Creo que es mi preferido de la segunda trilogía de Sieteaguas, Marillier le ha dado un muy buen final a la saga.
Lo que más me ha gustado es que Maeve es una protagonista muy diferente, es una novela más pausada que las demás y por suerte el romance no es ni de lejos tan importante como en los libros anteriores.
Las últimas 150 páginas no podía parar de leer y hay unos buenos giros que te dejan en plan WTF, como siempre.
Voy a echar mucho de menos esta saga fantástica llena de leyendas y cuentos de hadas tenebrosos... Creo que la primera trilogía es muy superior a la segunda, pero aún así la he disfrutado de principio a fin.

This is the latest installment of the books beginning with Daughter of the Forest, the one that first addicted me to Juliet Marillier. A couple of generations have passed since then, and Sorcha, the main character of that tale, is the grandmother of the heroine of this one, Maeve. Maeve was in a fire ten years earlier which disfigured her face to a degree and rendered her hands useless, so she is dependent for help with nearly everything from her wonderfully portrayed maid (who is more of a friend). She has, however, an incredible gift with animals, which is possibly some consolation from losing her dog Bounder in the fire that injured her. Returning home for the first time in ten years (she had been living with her Aunt and Uncle—her Aunt, her father’s sister, is a Healer of some renown and they had hoped she might be able to help with Maeve’s hands). Coming home is as awkward as she was afraid it was going to be, with the exception of a few people. Maeve starts out as a character who seems to have settled for her lot in life—she’ll never marry, never have children, and lead a solitary life dependent on others. She doesn’t seem particularly self-pitying, and if she does, it’s more out of anger than anything else, why can’t she have those things. She overhears some of the men at her father’s talking about her and how her hands make their skin crawl, and it shatters any hope she had been building up. Her 7 year old brother Finbar, a boy who will most likely grow to be a very strong seer, is fascinated with her. Maeve worries he is too serious for a boy his age—he has a tutor/ bodyguard, Luachan, a druid her Uncle Cíaran (the interim head druid) chose. A terrible event has taken place—a large group of men from the neighboring Lord’s lands has disappeared, including his two sons, while they were traveling through her Uncle’s lands. Everyone at Sevenwaters believes it is Mac Dara, who kidnapped Finbar when he was a baby to try to get his own son to come home, but they try to keep the fact that Sevenwaters has this mystical/magical place within it for fear others wouldn’t understand. This time, Maeve is drawn into the forest, with no one to depend on but herself and two wild dogs she has tamed and named Bear and Badger. She realizes she does pretty well on her own, and gradually starts to piece together that everything isn’t right in the forest. The story is interesting, and the characters well-drawn. For anyone familiar with the Sevenwaters series, it’s like coming home again. I’m a sucker for happy endings. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, because others might not be. Terrible, terrible ending. Death, destruction, the end of civilization as they knew it as Sauron drags them into a new age…oh, wait, wrong book. It works as a stand alone book, but really these are best if you start from the beginning and read them in order, because they build on each other. This is a review gone horribly wrong. It’s a good book, definitely worth checking out.

There is no way that I could read and not fall in love with any book set in Sevenwaters. That being said, this was definitely the weakest in series. I like Maeve, but I didn't connect with her as I did with the heroines from the other novels in the series. The romance fell short for me as well. I saw it coming from the beginning and though it was rather sweet, it just wasn't the same slow burn romance that I have come to know and love from Marillier.

This was a beautiful and wonderful end to the Sevenwaters series. All loose ends from the series were tied up beautifully, and things came full circle. I found myself tearing up upon finishing because this series meant so much to me growing up and I couldn't believe that it was over. Despite this being my least favorite of the series, Flame of Sevenwaters was a strong and gorgeous conclusion to a beloved series.

I have to say, I think I liked Maeve better than all of the other Sevenwaters women before her. I'm not quite sure what it is. But she is rather fantastic. And this book was sooo lovely. I'm sad that it seems like the series is finally at it's close. I've loved it dearly ever since I randomly found Daughter of the Forest as a freshman in high school.

*light spoilers*

So many emotions!! Maeve is strength and bravery and kindness. She is the hands that can not hold, but everything she is, her outspoken ways and determination, makes her a shining light. And Finbar, sweet, aged beyond his years, he is so wise and brave already at just seven♡. The weaving of a story is not always short and after picking up Daughter of the forest many years ago, to finishing this wide sweeping tale, the tapestry is complete. Not complete as an ending, but a stepping stone into a new future. That last chapter hit so hard in the most beautifully sad and bitter-sweet way.

Amazing conclusion to the beloved Sevenwaters series. Mariliier is a master of language and storytelling. Highly recommended.

Well, I've reached the end of the Sevenwaters series.


I have many more Marillier books to look forward to, but there was something extra special about this particular series for me. The ending was beautiful, bittersweet and hopeful in only the best ways that Marillier can capture. I really loved Maeve as a character; she wormed her way into one of my favorite Sevenwaters women. She is so fiercely committed to doing things herself when she can, and I found I could relate to her in many ways. The main action of the book took sometime to get going, but the beginning was interesting and necessary to me. We get to see how Sevenwaters has fared since Clodagh and Cathal have left it as many years have passed from the time written about in [b: Heir of Sevenwaters]. The romantic elements felt lacking to me,

Spoiler

if only because Artagan spends most the books as a dog. It was hard for me to buy Maeve and Artagan's human connection, although it was obvious they shared a very strong bond.

The romance is honestly one of the strongest parts of these books for me, so it was disappointing for the final installment to be a let down in that area. I adored seeing Finbar again, and having a younger brother myself I easily understand the instinct Maeve and Clodagh have to protect him above all else. Also, Cathal and Clodagh continue to steal the spotlight in other people's books. They are such a magnetic couple for me, especially in Seer and Flame of Sevenwaters where I was a little disappointed in the main romances.

The bones of this story are great, magic mixed with everyday life and everyday issues, courage, family bonds, love, loss, and friendship. Darkness vs light, kindness vs cruelty.
I did like the characters and I enjoyed the fact that I could read this book without having read any of the previous Sevenwaters novels.
However, the narration was too slow moving for me and the excitement of the last few chapters didn't make up for what felt like a heavy read for the first 320 pages.
Also, I applauded Maeve's courage and chutzpah, but it drove me crazy how she was made out to be so helpless for a good part of the book. Yes, I understand she went through a horrible ordeal and I understand how it left her scarred and with obvious limitations - I would have understood this even without being beaten over the head with it by the author. I just feel that Maeve could have been more empowered and "allowed" to do more things. Ok, she can't hold a brush and run down a horse, but maybe a special brush could have been made for her that could be tied around her wrist? And perhaps someone could have invented if not a fork, then maybe a stabbing stick she could hold between her two fingers, so instead of someone putting each little bite in her hands, she could have it cut up and stab it herself...I don't know, I honesty just felt that there had to be ways around it and it drove me crazy how she had to suffer because no one could invent a few tools to help her. I do understand her suffering and disability helped shape her, but as she was presented as such a courageous and strong person I cannot imagine she would be content without figuring out how to solve some of the challenges of everyday life.

Decent but it was slow like the last book. I also didnt like Maeve. She's really annoying. Being a daughter of Sevenwaters, she should know how things work...yet she kept acting like an idiot. Honestly I didnt really like any of the characters except for Cathal and others who were from other books. But the story was good I suppose.