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Conar McGregor is heir to the throne and will one day be king. Right now, though, he’s more interested in having fun and chasing servant girls. Not much older than seventeen, he’s not concerned with propriety and what his duties for the kingdom entail—though he does realize that he’s duty-bound, and he won’t be able to back down from it, even if he wants something different. The only thing he fears is the demented priest, Kaileel Tohre, who enslaved him as a child, subjecting him to horrible beatings when he disobeyed. Then Conar meets Liza, a mysterious girl who fascinates him to the point that he fears he’ll lose her.
Liza is a free spirit, allowed by her parents to roam at will and trained to fight like a man. She possesses magical abilities and is determined to protect Conar from a dark force that’s threatening to engulf him and change his future. Liza didn’t count on the future king falling so hopelessly in love with her—for they can never be together because of promises made long ago.
Windkeeper is a well-written and compelling dark fantasy, but the characters are sometimes hard to like—Conar McGregor most of all. I just couldn’t warm up to him. He’s immature and self-centered, and he’s a complete jerk most of the time. His love for Liza is an unhealthy obsession. She couldn’t even go behind some bushes for privacy without Conar freaking out because he couldn’t see her. His age excuses some of his behavior, but not all of it. He’s stalker material in the making.
I also disliked the other characters’ attitudes toward Princess Anya, Conar’s betrothed. After all, it’s not her fault that she was betrothed to Conar before she was even born. They’re also particularly mean about her looks and the slight deformity of one of her feet. Given the age of some of the characters, a little of this behavior would have been okay, but Ms. Boyett-Compo goes overboard with it and draws it out longer than necessary.
I did, however, like Liza. She plays a strong female role—possessing skills that aren’t prized by other woman and that are a source of disgruntlement for men. Plus, it gave me a little bit of malicious pleasure whenever she put Conar in his place.
The story’s ending is also too predictable. I figured out what was going on and what would happen long before I reached the last page—but I did appreciate the story’s wicked and clever twist.
Even though Charlotte Boyett-Compo’s hero leaves much to be desired, she has a gift for writing spellbinding stories that you can’t wait to get back to. Throughout the story, you get a little bit of magic and a lot of adventure and romance, combined with a smidgen of spookiness. And though I found many of her characters frustrating, I’m still interested in reading another one of her novels.
