Written 25 years after the first book, the characters are the extended family of the first book's characters. As in the other books, I liked the characters from Scottish and Celtic history also.

The villain here is development and greed - building a golf course and complex and in stage two tearing down the family castle to replace it with a castle hotel and resort. The personification of this greed is Mr Trout, whose mannerisms and giant "T" logo are clearly meant to remind us of another greedy mogul.

I enjoyed the history and characters, but the plot was a little thin. Reacting against the villain only goes so far. The closing chapter wraps things up a bit too neatly. Still, this was a fairly quick read (just over two hours, much of it on a plane). I'd like to look into something else by the author - her young adult The Dark is Rising series is pretty highly rated.