The Water Devil: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel (Margaret of Ashbury Trilogy)

Book review by Jane
Tracey of Book Reader’s Traverse gave me a copy of A Vision of Light for Christmas one year and I was thrilled to read the sequel, In Pursuit of the Green Lion. This tale wraps up the story of Margaret and Gregory wonderfully. It has been awhile since I read the first of the series, but Ms. Riley ties reminders into the storyline, making it an easy transition without actually needing to reread the earlier books—although the series will be on my list of read-again books. It will be nice to sit down and read the series back to back, as they did come out with some time between them.

There is a great deal of adventure in this story, as in the first of the series, and the lovable characters are here from the first and second books. These stories are centered in the 1300s and Margaret is a woman advanced for her time, as are the other characters. Her children are growing up in this story and they are quite a handful for Margaret, which most of us can relate to who have children. Margaret is just a lovable character because she gets things done and marches to a different drummer at the same time. She is well received by most people, but there are a few who have trouble with her or who wish to cause her trouble. She knows the difference between fair weather friends and true ones. The story stretches the imagination at times, as the main character can heal people and there actually is a water devil. But in the story, all is believable and this book is truly a page turner, as the first and second in the series were.

Although the books are fiction, they do a good job of giving us an idea of what life was like in the Middle Ages for adventurous souls, at least. The book is fun and suspenseful at the same time. I can’t say enough to get this series out there. I tell people about these books all the time, because they are truly a joy to read. Ms. Riley has other historical novels: The Oracle Glass for one. It was enjoyable and full of intrigue. I haven’t read The Serpent Garden or The Master of All Desires yet, but they are on my list. I hope you will give her a try.

Jane.