The Tower of Ravens by Kate Forsyth Book 1 of Rhiannon's Ride
I thought this was going to be a new series but I was wrong it is a sequel series which is even better. It is set about 20ish years after Lachlan became Righ, and details the introduction of half fiary Rhiannon into Lewen's life. Lewen is the son of Liathane and Niall and he is an apprentice witch, the day before he leaves to go to the Tower of Two Moons to study, Rhiannon, drops into his life astride a beautiful black winged horse. Liathane sensing Rhiannon's power sends her with Lewen and Nina and Iven and other apprentice witches. They choose a shorter path through the land that brings them no end of trouble and when ghosts and dead challange their passage, they must 'uncover' the story. But Rhiannon is also hiding a terrible secret that eats her up inside. Awe it is so sweet and at least Rhiannon isn't wild one moment, perfect the next she still has her wild side from growing up in fear of her life, looking for any chance to escape. The whole necromancer thing is neat too, handled better than some other necromatic books that I have read recently. I must say I truely enjoyed it and no you don't have to read the first series to get stuck into this one but from the looks of the sample of the next book, it might just be a good idea. Though if you loved the first one, this one is set up to be a good series. Note it doesn't have very much of Lachlan in it, but he does make an apperance :)