These books would be a good movie/TV series
Hayward’s Revenge
by Cailyn Lloyd
Book 3 of “The Elder’s Series.”
Land of Oz LLC.
ISBN-13: 978-0-578-83233-3.
Hardcover, pp. 366.
$12.45. Available on Amazon and Kindle.
www.cailynlloyd.net.
The winter of 2021 is a good time for Cailyn Lloyd’s third, and final book of “The Elder” series. This book ties up the mystic situation in northern Wisconsin and the Lake Michigan area, plus giving a summary of what happened in Book I, “Shepherd’s Warning,” and Book II “Quinlan’s Secret.” So, you don’t have to have read the first two books in order to figure out what is going on. Book Three introduces new characters, and Lloyd’s characters always have quite a history behind them. From a would-be-witch and boyfriend, to a ghost hunter and boyfriend, there is never a dull moment. Lloyd writes with short chapters, so though there are 72 chapters in this book, there could be as many as 72 cliff-hanger endings. There is no chapter index or list of characters.
In Book Three, the main characters are Leah, age five and gifted with telepathy. Leah’s Mom, Dana, who protects Leah, their friends Kiera and Willow, also with powers, and two older wizards from times past, Lachlan and Fynn, who are called into action to battle the Darkness. This Darkness, is otherwise known as an old Irish demon called Crom Cruach, and is it a grouch. The demon is trying to rid itself from a request made by a witch in Book I, so it has a purpose and no one better get in its way. Having a child in danger is not part of the usual book plot, but this child is capable of defending herself. In the meantime, we meet Tat, a would-be witch on the bad side, and Zoie, a ghost hunter with boyfriend, Jordan, on the good side. They meet and fight throughout the area, but center on an abandoned lighthouse not far from Porte des Mort, (“Door of Death,”) an infamous water passage by Lake Michigan. You can begin to see how this will begin to fit together and no one is safe.
In the trilogy, each of the books has a specific building as the heart of the story. Book I had an old house being restored. Book II had an Inn being restored. Book III concerns an old lighthouse and something to figure out, is what they have in common. Cailyn Lloyd writes with the precision of a script and I have this written before, that these books would be a good movie/TV series. Your attention is caught right away, vivid descriptions and a continuance of plot and characters so the reader is placed in a storyline that won’t let go. Here is the ending of one chapter, “Then lightning flashed overhead. Willow saw the gap---briefly. The boat canted as the next giant wave crashed over her. This time, the boat rolled and capsized.”
For friends and family staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic, a gift of the three books would certainly give them something to read, a page-turner and a-book-to-stay-up-past-midnight-reading type of thriller. Enjoy.
Copyright 2021 Marie Asner
