Owl Woman by Elen Sentier

                                            

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Owl Woman
Author: Elen Sentier

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Publisher: Pea Green Boat, Britain

Genre: mystery/romance/suspense 

Length: 287 pgs.
Reviewed by: Keri Stratton Alley

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 5

Presentation: 4

Editing: 3

Story: 4

Writing Ability: 3.5

Overall Card Rating:

About The Book: Waking from a dream where her archaeologist father, Jacob, is killed, Vicki finds the phone ringing and his housekeeper telling her he is dead, just as she saw in her dream. She goes home to find out what has happened and old things begin to surface … her father’s obsession with his ancestors; his mistress’ mania to find the grail; Vicki's own lover from the past. And the village is in turmoil because Sylvie, her father’s mistress, has capped the spring and the village is dying for lack of water. Vicki meets Merle again, her ex-lover from whom she ran away, and learns Jacob had found the village’s famous 4000 year-old gold cup that he’d been searching for all his life. This re-awakened Sylvie’s own grail-obsession. She and Jacob fought. Now the cup has disappeared again, both Vicki and Merle suspect Sylvie of taking it and begin the hunt to find and retrieve it. Events are exacerbated by Vicki’s resumed but still rocky relationship with Merle. And by the shadowy Owl Woman, the spirit-of-place, who has her own agenda and wants to settle old scores. Vicki finds herself becoming this spirit… and the Owl Woman is wanting to settle old scores.

The Review: Blending ancient historical lore with modern characters, Ms. Santier provides an engaging story of magick, mystery, and romance.

The characters are believable; perhaps more so because of their varied reactions to the supernatural events that surround the story. Some of the characters who are regular magickal practitioners use their abilities as second nature, which I found to be true to my personal experiences with regular pagan practitioners. Those who are introduced to supernatural abilities during the course of the story have realistic reactions ranging from shock to excitement.

I especially appreciated Ms. Santier’s skill in portraying both dreams and journey states as part of the plot. Both elusive and difficult to describe, dreams and journeys can often seem hokey or out of place in a story. Neither was true for Owl Woman. Instead, the dreams and journeys were masterfully written and excellently placed for maximum effect.

I enjoyed the consistent rotating third person perspective; hearing the perspective of so many interesting characters was lovely. For the most part, Ms. Santier’s writing flows smoothly, keeping the reader engaged and interested. However, there were a few moments of transition between chapters and, subsequently, viewpoints that could have used a bit of polishing in order to maintain the flow of the prose.

Pagan Elements: This book is awash with pagan elements. From the background history of the location and magickal “far-seeing” techniques, to spellwork, psychic attacks, and interactions with both spirits and animals, Ms. Sentier does a wonderful job of liberally spicing the story with realistic and regular uses of pagan elements.

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