Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Legacy: The Autobiography of Tim Cahill
    Unavailable
    Legacy: The Autobiography of Tim Cahill
    Unavailable
    Legacy: The Autobiography of Tim Cahill
    Ebook353 pages5 hours

    Legacy: The Autobiography of Tim Cahill

    By Tim Cahill

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    The story of international football star Tim Cahill, one of the most admired Australian sportsmen of all time.

    Tim Cahill was born in Sydney to a Samoan mother and English father. He grew up in the city's western suburbs playing football with his brothers and for his local club sides. As a teenager, Tim's parents took out a loan so that he could travel to England and chase his dream of becoming a professional soccer player. It was an act of faith repaid with a stellar international career and the legacy of one of the most admired Australian sportsmen of his generation. With his trademark honesty and directness, Tim reflects on what it takes to make it to the top – the sacrifices, the physical cost, the mental stamina, the uncompromising self-belief and self-determination, the ruthlessness, but also the decency, the integrity, and the generosity. An autobiography that is more than a record of the goals and the games, Tim Cahill's story is a universal reminder of the importance of making your moment count.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateNov 19, 2015
    ISBN9780008144180
    Unavailable
    Legacy: The Autobiography of Tim Cahill
    Author

    Tim Cahill

    Coming off the back of the Socceroos victorious 2015 AFC Asian Cup campaign, Tim Cahill, 35, is Australia's top goal scorer of all time. He has also scored the most goals by an Australian at World Cups, with five to his name, including a jaw-dropping left foot volley against The Netherlands in Porto Alegre at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

    Read more from Tim Cahill

    Related to Legacy

    Related ebooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Nigel Pearson

      Jan 13, 2021

      Nigel Pearson
      16 min read

    • Article

      Slaven Bilic

      Mar 3, 2022

      Slaven Bilic
      16 min read

    • Article

      Inside Lazio’s Ultras

      Oct 22, 2019

      Inside Lazio’s Ultras
      14 min read

    • Article

      When Marco Ruled The World

      Apr 1, 2020

      When Marco Ruled The World
      9 min read

    • Article

      Brian Mcclair

      Apr 27, 2023

      Brian Mcclair
      17 min read

    • Article

      David Dein

      Sep 21, 2022

      David Dein
      13 min read

    • Article

      Roberto Martinez

      May 25, 2023

      Roberto Martinez
      15 min read

    • Article

      Gatsby Of The West End

      Apr 13, 2023

      Gatsby Of The West End
      1 min read

    • Article

      Back To The Future

      Jun 22, 2023

      Back To The Future
      11 min read

    • Article

      Arrigo Sacchi

      Feb 2, 2023

      Arrigo Sacchi
      16 min read

    • Article

      Bruce Grobbelaar

      Aug 24, 2022

      Bruce Grobbelaar
      17 min read

    • Article

      Lemmy: The Lost Interview

      Jun 24, 2021

      Lemmy: The Lost Interview
      7 min read

    • Article

      Pepe Reina

      Jan 6, 2022

      Pepe Reina
      16 min read

    • Article

      Ringside

      Oct 21, 2021

      Ringside
      8 min read

    • Article

      Formula 1’s Fastest 50

      Jan 19, 2023

      PICTURES Frédéric Vasseur Guenther Steiner Andrew Shovlin Ricardo Musconi Jody Egginton Jack Aitken Bernadette Collins Karun Chandhok Maurice Hamilton David Tremayne Will Buxton Jennie Gow Roberto Chinchero Jonathan Noble Ronald Vording Christian Nim

