The Last of the High Kings
by Kate Thompson

    THE LAST OF THE HIGH KINGS by Kate Thompson
    Category:  Fantasy
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  5/27/08
    Publisher:  HarperTeen
    Reviewed by:  Allison Fraclose
    Rating:  5 Stars


    The ghost of a young boy guards a pile of stones on the top of a mountain in the Irish countryside, and the only
    person who has spoken with him in the last three thousand years is Jenny. The daughter of J.J. Liddy, who traveled
    to the timeless world of T’ir na n’Og when he was a young man, Jenny feels dreadfully out of place in the human
    world, preferring to roam the rocky fields of the Burren barefoot and converse with the Púka than go to school.
    The Púka, a spirit disguised as a white goat, understands, and teaches her many things that she would never learn in
    school, such as how to read the winds of change.

    The Liddys have long accepted that this is what Jenny was like, but only J.J. and his wife, Aisling, know why that
    is. J.J. has been waiting for years for a deal he made in T’ir na n’Og to come to fruition, and his patience is wearing
    thin. Once he decides to put his plan into action, he finds that there are many factors that he did not consider, or
    even understand. The ghost, the Púka, and even Jenny have a major part to play in what could very well be the
    unmaking of the human world. As Jenny learns of her own significance, she must work out a plan of her own to
    save the people that she has grown to love.

    Although I did not read the prequel to this book, THE NEW POLICEMAN, I found this story very easy to follow,
    with only a minimal feeling of perhaps having enjoyed it more had I read the first book. That factor grew very
    unimportant as the story drew me in with its mystery and mythology.