The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning is the long-awaited story of Adam Black, also known as The Blackest Elf.

After his interference with the lives of mortals Aoibheal, Queen of the Tuatha Dé Danaan has decided on the perfect way to punish Adam Black and cure him of his fascination with mortals once and for all.

She will turn him into one and let him have a taste of mortal life.  But unlike a regular mortal who can find enjoyment from life Adam will be unable to make himself heard, seen or felt by either mortal or Faery.  He is also stripped of almost all of his powers and is unable to travel into the Faery world to rectify his situation.

Stuck in the world of mortals Adam has tried everything including begging to be given back his powers.  Deciding to try to find his son and his wife Adam travels to Cincinnati only to find that they are away.  Killing time he now feels more acutely than ever before he is at a loss for what to do until he meets Gabrielle.

Gabrielle O'Callaghan is a woman who has lived her whole life being able to see the Fae. She is a Sidhe-Seer and had been taught by her grandmother what to do when there was a Faery about.  Ignore it.  Don't look at it. Don't let it know that you can see it.  Never let it know that you can see it or you will find yourself taken away by it.

Although she knows to call them "it" instead of him or her Gabrielle is unable to stop her fascination with them and is far from immune to their beauty.

Until now she has always managed to avoid being caught looking at the other worldly creatures. But after the day from hell when she ruined a job interview because of a Fae she is unable to stop herself from looking at the Royal Faery who is lounging on a Bench outside of the office where she is working for the summer.

And not only looking but practically salivating at the mouth...a sure way to get yourself noticed by the Fae.

When she realises that she has given herself away she jumps into her car and resolves to leave town and start a new life with the emergency fund set up in case of being caught seeing the Fae.

But Gabrielle does not want to leave her life and home and decides to look into the O'Callaghan books where they have recorded every sighting of the Fae over the centuries as a record for those in their line who have the ability.

What Gabrielle discovers is not good news and instead of being relieved that the man she saw was not a Fae she discovers that it is Adam Black himself and that it is more important than ever that she leaves.

Packing and running she does not make it out of the door before Adam finds her having deduced who she is and where she lives from the office she had been parked outside of. 

After hitting him around the head, much to his astonishment Gabrielle realises that she is trapped with the Blackest Elf who is asking for her help.  Reluctant at first Gabrielle soon realises that Adam will be with her forever if she does not agree to help him and he will ruin her in every way that he can if he remains.

Together Adam and Gabrielle seek out a Faery to approach and ask that they deliver Adam's message to the queen.  But they find that things take on an urgency when Darroc, Adam's rival in Faery politics, is taking the opportunity of Adam's absence to further his quest of overthrowing Aoibhean.  And the best way he can do that is to kill Adam whilst he is in mortal form and unable to see the danger until it is too late.

Running for their lives Adam and Gabrielle seek out Dageus and Drustan in Scotland and set about convincing them to help Adam by causing a threat to the Faery realm that even the angry queen will have to listen to.

Adam also sets about his private quest of seducing Gabrielle.  He has never had mortal feelings before and is eager to test out all of them with Gabrielle.  If only he can talk her into it.  What he doesn't want to do is make the same mistake he made with Circenn's mother, who he offered immortality to, only to have it refused.  And when he comes across the book the O'Callaghan's have devoted to recording his history he knows that he will have his work cut out for him.  The book truly paints him as the blackest elf and he knows that although some of it is untrue he has done a lot of awful things over the centuries and that Gabrielle's books show him at his worst.

Gabrielle meanwhile is not convinced that Adam is even capable of having feelings but the more time she spends with him the more she realises that she is indeed falling for him and her dangerous fascination with the Faery is about to take an interesting turn.  But what sort of life could she have with a soulless Faery even if he asked her to go back to his realm with him?

Both of them are going to have to decide how much they are willing to give up in order to have a life together, and what they are prepared to do to keep it.

This book is, like I said above, long awaited and as such I was afraid of being disappointed in it.  My only slight disappointment is that we saw nothing of Circenn and Lisa.  I was hoping to see more of Adam's relationship with his son and daughter-in-law but this was not to be.  Although for most of the story it was clear why they could not be in it, I did hope to see them at the end.

Other than that Adam Black's story is a wonderful addition to the series.  Riveting from the first page to the last. 

And although I very rarely quote from the books that I review I am going to include this line here as I think it sums up Adam's hopes and wishes perfectly.

On Morganna refusing to take the elixir that would grant her immortality at the cost of her soul Adam knows that he could have used his powers to make her forget the conversation and make her believe she wanted to take it.  "But what he'd wanted her to believe was that he was worth it."

I for one think that he would be.  For although he has no immortal soul Adam Black is far from unfeeling and is given a new lease of life by the talented Ms Moning.

RATING : 
(if you need an explanation of the hearts ratings see my homepage)

Also by Karen Marie Moning: Beyond the Highland Mist, To Tame a Highland Warrior,

The Highlander's Touch, Kiss of the Highlander and The Dark Highlander

Also Into the Dreaming, part of the Tapestry Anthology

Visit Karen Marie Moning's website

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