Ah Ms. Marillier, how you provide such escapism and literary stimuli for my active and colourful imagination. I love the Sevenwaters series and JM is a brilliant weaver of narrative, combining mythology with ancestry to create a family dynasty that is as complex and magical as it is kind hearted and practical.

Maeve, a character from earlier books, has a hardened outer shell which is chiefly due to a tragic accident from a fire that scarred her face and hands and led to the loss of her beloved dog. Being coaxed away from the aunt and uncle she lived with following the accident, she finds herself home at Sevenwaters with a displaced family on the cusp of battle with suspicious neighbours unable to find their own men on Sevenwaters land. On the brink of a supernatural war with the dark lord Mac Dara, Maeve is suddenly on a quest to find her younger brother, her unruly horse, her new beloved 'pet' dogs, and her families' emancipation from all the darkness that rules the otherworld.

It's another roller coaster of a book with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. The only issue I had, both hasty and a little 'cheesy' was the moment when her beloved dog Bear turns into a man and immediately confesses his love and proposes marriage in the span of about 2 and a half minutes. A little cringeworthy, as is their resulting romance. I didn't feel it was given enough time to plump out in the reader's minds eye and thus feels a little forced.

But as always, JM finds a way to wrap the Sevenwaters novels up in a nice little bow and send them out into the world with happily-ever-after's and it'll-all-turn-out-in-the-ends.

This is the first time I have given four stars to a Juliet Marillier book, and here are the reasons why.

First off, many people were not impressed by the previous book, Seer of Sevenwaters, because the love story was not as developed and the pace of the whole book was set differently than previous Sevenwaters novels, yet Seer was still filled with a strong, capable female protagonist that had to take a journey in order to discover hidden truths about herself, as well as wonderful elements of magic and folklore. I will start off with saying, the love story in Flame was a bit disappointing to me. I was expecting a love to blossom between the main character Maeve and Luachan the Druid, yet it seemed like Marillier kind of hurridly threw together this love story at the end when it is realized that Bear the dog is actually Cruinn's missing son. I also guessed right away that Bear was actually Artagan because Marillier has done similar stories in Wildwood Dancing and Blade of Fortriu, so that element of surprise was very predictable to me. The love story is never really an essential part of the story to me, yet it does add a more mythological sense to Marillier's tales and also helps emphasize the strength of her main characters, but I saw none of that in Maeve, which leads me to my next point; Maeve herself. I was excited for this chapter because Marillier always portrays such wonderfully intricate lead female characters that usually partake on a quest to discover something about their inner selves, and I thought since Maeve had the darkest past of all the sisters, there was so much she could do to bring out that brave, compassionate person that is always present within the Sevenwaters women. Maeve just seemed sullen and prone to tantrums through out the whole book; she is rude to her mother, snaps at everyone, and runs off and sulks the minute someone says something about her hands or face. I thought that was Marillier building up the initial weaker characteristics in order to have them challenged once Maeve enters the Other World, but once there it seems like Maeve still has everything laid out for her. Usually the Otherworld is painted with mayhem and mischief, full of peril and danger such as when Clodagh and Cathal journeyed there with a fey child, yet all Maeve faces is a measly bridge and a tree she must climb to reach Finbar, both of which do nothing but make her a bit weary. I was excited by the possible threat of the Spider in Finbar's tree, but that fell through as well! I thought that this would be a perfect chance to show the brave side of Maeve, the girl who is haunted by the horrors of her past, but instead the Fair Folk step up and rescue her every time, and this odd attachment she has to her dog turns into an instant romance and instant proposal, I have to say I was very disappointed! The love one feels for a pet does not match that of romantic love, I saw what Marillier was trying to do with Maeve's dog that died but it still really made no sense to have the first words that pop out of Artagan's mouth be "Husband-wife?" The whole thing really gave me no connection to Maeve, the long lost sister whose story I thought would be the most complex and heart-warming. Nothing is resolved with her mother, she worries more about her dogs the whole time then actually defeating the Fey Folk and preserving Sevenwaters, and the whole story with the dogs and the sons was predictable and felt a bit over-used. I was expecting more if this is indeed the last book, which I hope it is not because I really want the Sevenwaters books to go out on a bang.

On that note, this is what I did love about the book. I loved the development of Finbar's character, I loved the story of the geis and how Ciaran had to take a personal journey in order to learn the lines of the geis, and of course I love the mythological tales woven within the main plot. The one thing that I really liked about Maeve was her ability to always ponder the teachings of her Uncle Bran and Aunt Liadan. The novel still had Marillier's beautiful imagery, and had many characters I have grown to love and respect, I was just always wanting more, more from Maeve, more from the romance department and the adventure department and from the journey to finding inner strength and goodness. It also took way too long to get to the exciting parts, the first half dragged on with Maeve at Seventwaters, then it dragged on again at the end during the Conclave and the fall of Mac Dara. I still loved it, it still deserves four stars simply because it is a Juliet Marillier book, I just wanted more, I finished unsatisfied. I pray that this is not the last book in a series that has brought me nothing but joy and inspiration!

