Third and last in the Darkness Falls fantasy series, this tale gets right into the mindset of the medieval, magical world of Encardia. Kate is getting armour made for her by a friend when her partner Arland arrives to warn that battle is close. They live among people who dwell underground for protection and whose language is similar to Irish. Following a celebration the warriors male and female leave to find horses and fight daemons.

The trouble with WILDE'S MEADOW is that if you come to it as a standalone, as I did, you have no idea what is going on and the author is in no hurry to explain. I got the impression that Kate was a stranger in a strange land, perhaps because she mentioned sandwich bags, but only many pages in did I learn that she had traveled, somehow, from modern day Virginia to this place, and halfway through the book there was a partial explanation involving her Virginian parents having actually been Encardians all along. The girl has adapted well, if she still doesn't understand many customs, and she's learned the use of magic and swords.

A dark cave passage is the first test of Kate's courage as the party must traverse a narrow bridge of rock over water far below, and sinister whispers entice her to flop in despair or climb off her horse and find the water. Later there are pitched battles with numerous daemons, from hounds to winged creatures, whose blood alone is poison and who are driven by an evil god. While Kate's magic isn't the fireball variety, more a summoning of spirits from her surroundings, she's still able to contribute, and her sister Brit is an accomplished archer. Some of the warriors communicate telepathically to share information among the force. Realising that they are outnumbered the party splits up and Kate travels through a portal she has summoned with a handful of people. The portal brings Kate back to Virginia to fetch more help, and she returns with two farm people - I failed to see the point, given she was away two months and her forces were decimated in her absence.

If you've read Krystal Wade's first two books you'll doubtless be keen to see how the story wraps up, and whether Kate and Arland get to live happily ever after, but otherwise my advice is to hold off reading WILDE'S MEADOW until you've read the earlier installments, whereupon you can just enjoy the lovely descriptive writing and realism instead of wondering what is happening and what the battles are all about.

Book Summary

Happy endings are hard to find, and even though Katriona is in the middle of a war with someone who's already stolen more than she can replace, she aches for a positive future with her Draíochtans. Armed with hope, confidence in her abilities, and a strange new gift from her mother, Kate ventures into the Darkness to defeat a fallen god. Losses add up, and new obstacles rise to stand in the way. Is the one determined to bring Encardia light strong enough to keep fighting, or will all the sacrifices to stop those who seek domination be for nothing?

Wilde's Meadow is the epic third and final installment of young adult author Krystal Wade's Darkness Falls trilogy, where Katriona, a new adult, must endure a battle with demons and gods, testing the strength of family bonds and herself, as she learns what it feels like to lose someone she loves.