      20 min read

    • Article

      Pippo Inzaghi

      Mar 30, 2023

      Pippo Inzaghi
      16 min read

    • Article

      Lorenzo Pellegrini

      Dec 8, 2022

      Lorenzo Pellegrini
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Legacy

    4/5

    542 ratings37 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Newly married, it is time for Dag and Fawn to go back to his home at Hickory Lake and introduce her to his family and culture. There they run into all kinds of problems starting with Dag's mother and brother. They don't accept that the marriage cords are valid despite being able to use their ground senses to see that they are. They can't accept that Fawn, let alone half-breed children in the future, can have anything to offer the Lakewalkers in their mission.Before matters can come to a head and a Council session be called, there is a major malice outbreak under a farmer town called Greenspring near the Lakewalker settlement of Raintree. They are calling for help. Fairbolt Crow, who is the Patroller Captain, drafts Dag to lead the rescue attempt. Dag isn't keen since his last leadership role cost him his hand, his wife, and most of his patrol. But he is the most experienced and knows the most people. He is also the tactician who might be able to prevail.Fawn asks if there is something he can do to their marriage cords that will let her know his condition they way Lakewalkers can tell about each other through theirs. He does something that lets her know where he is and if he's all right. Therefore, when they run into problems with this very powerful malice, Fawn is one of the first to know about it.Determined to go to him, Fawn takes off with a stolen map and her chubby horse despite being told that she should stay behind. Finding her husband groundlocked in some way despite the death of the malice and with the healer who traveled with her baffled, Fawn uses her brain and some clues that she put together to save Dag though he is gravely injured. Even though they killed the malice and Fawn saved Dag's life, they still find themselves facing the Council when they return. But Dag has grown because he loves Fawn. He's finally come out the other side of the grief that crippled him after his first wife's death. He's developed new abilities as a healer that he didn't have as a younger man. And his is starting to question the way things have always been done. The worldbuilding is fantastic. The writing is excellent. The book is filled with fascinating characters who grow and change as a result of the things they do and see. I am eager to see where Dag and Fawn go next in their journey together.
    • 3/5
      This series seems very lightweight, even considering that it's targeted at young adults.
    • 2/5
      I've read several of Bujold's books and found them engaging. They usually have strong characters and while the plot is often slow in certain places and the writing not as strong as some other fantasy authors, I don't count the time spent on the book wasted. I can't say that I feel quite the same about this second book in her Sharing Knife trilogy.Legacy is frighteningly boring. For starters, her main characters Dag and Fawn are dry, emotionless (or in Fawn's case really predictable emotion) characters and the only colorful characterizations of them are through each other's eyes. This was true in the last novel but the rest of the cast was better balanced and the plot moved quicker so it didn't matter as much.I think this problem in the book stems from the observation that conversations/interactions with all the other characters in this book pretty much look the same. Bujold wants the readers to feel the intense disapproving feelings from the Lakewalker community (which the entire book is set amongst). So the characters are constantly being battered mercilessly (and unrealistically, I'd say) with lack of acceptance and downright hatred from the majority of the supporting characters. Any character that doesn't feel this way is not given a very strong role and is ignored (reaction-wise) by the main characters (like Saun). While this may be true to the universe she has created, it doesn't make for a good read. Characters need to be developed by a variety of interesting plot points/other characters. If you repeat the same interaction over and over again, the character will appear flat.The plot doesn't help carry the book by any means. The whole first half of the book is just trivial, political infighting in the Lakewalker community. Half way through the book I found myself mystified by the lack of anything bordering on importance that had happened. Finally she throws a bad malice in for kicks and the book became somewhat readable again, though even the overall importance of that event is negligible to the overall book arc.Overall, the thing that bothers me the most about this book is that the world is unbelievable. There is so much hardship and hatred in this world and it's very black and white. Every farmer hates every Lakewalker, for really confusing reasons. Ok, the communities are isolated, but to put it simply: people aren't this mean. The Lakewalkers destroy a malice and the only reaction that she puts in from the farmers are stupid lines like "You should have got here sooner". What? It's possible this is a universe where humans don't act very humane, but I'm a human and I'm not getting it.
    • 2/5
      Although a bit better than Book 1 of the Sharing Knife series, for me this was still boring and formulaic. I did enjoy learning about life among the Lakewalkers, but there is something about Fawn (the human female) that bothers me. She is too perky, too optimistic, too much of a hero-worshiper of her much older husband, Dag, for me to admire her. I realize this is a very personal reason to dislike a writing, but that is part of why we like what we like or dislike what we dislike... the personality of the book and its characters! Considering that there was a higher level of interest for me in this story compared to the first, I only hope that Book 3 continues to increase the depth of the story. For me, the back story is turning into a more interesting read than the relationship between the protagonists.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this second one more than the first--it didn't take near as long to bring me in--but I still wish there had been more depth and time to the fantasy, and a bit less of the Harlequin-type romance. Still, well-written and a decent escape--just not something I'm likely to wander back to.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the fist volume, but still worth buying.