Are these books over? I can't tell. I kind of want one about Eilis though. Galicia! That'd be cool.

I'm more a fan of the original three books, but of the second trilogy this was my favorite. It was the culmination of many stories woven together, the climax of Sevenwaters' second generation. It also, I think, had the most interesting adventure, even if I did see the bit about the chieftain's sons from miles off. A beautiful story overall.

Oh boy, the series is over.

I said in my last review that I enjoyed this trilogy more so than the previous three. I felt the other three dragged at points. These seemed to be tighter, reigned in, with the perfect mix of history, magic, and romance.

In this one, the child that was burned in the third book of the first trilogy had returned home. She has no use of her hands and her face is scared from the fire. She is a animal whisperer of sorts. So when she started bonding with two dogs it became super cute.

I will say that my joy for the book got taken down a star mainly because of the reveal.

Spoiler

The missing sons ending up being the two dogs was cute, and I get that her love of the dog that would end up being her 'lover' was strong, but it was a bit of a strange beauty and the beast thing. Like, he didn't fully understand her as a dog, but got feelings and instances of understanding. Yet, when he became a man they wanted to marry ASAP. It was just a tad weird to me.

Again, I enjoyed this series more than the other trilogy and it had a fitting ending.

I have never been disappointed by any of Juliet Marillier's books. I have felt that the Sevenwaters books have become more and more supernatural as the series continues. I don't think it's a bad thing at all, it just changes tones throughout the series. Flame of Sevenwaters was a fantastic book with deep character development. Some of the twists are shocking and others were expected. I felt like this book took a good amount of time to get to the action of the story, however the time was well spent in getting to know the characters. All in all, where I wouldn't count this among my favorite of Marillier's books, it's definitely a book that needs to be read.

Juliet Marillier es una diosa!.

Lo que ame de este Libro:
*La historia, cada libro de Sevenwaters es diferente.
*Finbar, que niño más encantador!.
*Ese final no lo vi venir y mucho menos el interés amoroso.
*El mundo creado por la autora.

Lo que no ame tanto:
*Maeve con sus dudas.
*Alguna partes se me hicieron tediosas.

Conclusión:
Nunca voy a parar de recomendar a esta autora, voy a llevar siempre conmigo esta saga por lo diferente, por sus protagonistas femeninas que luchan a su manera por lo que creen correcto y por su puesto por todo ese mundo mágico creado por la autora.

When you pick a book up at the library, one of you know nothing of, you might not expect the story to still be inside your head ten years later. You might not expect the characters to feel as immediate as they did on that first reading. More so, they are familiar now, known as friends. Daughter of the Forest, the first in Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters series, is that book. A retelling of the Six Swans fairytale, it follows Sorcha as she attempts to reclaim the human lives of her brothers. It is a story of hope, and of love — romantic, familial, the loyalty of a good dog, and the kindness and strength of new friends. There are moments within it, and within the following books, that feel instilled in the memory, as if they exist beyond the page: Sorcha calling Red’s name, Niamh dancing, Bran watching his son and saying, ‘Is he supposed to be eating that?’, the fall of Darragh and his return. The recurring image of three small children, deep within the forests of Sevenwaters, both past and future. Think of these, of characters such as Finbar and Conor, Padriac and horse-mad Ellis, and any pretence of objectivity and rationality shatter. Just a book? Not likely.

For all its magic and fey creatures, Sevenwaters is grounded in reality. Although some characters get their happy endings, there are others whose lives have to change and survive without them. In Flame of Sevenwaters, it would seem like Maeve is destined to be one of these. After suffering terrible burns of the hands and face at age ten, Maeve left Sevenwaters to live with her Aunt Liadan, a healer, and her husband Bran in England. From her foster parents, Maeve has learnt to be strong, ignoring, outwardly at least, the comments and stares. Her gift with animals is called upon when Swift, an unpredictable horse, is to be sent to Sevenwaters as a token of restitution. Her return home, ten years later, is a reluctant one. She can barely remember Sevenwaters, and feels closer to Liadan, Bran, and her maid Rhian, than she does her own parents or sisters. Yet her resolve to stay detached, to return to her foster home, is soon weakened. Maeve is determined to bring Finbar, her young brother, out of his serious shell. Finbar, like his namesake, is a seer and although he will not speak of them, has seen visions that could signal the end of Sevenwaters. Maeve and Finbar, along with Bear and Badger, the two traumatised dogs that Maeve has befriended, must do what seems most unlikely. For it is that the woman deemed too infirm, the brother too young, and the dogs too wild, must challenge and help defeat Mac Dara, Prince of the Otherworld, and long-time enemy of the Sevenwaters family.

Of the original trilogy, Child of the Prophecy will always be my favourite. Unlike Sorcha and Liadan, Fainne is a character who has to overcome the darkness within herself. