Great book but be sure to read the others in this series first as it will not make as much sense otherwise! The slow burn romance between Brigid and Skorpius keeps you hoping and the action will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I struggled with this story. I haven't read the previous books in the series , so could have had an effect. I couldn't relate to the characters orb follow the story.

I enjoyed this book told from both sides it's a romance but not your typical romance Brigid awakens something in her something magical the destiny of every realm hangs in the balance, can Brigid and skorpius get salvation or will there be destruction

Pleasant Surprise

Have you ever picked up a book that just was not your cup of tea? This was what this book was for me. I picked it up because I am a big fan of Kat Bastion and love her writing style. I have to say that when I started it was not my cup of tea but by the time, I finished it today it was like a treat that I could not get enough of. Born of Mist and Legend is an epic tale that explores the journey of Skorpius and Brigid that are both destined for greatness. For me the word choice and imagery make this an amazing read. I can also say that the ending is something you will never see coming!

Skorpius has a duty to time and an order he must fulfil. There is no halfway with Skorpius and that is one of the aspects of the character that I loved. He must follow the path set before him and nothing can change that. Brigid in comparison is such a strong female that in the beginning I was hoping that the two of them end up together in the first few pages. Brigid like Skorpius knows that there is something she must do that is ingrained in her bones. She cannot change it; she cannot stop it so what she chooses to do is embrace it. What I loved about this book is the journey that transpired for Brigid. Will she fulfill his destiny or will she live a life that is half of what she could do?

What is beautiful is watching Brigid find herself and her path while Skorpius watches over her to make sure everything is as it should be. It shows that we must as people be more aware of the people in our lives and what they add to it. It shows that making mistakes and having people who will love you despite them is a part of life. This entire book had an optimistic feel to it which I loved.

Kat Bastion and the love of her other books is the reason I picked this story up. But the characters and the beautiful descriptions is the reason I stuck with it. The words flow effortlessly off the page making this a joy to read. The only thing I am upset about is not reading the two books that come before this one. I will be adding those to my growing pile of books to read. A five star read all the way for a story that is so outside of my usual read that it made it even more enjoyable.

Kindly provided with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review......

A stunning read !!!. This was quite the journey for our leading guy and his lady. It follows Skorpius and Brigid - both have a calling, both lives become intrinsically entwined. Loved it !!!.
It can be read as a Standalone. Truly I was not really sure what to expect but I soon become enthralled with the world created by Kat. Throw myth and magic together in a read and you've got me hooked.

Well done Kat.....great, epic story !! Many thanks for this opportunity !!

Later peeps xxx

Skorpius has the directive to protect a human female and eventually kill her if she poses a threat to time. Brigid has to leave the only home she's ever known in order to save it and her clan. Her mother had given her the blessing of magic when she was born, and it sparks to life when she turns eighteen. Evil dodges her steps and wants to use her newfound power.

Born of Mist and Legend is the third book in the Highland Legends series, but I hadn't read the first two. I did get the sense that I missed a lot of back story for some of the peripheral characters and the castle, but it didn't stop me from understanding the flow of this novel. It started abruptly, with Brigid coming into her power and not knowing how much she actually has. Skorpius is irritated and enthralled at times, and sees more to her burgeoning magical powers as time goes on.

Chapters told from Brigid's POV tend to include the Scottish accent stand-in of dropped g's and the like, which was annoying to parse. The dangers she had to face pulled me back in every time the language threw me out of the story, but I get little sense of her as a person. She's stubborn and strong-willed, loyal to her family the clan. We're told this over and over, and I would have liked to see this in more than arguments about Skorpius following her in the beginning. I understand her resentment at being followed without her permission, especially when she thought he was the one with evil intentions toward her, but it takes more than a training session or two to really get a sense of a character. By the same token, Skorpius comes across as surly a lot on the beginning himself. I'm not sure how much of their characterization was presented in earlier novels, and I missed it by skipping to this one. Overall, it's a solid adventure story, and I did grow to like the characters in time.

