Morven Westfield's latest novel, The Old Power Returns, garners early good reviews.

Early reviews of The Old Power Returns, the sequel to Morven Westfield's Darksome Thirst, have been positive. "In addition to the traditional edit cycle, we put the book through a couple of reader tests," said Julia Wagner, Harvest Shadows publicist.

"Morven has a background in the computer industry and she just wouldn't think of letting the book out without a 'usability' test. She was especially concerned that new readers would be able to read the book without reading the first book in the series, Darksome Thirst. Of course, we hope that new readers will read Darksome Thirst eventually, for the rich backstory and details of events.

The conclusion of these usability tests were apparently right on target, according to the review that aired on Celtic Dawn/Between the Worlds, WMFO, Monday April 16, 2007 at 8:00 am (approximately 1 hour 10 minutes into the broadcast): "I did wonder if I should reread the first book before reading this one, to refresh my memory about the characters and the story line. I didn't end up doing that, and it turned out fine. If you read Darksome Thirst a while ago, don't worry; Westfield manages to sneak in some reminders of the plotline of the previous book. I like the way she did this. She did not resort to condensing 300 pages of Darksome Thirst into a preface; instead she used little bits of conversation or internal musings sprinkled throughout the story to remind us what took place already. The final result was much more natural and flowing."