King of Storms is the last in the series following a family of young women in Scotland. Sidony is the youngest of the sisters and somewhat overlooked by both her sisters and their husbands, so much so that she has discovered part of the secret of the Templar treasure which is hidden in a valley on the estate of her brother-in-law Rob. Our story starts when Sidony bumps into Sir Giffard MacLennan, an adventurous man who has been summoned, as one of the Templars, to help move the treasure (the Stone of Scone) from its hiding place by using his ships.
The first half of this book, unfortunately, really drags. We learn very little about Sidony and Giff; we just listen in on various conversations and discussions about the treasure and about Sidony's youthful inability to make decisions. It was quite difficult to keep reading as there
is so little action and very little of interest to hold the reader's attention. However, halfway through the book picks up when Sidony finds herself kidnapped and stashed in a hold on a ship belonging to the Earl of Fife, whose designs on becoming king of Scotland have been a constant throughout this series. Unfortunately for Fife and his assistant, the Chevalier de Gredin, the ship that Sidony is hidden on is almost immediately stolen by Giff, who eventually discovers Sidony. She's now compromised, of course, by having spent time on the boat with him, so Giff has to kidnap a priest to smooth things over in the only way possible. The description of the sailing vessel sneaking around Scotland's harbors and coves in the dark is enjoyable, and Sidony is definitely coming into her own now
that there's some action in her life - rather like the overall story, which definitely picks up at this point.
The second half of the book is largely based on the ship Giff has stolen, and we learn more about young Jake, son of the ship captain, and his curiosity; he seems rather like a young Giff. The boats are in a kind of race, and Sidony is doing all she can to stay with Giff and not be left ashore. The ending comes fairly quickly, at which point the 'real' baddie is unmasked, although this didn't work entirely well to me.
All in all, King of Storms was rather disappointing because it
is so hard to plough through the first half and the second half, although interesting in its own way, doesn't have enough characterization to make the reader really engage with the story.