    • 4/5
      Another great entry into the series, once again I'm glad it feels like it's own book, not just the path to a cliffhanger. The characters have really grown on me, and the world feels totally believable. I particularly enjoy the little bits of humor (usually ought of the characters' inner commentary) and the sense of deeper mystery.
    • 3/5
      The Sharing Knife triology is not your typical Lois McMaster Bujold novel. While each world created by Bujold is unique, her novels can be read alone, which is not the case with the Sharing Knife. I'm 2/3 through the triology and find the characters interesting, but I'm more intrigued by the world she has created and hope that more comes to light as the story progresses.
    • 3/5
      Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my very favorite writers, and I picked this up at the library to read in little bits before bed, kind of the literary equivalent of comfort food. I don’t actually love this series the way I love her other books, which is why I borrowed this instead of buying. Some of her strengths are still evident: she creates characters you want to know in real life, who are just so engaging and interesting that you can’t wait to spend more time with them every time you open the book, and their lives and problems and struggles become almost as important to you as they are to them. This book is somewhat more romance-y than her other books (although there is often a good dose of romance in her novels, and she does romance really well) and I like some romance in my reading, but in this series it seemed to take over and make the plot somewhat less compelling as a result. One thing that struck me as interesting: the POV switches between two main characters, and it was sometimes hard to tell which POV we were in until there was some obvious piece of narrative saying “Dag thought” or whatever. This is interesting because LMB is such a strong writer, and I guess I expected to be able to tell more easily whose voice we were in, just by the flavor of the language, or something. I’m curious to see if this was an issue in some of her other books that I just never noticed before, or if it’s one more reason this series doesn’t quite wow me the way her others do.
    • 4/5
      In this second book in the Sharing Knife trilogy, Dag and Fawn return home to Dag's camp, and must face the Lakewalker prejudices against their marriage.The relationship between Dag and Fawn is sweet and caring, and the way they interact is downright charming, which makes the prejudices they face that much more startling. Dag's own brother and mother fight the hardest against the marriage, referring to Fawn as nothing more than an annoying animal.When Dag's camp is called to aid another camp in defeating a powerful malice, Dag's life in endangered, and Fawn may be the only one who can save his and several other Lakewalker lives.These books are refreshing - exciting and magical, but dealing with very real subjects such as prejudice and bigotry.Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Good entry in an interesting series. Mixed marriages are fraught with problems, such is the case with the farmer and the Lakewalker. Despite their success aiding in the demise of several malices, they are banned from The Lakewalker community. The next episode should continue to be interesting.
    • 4/5
      Second in this fantasy series by Bujold, most known for the Miles Vorkosigan science fiction series. Legacy continues the story of Dag, a Lakewalker, and Fawn, a farmer. They are married now, against the will of both families. Where will they fit in? Good series, I stayed up until 1 am on a weeknight to finish the book.
    • 3/5
      Now I love Lois McMaster Bujold, and if anyone else would have written this book I would have been pleased enough; but she is such an excellent writer and capable of so much that I hold her to a higher standard. This is an interesting enough book, it takes the relationship first developed in the previous book - Beguilement, and kind of turns them on their head. The heroic and all powerful Dag Redwing HIckory has all his flaws revealed, and Fawn grows up a little. You see what she gives him, not only what he gives her. But I was always a little uncomfortable with the age difference - she's what, 20? and he's 55. And if he's going to have flaws as a well, when then how does he justify it?! But I hung in there, and by the end, I was with them. In this book they return to his home, which is a kind of Indian encampment, and then they think about what their future will really look like, with him off patrolling and her stuck in a pretty hostile environment (what, they couldn't think of that before they married?!) It felt like a bridge book and I think book 3 will be better.This is no Curse of Chalion. That was a far better novel. This is average and I wish she would find a better series to capture her imagination. Of course I will buy the next one, but if you don't know LMB, don't start here, it's just not good enough. B-
    • 4/5
      Fawn Bluefield, the clever young farmer girl, and Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned Lakewalker soldier-sorcerer, have been married all of two hours when they depart her family's farm for Dag's home at Hickory Lake Camp. Having gained a hesitant acceptance from Fawn's family for their unlikely marriage, the couple hopes to find a similar reception among Dag's Lakewalker kin. But their arrival is met with prejudice and suspicion, setting many in the camp against them, including Dag's own mother and brother. A faction of Hickory Lake Camp, denying the literal bond between Dag and Fawn, woven in blood in the Lakewalker magical way, even goes so far as to threaten permanent exile for Dag. Before their fate as a couple is decided, however, Dag is called away by an unexpected—and viciously magical—malice attack on a neighboring hinterland threatening Lakewalkers and farmers both. What his patrol discovers there will not only change Dag and his new bride, but will call into question the uneasy relationship between their peoples—and may even offer a glimmer of hope for a less divided future. Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my favourite authors. I automatically buy her books in hardcover and she hasn't disappointed me yet. So it is with a certain amount of disbelief that I'm saying this about a Bujold book, that I admit that The Sharing Knife: Legacy did actually disappoint me in places. Parts of it were great, classic Bujold indeed, but other parts (and I really can't believe I"m saying this about a Bujold) were just plain boring.This is technically the second half of the story begun in The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (so don't start with this one or you'll be jumping in at the middle of the story and be totally confused), and it begins where that book finished, finding Dag and Fawn on the road to Hickory Lake after their wedding in West Blue. The opening is delightful as they stop for the night and set out to "complete" their marriage when Dag has no useable hands and Fawn is still relatively inexperienced. This is delightfully written (without explicit details) as things don't progress without problems, but do reach a satisfactory conclusion for both.Unfortunately, once the pair reach Hickory Lake Camp and are made much less than welcome, the pace slows and this is where the book gets boring. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure if the problem was the author or the the reader, but I didn't really enjoy the looking into Lakewalker life, Dag's family politics (or dysfunction, depending on how you want to look at it) or Fawn's attempts (and failure) to fit into this new culture. I was a little surprised, as often this can be a fascinating part of a book, but in this case I found myself struggling to keep going. In fact, I took a break and read The Duke and I instead.Then, right about half way through, Dag gets called away to lead a patrol to deal with an unexpected and powerful malice. At this point the story picks up again. And the book morphs back into a strong, fascinating Bujold read. Dag finds a new and unexpected twist to the problem of the malice, Fawn pushes her way into where she isn't meant to be and thinks out of the box to solve the problem. Together they face down Dag's family and he comes up with a third solution to their problems, different from the two he was expected to chose between. The book ends satisfactorily, although clearly ready for book three (out next year and to be called The Sharing Knife: Passage) to begin.So I find myself a little confused and conflicted about this book. It's rather like the little girl with the curl. When it's good, it's very, very good, but when it's bad it's not so much horrid as just plain boring. I don't know whether to recommend it or not. It's Bujold, so I was predisposed to like it. And the stuff I liked, I really liked. I'm already hanging out for the next book, as the set up (when it finally came) was fascinating. So I guess it's a qualified recommendation. Do read it. If you find the Hickory Lake part boring as I did, either skip it or stick with it, because it really does get better again.The Sharing Knife: LegacyLois McMaster Bujold7/10
    • 4/5
      Dag & Fawn are back after their adventures and marriage in the first book (Sharing Knife: Beguilement), but this 2nd book lacks the powerful start and actually takes about half the book to take off. Does not really work as a book unto itself, but I was invested in the characters, and still enjoyed it for the most part.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to be able to finish this book (after all I did pay good money for it) but it is UTTER CRAP! The first 50 pages is, essentially, about a 55 year old man having sex with his new 20 year old bride. That could be okay, I suppose, but their first sex scene includes her saying his penis is too big for her and is this normal, then proceeding to talk to him while his "eyes are crossed" (I'm assuming with passion??). Oh, and we don't even get the maturity of the word penis, or acknowledgment that they are having "sex"... they are sharing their grounds, not shagging 'cause that would be just too... I dunno, mature?For crying out loud, we're not 12. It's bad enough I have to accept a 20 year old would take up with an old geezer, but please, if they're going to have sex, please don't make it so clinical.I really like Bujold's Miles series and won't hold this one against her, but... please... save your money 'cause this ain't science fiction, and, the best I can hope is that it was intended for young teens 'cause otherwise, she thinks her readers are stunned ( or maybe that they just left the convent).
    • 4/5
      Not nearly as good as the first book. The expansions to the magic system felt a bit contrived - well, some were good, but mostly awkward. The romance started out OK but by the time they got to his people (and especially afterward) it felt more like they were refusing to let others separate them than that they really wanted to stay together. I guess I'll look at the next one...but I don't feel like owning this one at all. Second reading - much better. I think I like Bujold better when I'm reading backward - when I know what will happen next. Having now read Passage, I find Legacy far less painful and much richer in characterization and foreshadowing. Still not as good as Beguilement _or_ Passage, but good enough. Boost rating to 3.5.
    • 3/5
      You must read "Beguilement" first. This is a direct continuation, and too much would make no sense without it. This book starts right after the wedding that ended that first in the series. Very much right after: that very night. With a rather odd sex scene.The series is an enjoyable fantasy: Fawn the farmer girl takes up with Dag from the semi-nomadic and magical Lakewalker clan, who patrol the land for evil magic beings called Malices.The two groups do not get along, so there's inlaw trouble. And there's also an adventure, with an evil monster to be slain, and complicated after-effects to be sorted through.It's a mix of romance and swords & sorcery, with some good tough women characters. And a segue off to the next book in the series.Lois McMaster Bujold is an engaging writer. I quite enjoyed it, but it's not a patch on the Vorkosigans.
    • 3/5
      Unfortunately, I read some of the negative reviews of book 1 of this series before proceeding to book 2, and it may have colored my experience. One of them talked about Fawn, the female lead, being a total Mary Sue. This is a term often thrown around on a writers' forum I used to frequent, and I kind of wondered what all the fuss was about. Now I know.

