
draw down on them, however inadvertently.
While
trying to navigate that side of her life, Isla is also trying to navigate a new
relationship with Dominic. He’s suspicious of her friendship with Jack, her
duinesidhe friend—largely because Dominic doesn’t know anything about that side
of her life.
And
then Everest, a full-blooded aosidhe, turns up and things get really
interesting.
Reviewers
of ISLA’S INHERITANCE have commented on Isla’s close-knit family. Tell us about
them.
Isla
lives with her aunt and two cousins in the city, because her father’s farm is
far enough out of town that it was difficult for her to get to school each day.
Sarah, the younger of her cousins, is almost the same age as her and is her
best friend. Isla still lives with them now she’s graduated, while she’s trying
to find work and is learning about her fae heritage. And despite her mixed
feelings about the things her dad kept hidden from her for so long, she is
still very close to him in Isla’s Oath.
I
love to see strong families in YA. So often the parents are absent, neglectful
or the bad guys! Isla’s biological mother certainly qualifies in some or all of
those categories, but her aunt is something of a surrogate mother, treating
Isla the same way she does her own children. And while the rest of her family
isn’t all sunshine and roses—she argues with her cousins and doesn’t get on
with her grandmother at all—Isla knows they are there for her and that she can
rely on them when she needs to.
Where
did the idea for Isla’s Inheritance come from?
It was a
combination of a few ideas, but the main one was a story idea I had for a
psychic vampire—the sort of undead critter that feeds off emotions rather than
blood, and can leave people a burnt-out husk. But by then Twilight had already
hit the big time and everyone’s interest in vampires was waning. I decided to
take the basic idea of an empath who can absorb emotions and turn it into
something different. Thus Isla was born.
What
sort of research did you do while planning the series?
I did a lot of
reading about mythological creatures—mostly European ones like the various fae
races—but also some from further afield.
One thing I found
really interesting during my research was seeing the echoes of those myths in
other authors’ books. For example, I’d bet that J. K. Rowling’s Dementors were
inspired by the myths of the sluagh, with a touch of Grim Reaper in their look.
Her house elves are very much like the English myth of the hob. (I also have
hobs in my series, but I made them quite different, partly because I love Dobby
and didn’t want to tread on his toes. I’m glad I did, though, as I’m a big fan
of Jack, my leading hob!)
When
should we expect the third book to hit the selves? And does it have a title
yet?
It’s called
Melpomene’s Daughter, and it’s scheduled for release in April this year. So
excite!
How
do you pronounce aosidhe again?
Ae-oh-shee (the
“Ae” is the same as the a in baby).
Duinesidhe is
pronounced din-a-shee. Sidhe is the word for the faerie mounds. The aosidhe are
the rulers of the mounds, and the duinesidhe are the people of the mounds.
Isla's Inheritance #1
Cover linked to Goodreads
About the Author:
Cassandra Page is a mother, author, editor and geek. She lives in Canberra, Australia's bush capital, with her son and two Cairn Terriers. She has a serious coffee addiction and a tattoo of a cat - which is ironic, as she's allergic to cats. When she's not reading or writing, she engages in geekery, from Doctor Who to AD&D. Because who said you need to grow up?
Giveaway:
Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)$50 gift card at Amazon or Barnes & Noble
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