This author team is a new one to me, and they write a very involved fantasy world. This book was therefore very long, as worldbuilding and describing how the different magicks, timelines and worlds work takes a lot of words. 50+ chapters of it.I found all this detail, maybe because I haven’t read the other books in the series did bog me down a bit, I found it confusing and often, unnecessary. It made me stop reading, as it wearied me.

The story at its core features an Angel, Skorpius, who is a guardian of the worlds timeline and in his past, had fallen in love with a human and this made him make a mistake, which turned him from a golden angel into a dark one with black wings, he lives amongst his golden brethren, but no longer derives his power form light, but for the dark rock where he goes to replenish his energy. The authority charge him with protecting a human girl, Brigid, sister of the Laird of Clan Brodie from the Scottish Highlands in 1297. He has another tether which is to protect the timeline and existence, if Brigid threatens it, by killing her if necessary.

He is also connected to this place by knowing Isobel wife of the Laird who is also a paranormal being, The Traveller, along with her husband Iain. She was originally a 21st C human, and I guess her story must have been in a previous book.

When he meets Brigid, Skorpius is very calculating, and uses his skills and powers to try and manipulate her into trusting him, whilst keeping secrets from her, including the fact that he had been responsible for the disappearance on her betrothed Fingall.

Brigid’s mother died while giving birth to her, and her father soon after her birth, so she and her brothers have been orphans almost all their lives, her middle brother Gawain rejected her, as the cause of their mother’s death. Brigid feels a strong connection to her clan and protecting them, but she also feels alone, she feels out of place. She decides to train in combat, and go to find Fingall herself. ,Their clan is guarded by a magic curtain wall made of black rock, which although most of the clan don’t know it, has ancient magick protections. Brigid finds a book, written by the knight Lancelot, and as she reads it, she also starts to develop some abilities, she manages to pass through the curtain wall, and this unleashes even more abilities, and also connects her in some fashion to Skorpius.

This connection astounds and confuses Skorpius, who is determined to fulfill his mission, but is drawn into liking Brigid, which he is concerned by as he worries he will compromise his ability to act. As he ensures they work together, and asks for Brigid’s trust, while keeping his secrets, Brigids development from a human female to a paranormal being with many abilities astounds him, very quickly she learns to disappear and materialise at will, move along the timeline, protect herself, fight battles and so forth, Eventually her power even exceeds his, and she has become a goddess. Some malevolent power seeks to control or take her power for themselves, and Skorpius and Brigid work together to discover who is behind this threat, and flush them out of hiding to defeat the threat. As they do so Skorpius is still looking out to protect the timeline and the world at all costs, even if he has to end Brigid.

As they work together, they fall in love, despite Skorpius’ distrust of this emotion. When they bond they both become even more powerful, but can their connection survive the test they have to face, discovery of Skorpius’s secrets and his distrust in his own nature, and how is the book Brigid found connected to them both.

The story between Skorpius and Brigid was the best bit for me, I got a little bored by all the descriptions of how they world worked. I also found the ‘Scottish accent’ used to denote Brigids thoughts/speech got a little tiresome because of their use of dropping the g at the end of many words, I.e beginnin rather than beginning. This works in speech, when used judiciously, but not in describing thoughts etc.

Overall I felt this was readable, but would have worked better for me as a shorter book.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

Also on Goodreads

When i pick up a bastion book I just know I need to have no reservations going in becuase I never know what I will expect. I like that this book is written in a way that a standalone could be but I think people would enjoy it even more if they started at the begining I think the connection to the main characters would make more sense and it wouldnt feel quite so aggressive as the story just takes right off from the begining. This is a fantasy book which is not my normal go to which could be why I was not in love with the story but I did enjoy it!

This is a lovely book with an beautifully crafted story of fantasy and romance. The characters are interesting and well drawm. I thoroughly enjoyed it except for one thing, which could be just personal to me. I particularly dislike it when an author attempts to write in a dialect or in this case in a scottish accent. For me it does nothing to add to the credibility of the context or the story and, in fact detracts from it as I find myself looking for the strange and wonderful spellings. I can cope with it if it just in the conversation but not in the main text. Which is why I can only give the book 3 stars.

