I have far too many books languishing around my house. Do you? Do you have piles upon piles stacked on shelving units in the corners of rooms—some being beloved classics and others random stories that, while good, you have no need to read again? I have trouble giving up any books at all, which is why Highlander Redeemed will soon be migrating to a stack of the latter category. It was fine to read once, but not something that’s likely to interest me again anytime soon.

The story itself is pretty interesting, both because of the magical elements in its plot, as well as the characters involved. Scotia MacAlpin is the stubborn daughter of the former chief of the MacAlpins, sister-in-law to the current chief, and sister and cousin to the two Guardians of the clan. (The Guardians are women, each with a different magical power, that help lead the clan, particularly through trouble.) Scotia has been shunned by her clan ever since her foolish actions prompted a battle between them and the English enemies that are currently hunting them, but she’s getting fed up with all of the scowls turned her way. To that end, she’s begun rebelling, sneaking away to train herself to fight the English and hopefully take revenge on the brute that killed her mother.

This is an extremely unwise idea. Scotia is, at the beginning of the book, nothing more than a stubborn child unable to admit her own culpability in the recent tragedy that struck her clan. She’s angry at the world and set to make very foolish decisions that will likely result in more trouble, when her old friend Duncan steps in to stop her. Duncan has been tasked with keeping an eye on her by both the Guardians and the new chief, and after following Scotia into the woods to watch her practice, he realizes this duty will be much more complex than he’d assumed. Duncan ultimately decides that the easiest way to keep watch over her is to have her willing participation, so he suggests that he begin officially training her in the warrior arts.

It’s interesting to watch Duncan and Scotia together at the beginning, because so much of her personality is taken up with her childish insistence that she had nothing to do with causing the clan’s recent battle with the English. Even though she is immature, Duncan finds himself impossibly drawn to her. On the one hand this bothered me, as I didn’t see Scotia as all that attractive at that point. On the other hand, it seemed to be Duncan’s faith that she was a good person that allowed Scotia to slowly come to terms with the fact that she was at least partially responsible for her clan’s troubles. It was also with Duncan’s help that Scotia realized the knowings she had experienced all of her life were a form of magic that signaled her as another Guardian.

Highlander Redeemed is a busy book, to be sure. I liked that it was fairly fast-paced, and I was definitely impressed by the characterization of Scotia and how naturally she matured. This did not happen overnight, but rather over the course of multiple interchanges with Duncan, where he tries to bring home to her that she can’t let her emotions rule her and needs to learn to appreciate others’ perspectives. In fact, my only major problem with the story is the dullness of the secondary characters. I’m sure that the other Guardians and their husbands were well-rounded when they starred in their own stories, but as supporting characters they all seemed to possess the same bland personality. This took something away from the story, but on the whole, Highlander Redeemed most definitely proved itself worth reading.