My First Impression is based on very few pages of the book in which nothing much has happened. We meet Keelin, a female character of unknown age who falls asleep in a field and has a flying dream which appears to regularly recur. She has a horse named Rua which she rides wearing a skirt. She is heckled by a local man on her way home. At the end of this First Impression, we learn that Keelin's uncle has returned to the village.
Keelin seems to be a sensible young woman, and the writing is good. However, the author does not really state any fact directly; the reader has to put clues together to learn, for example, that Saraid is Keelin's mother because Keelin describes her "mother's flowers" and then later the author talks about Saraid's flowers. While it is nice that the author is respectful of the reader's intelligence, there is also the chance that the reader may not put facts together correctly. For example, the explanation of Conall being Keelin's father is even more opaque: Padraig is younger than her father, but one of Connall's closest friends - apparently that means that Connall is her father. However, rules of logic don't require that to be the case. It's just a connection the reader is forced to make because otherwise, you have no clue who Connall is. This writing style can either be enjoyable and force a fast reader like me to slow down, or can be too annoying to push through. I would keep reading to find out though.
Keelin seems to be a sensible young woman, and the writing is good. However, the author does not really state any fact directly; the reader has to put clues together to learn, for example, that Saraid is Keelin's mother because Keelin describes her "mother's flowers" and then later the author talks about Saraid's flowers. While it is nice that the author is respectful of the reader's intelligence, there is also the chance that the reader may not put facts together correctly. For example, the explanation of Conall being Keelin's father is even more opaque: Padraig is younger than her father, but one of Connall's closest friends - apparently that means that Connall is her father. However, rules of logic don't require that to be the case. It's just a connection the reader is forced to make because otherwise, you have no clue who Connall is. This writing style can either be enjoyable and force a fast reader like me to slow down, or can be too annoying to push through. I would keep reading to find out though.