Brigid and Skorpius were interesting characters, but there was so. much. time. spent on world-building and seemingly unrelated mini plot lines that I was very distracted and had a hard time finishing. I'm not sure if reading the first in the series would have been more helpful, but it was labeled as a stand-alone.

Born of Mist and Legend, Kat Bastion

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and fantasy, Romance.

I've been waiting for this book for years. Literally. I read the first two books back in 2013, some seven years ago! So before starting this one I reread those and loved them just as much now as I did then. That doesn't always happen, sometimes your tastes have changed but I was quickly absorbed back into the Brodie clan.
Sadly though I really struggled with this, its very focused on Skorpius and Brigid and there's so much mental and verbal communication between the two, lots of what ifs, why, how and saying what felt like the same thing six different ways. It just didn't feel for me as if it was connected to the other two, just the barest thread. I missed seeing the others, seeing life at Clan Brodie, much as I've been waiting and hoping for Skorpius top play a bigger role.
I found myself putting it aside, then restarting as I'd forgotten what was happening. I did read through to half way then TBH I just skim read through to the end, as it wasn't doing it for me. Its possible its timing, like others this pandemic is affecting me mentally and I find it hard to settle into some stories. Possibly on a later read I might feel differently, but for now it was a let down for me. Still, as always , this is just my opinion, others will and do love it. Reading and tastes are s subjective, its just a disappointment to me as I loved the first two, love Kat and Stone's writing style from other books I've read – No weddings series, a real cracker, and I love fantasy as well as contemporary romance, so it came a s a shock to me that this book wasn't working.

Stars: Two, Sorry, this one didn't do it for me. Love the first two, and others from the duo, this was a fail.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

Surprisingly different from book 1. The use of a thesaurus is apparent as well a trickling of words in other languages that don't fit in this Scotland story. I. E. “Infatigable” which is french for “tireless”. These instances seem to be trying to hard to make the book feel more intellectual. The story does not need this. It is a fantastical romance, easy words and english would have made it more enjoyable to read. Thankfully this book was not full of smexy smutty situations ( like book 1). There was just enough sex and romance interwoven into a wonderfully fantastic story, that unfortunately did not live up to the potential I feel it could have.

Magic, angels, mist and a dragon. Beautiful imagery and a detailed storyline including some interesting historical references. Maybe my mind needed something simple because I was often overwhelmed by the wordiness. Talking in their minds versus using words got confusing. I missed the sarcasm and joking that Skorpius has with Isobel, he’s serious and mysterious now. This was a wonderfully written novel and very well planned. I received an early copy through Netgalley and wrote my review voluntarily.

This is truly an epic read. Complex characters, a well developed world and deeply engaging story will quickly ensnare you in this captivating tale of magic, adventure and romance.

***3.5 Stars***

I went into this book without having read the previous books in the series because I not only have thoroughly enjoyed the author’s contemporary books, but the blurb sounded interesting and it was noted that it could be read as a stand-alone and, when everything was said and done, I can say that I really did enjoy Skorpius and Brigid’s journey BUT, I think I would have enjoyed it more from the get go had I read the first two books in the series. Instead, it took me a minute to get settled and another to truly enjoy all that Skorpius and Brigid were going through, but once I did, I found myself fascinated by it all and working out where/when I could go back and read the first two books.

I really liked Brigid and Skorpius. Both have this sense of duty and honor to do the right thing, even if they didn’t fully understand why they felt that way, was something that drew me to them. Add in a good of stubborness on both their parts, and they ended up being a lot of fun to watch as they learned to trust each other in every way possible. I loved their bantering and how they wormed their way under each other's skins and found that they didn’t want to live without each other.

