Night Visitor

Night Visitor
by Melanie Jackson
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I read these types of books so rarely now, I forgot how much I enjoy them. For me, this book was not an easy read. The story wasn't hugely complicated, but the language was way up there in the sense that I really had to pay attention while I was reading. Not only was the vocabulary pretty high, there was also a bunch of older Scottish spellings when people were speaking that you have to decipher too.

The book assumes a decent amount of Scottish history knowledge. I wouldn't say I felt lost, but there were times I was probably missing out on some of the motivations of the characters. There was a bunch of pixie-dust magic in the story. It wasn't quite a different world from ours, but the magic was so seamlessly woven into the story that it was, in the best way, hard to pick up what was myth versus true history.

Taffy and Malcolm both have slightly pointy ears, which ends up being a sign of fae descendance. They have certain powers that were somehow able to connect them over the span of hundreds of years separation. But both have to hide their powers to some extent in order to avoid persecution. They were both interesting and compelling. They kept certain parts of themselves locked away even from their own conscious mind and part of this story involves them having to face what they are and what powers they have.

I liked how strong and resilient Taffy was. She was in an uncomfortable spot at home but she still managed to find her passion and pursue it. She takes control of her destiny and doesn't break down when things are rough. She's so confident, she marches off into the darkness to rescue Malcolm. But she's really smart about it and takes her rifle. You can picture her being a early female Rambo with ammo belts criss-crossing her chest and camo paint on her face. She gets things done but does stay true to her time period, wondering what kind of outcast she might become if people find out about her adventure. She also has a few attacks of conscience, especially in regards to her sexuality, but I felt she dealt with them in an authentic way for the story and time period they were living in.

Malcolm is a fine, ancient Scottish hero. He says words like “ken” and “ha” (which I believe roughly translated to “if”). He's strong and brawny, just fine playing the pipes until his fingers are about to fall off, not really in touch with his emotions, but totally comfortable with the idea of fae magic. He was sort-of tough on Taffy, but it never felt overbearing. Maybe because the fae were always invisibly helping them along. He might have felt a bit boarish, marching Taffy all through the night and stuff, if it weren't for finding protected fae groves, cleaned clothes and glamourized meals whenever they needed them.

This book is a good adventure, but not that much of an emotional romance. Possibly because I was busy deciphering the language. I enjoyed the story but I didn't feel like I connected with the characters emotionally. They seemed to be together mostly to drive the story forward (connections forged through sex and babies must be made) and they didn't think or feel too deeply. For how complicated the journey was for these two, I felt their reasons for being together weren't very well explained. Possibly it's just an additional assumption of magic in the story – things that just are, don't need a huge explanation.

I enjoyed the book for the story and even for the fae magic, but I didn't feel the romance was very gripping or well justified. I guess maybe I'd compare it to a forging of alliances with a bit of attraction thrown in, instead of swooping emotions and deep feelings. I will have to remember, next time I need a engrossing adventure with some rich language, Melanie Jackson is a good go-to author.