by K.T. Anglehart
ASIN/ISBN: 9781777331719
Publication date: October 28, 2020
Series: The Scottish Scrolls #1

**I was provided a copy of the book through NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.**

The Wise One is an urban fantasy that incorporates Celtic folklore to create a world in which McKenna, the main character, journeys to discover who or what she is. While the novel begins in Massachusetts, it quickly shifts to a trip to Ireland with new friend Nissa along with Cillian, someone who just happens to be going that way. Oddly enough, everything seems to fall magically into place…as if something or someone is ensuring she arrives at her destination. (Hmm…)

With the title being so mysterious, and the beginning of the book not giving too much away, I couldn’t help but turn to the next page, swiping quickly through the book because I needed to know who or what the wise one was. I was not disappointed at the reveal. In fact, the reveal and the events surrounding it were probably my favorite parts of the novel.

The story moves quickly and the beginning immediately had me engaged in McKenna’s story. I did have a lot of questions though. Why does Nissa follow McKenna without question? Why is a random couple helping McKenna and Nissa out? How is everything just falling so easily into place? The answer seems to be that events are being set in motion to ensure McKenna is headed where she is supposed to be. While an acceptable answer–for now–I hope more will be explained in the next books.

I expected magic to play a bigger role than it actually did. Readers shouldn’t expect to see much magic utilized or else they’ll be disappointed. The book is more of an introduction., leading to something that doesn’t happen in this one. We get glimpses of the world Anglehart is constructing and the magical creatures that inhabit it but not much else until closer to the end. It’s mostly about the manifestations of McKenna’s powers and her trying to figure them out–like an origin story. I do hope this is building to something bigger.

Something that bothered me immensely was one of McKenna’s dads (Andre) being okay with her running away from home. She’s underage with nowhere to stay. How was it that he felt they should just wait at home for her to return or contact them when she was ready? Sure, it’s the ’90s and all but even in the ’90s your kid running away from home doesn’t mean you just let her go. I was confused by his attitude. Maybe…more on this in the next installment??

Despite all these questions, I liked the story overall. It’s a lot of traveling and nothing big happens but it’s still interesting. I want to know more about the wise one and the role the wise one will play going forward. This alone kept me turning pages even when I might have stopped if it were some other book. It does end abruptly with a cliff hanger. I had to make sure that it really was the end of the book. If you’re not a fan of cliff hangers, you might want to wait to read this.