This is one of the few times where I do wish that I had waited and started the series from the start because it would have given me a bases where I could truly enjoy everything from the start, instead of trying to work out what was going, who the various characters were to each other. But with that said, this world that the author created is rich and vibrant and I have to give her credit for making it feel real. As for the supporting cast of characters, Isobel is the one I was drawn to the most and I am determined to find a moment to read her book because her journey sounds like it was all kinds of fun!

~ Copy provided by the author via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~

I liked the book a lot. Highland magic. Highland romance. Highland storyline.
I like this a lot!
I just have to back up and read her previous books in this series. Great ending here!

I couldn't tell you how long I've waited for this book, I was immediately sucked in with the first in this series, Forged in Dreams and Magick. For the most part I did enjoy this, but I'll have to do a re-read in the future. It was a big tougher for me to get into this one and that's because it has been extremely tough for me to focus on any of my reading. But I pushed through because I was eager to know Brigid and Skorpius.

It was a definitely a slow burn kind of love between the both of them and it went on longer than I hoped it would. I often found myself coming out of the story quite a bit and it was nothing to do with the author's writing. Maybe it was just me and my lack of focus, but I had to re-read the dialogue quite a bit to understand who was saying what and whether they were talking telepathically to one another or simply talking to themselves.

One of my favorite things about Kat's writing is her beautiful attention to detail, she sets the scene up every time so vividly. It's stunning.

Born of Mist and Legend may not be my favorite in the series, but it's such a great addition. Once I'm able to find my new norm amidst the chaos, I'll be doing a re-read of this series and this book.

Hi! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize this was the third part in a series. I'm not sure how to re-shelve books here - but I would like to send it back until I can find the middle one to read and get caught up. I also think I downloaded this about 3 times accidentally.... my apologies for the mix up!

Born of Mist and Legend is a stunningly epic journey told through such vivid detail and exquisite emotion. I was left in awe as I walked the steps of this beautifully multi-layered and wonderfully complex story. If that isn't enough, we are then gifted with brilliant characters that are sure to delight and entertain as feel the the heat and conflict between sizzle literally off the pages. Combining the awe-inspiring story and its incredible characters, a countdown begins that will lead us to an indescribably breathtaking ending that you will never see coming!

Skorpius has a duty to time that he must take action in order to fulfill. There is no half way for him as the mandate he follows is clear and binding. He must follow the path set before him and nothing can sway his steps. Brigid knows in the core of her being that she is being called to a purpose that is so much more then who she is. She can't stop it and she can't fight it, so she finally gives in and follows her destined course. Only the details of the journey are not what she had in mind, and before she can take control of any part of her destiny she must face herself and what her future holds. Can she find the heart and the courage to take up her birthright and fulfill her destiny, or will choose to live a half life always wondering and wanting what she can no longer have? In the end, will the choice be truly hers, or will it be taken from her by the dark evil who stalks her and covets her newly found power?

Watching Brigid spread her wings and discover her true purpose stole the very breath from my lungs. I would have never imagined what all her path entailed, and I was left in awe. Having Skorpious to watch over her was a wonderful choice because he had so much to teach her even as she learned everything on her own. The most important thing she found was that each person is so much more then anyone could ever imagine. We all have value beyond measure, and even when we make mistakes we should be treasured and loved. For in making those mistakes is how we learn to get back on our feet and keep moving forward. They give us strength and courage to try again and make better decisions next time. We are transformed by the tender parts of our heart that are bruised by pain and suffering. They make us aware of the unmatched treasures that walk around us each and every day. Imperfection allows us the opportunity to see and appreciate the true depth of our character and those around us.

Kate Bastion is a breathtaking author who captured my heart with little effort. She has taken my imagination and dreams to a higher playing field, and I am truly in awe of her talents! Her words transported me to a stunning world full of intriguing and relatable characters who never failed to touch my heart at every turn. I am anxious to revisit her fabulous world once again, and I encourage you to join me!

I'm really sorry but the book wasn't my cup tea. I thought I would enjoy it but not really my kind of book. The writing was good I would check out other books by the author.