      By the end of this book I was thoroughly sick of Fawn. She's always trying to please people, only minimally disobedient, and vaguely smug. I also felt a little uncomfortable with the May (April?)-December romance, but that was done well and believable and Dag himself never came across as creepy, only maybe a little emotionally stunted from his first wife's death, and still charismatic enough for Fawn's affection for him to seem genuine.

      That said, there were a lot of cool things going on in this story, and on the whole I enjoyed it, but not enough to move on to Book 3 just yet.
    • 3/5
      After the first book turned into a tawdry romance novel, I almost refrained from picking up the second in the series. But I did, because I really liked Ms. Bujold's 'Miles' series and she writes exceptionally well. The begining of Legacy made me suspect the story remained stuck in the dull and self-absorbed sex lives of the two major characters. I persevered and glad I did. I ended up skimming much of the first half of the book, but it got better with more development of the interesting world that provides the setting and more focus on the clash of cultures between the "Lake Walkers" and the "Farmers."
    • 4/5
      Main review at the end, on Horizon. This is the one where they live in Dag's camp.
    • 3/5
      I was surprised to find I actually enjoyed reading this book. I still don’t like Fawn, who is oh-so-sweet and naïve, or Dag, whose “I’m just an old warhorse” schtick is pretty tired. In fact, I find their entire romance contrived and unrealistic, and their “artfully” yet explicitly described sex scenes are far from erotic. And yet, Bujold is a good enough author that even though I didn’t like any of the characters, I still couldn’t help but want to read more of their adventures. Despite a battle and some council meetings, nothing much happens in this book, but it's a fast read.
    • 3/5
      I'm enjoying this series, but I wish Fawn didn't sound so much like Mal from Firefly. It's starting to bug me.
    • 4/5
      This book picks up immediately after the first volume, with Dag the patroller and his Farmer wife Fawn enjoying their wedding night on the road and then going to to the camp of his people ( a charmingly described lake-island settlement); there his own mother and brother and a good many others strongly disapprove of the marriage, though they they are able to set up a little tent in a more sympathetic household. Word comes that a malice has broken out in a Farmer village about 100 miles away; Dag leads a party of patrollers who defeat the malice iutself, but ti has left behind a complex "ground" (magic) network that imprisons several makers (artisans) of another patroller camp, and the patrollers who try to break the spell (eventually including Dag and the leading healer Hahorie) are trapped in it.Fawn senses Dag's trouble through their wedding cords and frees him ad the others by driving the sharing knife she had unintentionally charged with her unborn infant's life into Dag leg. Though this frees Dag and all the other trapped patrollers and makers,many in Dag's camp are still unfriendly and he is summoned before the camp council to defend his marriage. A note: I was struck by the fact that the more extended map for this volume strongly suggests it is set in an equivalent of early Ohio, with the iron-producing Tripoint as Pittsburgh in the "rock il country" and the Gray River to the west as the Mississippi. It is not clear whether this is a post-apocalyptic version of our world or an alternate world sharing roughly the same geography. If the legendary history of a king whose misused magic produced the malices is true, presumably it is an alternative, but it is not cear how literally true that story may be.
    • 3/5
      The plot was slow and generally not super exciting, but as in the first volume, I really enjoyed this book's earthy, domestic atmosphere. This book celebrates the sights, scents, sounds, and everyday routines of traditional American life in a way that perfectly complements the magic system and the love story. There's something impressive about a series peppered with steamy sex scenes giving equal attention to other physical experiences - injuries and aches, fabric coarse and fine, cool water and hot summer days. The story may be lightweight but I really admire Bujold for writing genre fiction that's so mimetic, that describes the world as real people experience it and isn't just a shallow, saccharine entertainment.

