Sweep (book series)

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Sweep
Image:Sweep.jpg
US version of Book of Shadows
Author Cate Tiernan
Cover Artist Russell Gordon, Barry Marcus, Marci Sender
Country USA
Language English
Series Sweep
Genre(s) Fiction, Young Adult, Wicca
Publisher Penguin Group
Released January 29, 2001
Media Type Paperback

The "Sweep" series, published in the UK and Australia as "Wicca" and in Italy and the Netherlands as "Dark Magic", is a series of books by Cate Tiernan. Starting with Book of Shadows, the series is a work of fiction set against a U.S. East Coast background. The heroine, Morgan Rowlands, discovers that she is a "blood witch" and learns that she must battle dark magick.

As the series progresses, Morgan comes into contact with not only a truly remarkable set of characters but many problems that teens face today.

Contents

[edit] Main Characters

[edit] Morgan Rowlands

Morgan Rowlands from the UK version book cover of The Calling
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Morgan Rowlands from the UK version book cover of The Calling
Morgan lives in Widow's Vale, New York and is a high-school junior when the series begins. She is introduced to Wicca when Cal Blaire comes to her school as a senior. The two develop an emotional relationship throughout the first book which only grows stronger during the second book, in which Morgan discovers her heritage, powers, and real family. Morgan loses her best friend, Bree Warren, when the two of them fight over Cal's affections, and they remain enemies until their friendship is rekindled in the fifth book. Morgan is betrayed by Cal when he tries to force her to join the dark side and resorts to an attempt on her life. Morgan later falls in love with Cal's half brother, Hunter, a "Seeker" from the International Council of Witches. From there onwards, Morgan uncovers more family secrets, allies, foes, and the full extent of her hereditary powers. Her birth mother had pyrokinetic powers, and Morgan inherited them from her. Pyrokinesis is a rare ability among blood witches. She can also shape-shift, another rare ability inherited from her birth father.

[edit] Calhoun Blaire

Cal moves to town in the first book and meets Morgan on the school's front steps. He begins to form a coven called Cirrus with Morgan and other students attending Widow's Vale High School. Cal's craft name is Sgath, which is Gaelic for "darkness". During his time with Morgan, he comes to see that she holds great powers and begins to fall in love with her, soon becoming her very first boyfriend. When his mother, Selene Belltower, a witch of great dark power, comes to learn of Morgan's power and past, she has a job for Cal that could cost Morgan her life. Cal's half brother, Hunter, soon comes into the picture, which causes problems for Cal's mission.

[edit] Hunter Niall

Hunter Niall from the UK version book cover of Seeker
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Hunter Niall from the UK version book cover of Seeker
Hunter is a "Seeker" for the International Council of Witches for most of the series. Born in England, he travels the world completing missions for the Council. He falls in love with Morgan, his múirn beatha dán (soul mate). Hunter puts Morgan's heart back together when his half brother, Cal, breaks her heart. He also takes over Cirrus, the coven started by Cal, and combines it with Kithic, the coven started by Sky. Since he has not seen his parents, Daniel and Fiona, for a long time, he visits Canada later in the series to find out whether they are alive or not. His craft name is Giomanach, Gaelic for "hunter". He encourages Morgan to learn more about Wicca and gives her the books and tools that she needs. Hunter also has a younger sister, Alwyn, and had a younger brother, Linden, who died.

[edit] Sky Eventide

Sky is Hunter's cousin who sometimes helps him with his jobs as a "Seeker". She too is from England, and her craft name is Athar, Gaelic for "sky". She leads the Widow's Vale coven Kithic, which receives Bree and Raven as transfers from Cirrus after Bree's altercation with Morgan, until the two covens combine. Sky is bisexual, and she falls in love with the wild and sensual Raven, a classmate of Morgan's and a member of Cirrus and Kithic; the two maintain a tumultous on-and-off relationship. Sky also helps Morgan through her Wiccan education and works at a record store. She has four sisters.

[edit] Alisa Soto

Alisa is a half-blood witch with the powers of a full-blood. For a while, she was afraid of Wicca, but when she finds out she is part witch, she forces herself to confront her powers. She finds her mother's Book of Shadows when Morgan has it given to her by the owner of the store Practical Magick. In the Book of Shadows, Alisa finds out that her mother, Sarah Curtis, had stripped herself of her powers in fear of them, which inadvertently resulted in Alisa inheriting those powers. It turns out that in Alisa's family, the firstborn female is cursed with uncontrollable telekinesis. Alisa also possesses this power and, as it is later revealed, so does her grandmother. Alisa meets her mother's family later in the series and even receives her mother's tools from her grandmother.

[edit] Moira Byrne

Moira is the daughter of Morgan and, as later we find out, Hunter. Her book is the last of the series. Her adoptive father is Colm Byrne, who died in a car accident. Like Morgan, she is a powerful witch, and her birth was destined.

[edit] Other Characters

  • Bree Warren (Morgan's best friend)
  • Robbie Gurevitch (Morgan's other best friend)
  • Mary Grace Rowlands (Morgan's adoptive mother)
  • Sean Rowlands (Morgan's adoptive father)
  • Mary Kathleen Rowlands (Daughter of Mary Grace and Sean Rowlands; Morgan's adoptive sister)
  • Maeve Riordan (Morgan's birth mother)
  • Ciaran MacEwan (Morgan's birth father)
  • Daniel Niall (Father of Cal Blaire, Hunter, Linden and Alwyn (in order or birth); Moira's grandfather)
  • Fiona Niall (Mother of Hunter, Linden, and Alwyn; Moira's biological grandmother)
  • Selene Belltower (Mother of Cal Blaire)
  • Angus Bramston (Maeve Riordan's lover)
  • Alyce Fernbrake (Friend of Morgan and owner of the Practical Magick store)
  • David Redstone (Friend of Morgan and owner of the Practical Magick store)
  • Killian MacEwan (Morgan's half brother)
  • Kyle MacEwan (Morgan's other half brother and Ciaran's oldest son)
  • Iona MacEwan (Ciaran's daughter and Morgan's half sister)
  • Rose MacEwan (Morgan's ancestor)
  • Diarmuid (Rose's lover)
  • Katrina Byrne (Moira's adoptive grandmother)
  • Mackenna Riordan (Morgan's grandmother and leader of Belwicket before the dark wave)

[edit] The Series

Wicca: Book of Shadows
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Wicca: Book of Shadows
  1. Book of Shadows
  2. The Coven
  3. Blood Witch
  4. Dark Magick
  5. Awakening
  6. Spellbound
  7. The Calling
  8. Changeling
  9. Strife
  10. Seeker
  11. Origins
  12. Eclipse
  13. Reckoning
  14. Full Circle

Super Edition: Night's Child[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Night's Child is called "Book 15" in the Wicca versions, though not in the "Sweep" versions.

[edit] External links