      I'm not in a hurry to finish the series - there's not a whole lot of urgency, honestly - but I'm really glad I read these first two books and I wish more people would write American-inspired fantasy fiction.

      Oh, and on a sillier note, the matching book covers of the first two volumes? SO cute.
    • 3/5
      This was again about one-third fantasy and two-thirds romance novel, and I liked a third of it. It's very well done, for what it is.
    • 3/5
      Basically set in an "alternate universe" approximating frontier America, with the requisite spunky pioneer heroine, the pseudo-Native-American, and the usual complement of Bad Guys. Would be suitable for teens except for the graphic sex scenes, especially in the opening chapters (deemed necessary for later plot development, but overly specific in my opinion).Reasonably interesting characters and lively action.Bujold is a writer of great skill; this is just not my favorite series. Read Book 1 c. 2008, didn't care for it then, but might like it better now.(There are 4 books in the series, to date.)
    • 4/5
      I left this in my TBR pile for quite a while, because I didn't fall for the first book in the series - but that turns out to be a mistake.

      The character of Fawn is an incredibly rounded character. It's rare to encounter a character in writing that seems so read. Not perfect, not master of everything, but capable of some thing, incapable of others and yet more that able to be the heroine in both small and big ways. The rest of the book is okay, but Fawn alone makes this worth the read.

    • 4/5
      The Sharing Knife is a fun, trashy series that you can read through in an instant. Perfect for a train ride when you want to just forget about what you're doing. There are adult topics, and some intimate parts of the book can be a little blunt, but I found it to be a mostly enjoyable read.When I started reading, I was a little bothered by the main character, but suspending disbelief I was just fine pushing on through it.
    • 5/5
      Summary: Fawn and Dag are an unlikely couple, and no mistake. He's a Lakewalker, and she's a Farmer, but after facing down a malice - an evil creature that absorbs life force from everything around it - together, their lives are now inescapably intertwined. After they convinced her family that Lakewalkers are not evil necromantic sorcerers that eat children (or at least that Dag wasn't), they were even married... but now they have to return to his family. And considering that most Lakewalkers think Farmers aren't even fully human, getting his family and his community to accept their marriage as valid - let alone to accept Fawn into their lives - is going to be quite a challenge. And, to make matters worse, Dag is soon called away to deal with a malice attack larger than any they've seen for years, leaving Fawn alone in some very hostile territory.Review: Legacy is not really a stand-alone book; it starts less than two hours after Beguilement ends, and the two should really be considered as the two halves of a single book, rather than two independent volumes in a series. If Beguilement was a romance novel dressed up in fantasy clothes, then Legacy picks up all of the fantasy-ness that wasn't used by Beguilement, and packs it in at a breathless pace. Not to say that there aren't quite a few touches of romance around the edges of Legacy, but it feels like much more of a "proper" fantasy novel than did its predecessor. Both flavors of story are equally enjoyable from my perspective, but I do worry that people who read the first one and went "What's with all this lovey-dovey sexy stuff? When do we get to the good part about the knifes made out of human bone?" may have dropped the series without reading the second book, which is where all of those "good parts" are waiting. All of the threads that were left hanging and unexplained by the end of Beguilement are picked up again in Legacy... and then some.Because, regardless of whether you want to classify the Sharing Knife series as fantasy tinged with romance, or romance in a fantasy universe, or whatever, the heart of the matter is that it just tells a damn good story. Bujold has created her usual wonderful characters that have firmly wormed their way into my heart, making every plot twist, whether it involves Fawn and Dag's relationship or the giant life-sucking malice, thoroughly involving, and capable of wringing out some serious emotion. (Seriously, when Dag explains his theory about what happened to Fawn's baby and the Sharing Knife, I collapsed into a soggy crying mess. Good stuff.) This was the sort of book that I told myself I'd read for half an hour before bed... but then they go off to fight the malice, so I have to keep reading to see how that turns out, and then something happens to Fawn, and I have to keep reading to see how THAT turns out, and then are they ever going to be together and happy? I'll have to keep reading to see... and that's how I wound up rolling into work the next morning with less than four hours of sleep under my belt. But the thing is: it was absolutely worth it. 4.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Love. Love Bujold, love this series. If you like original, well-built fantasy with great characters and a solid dose of romance, you should definitely pick up this series. Don't read this one first... but do have it on hand immediately upon finishing Beguilement.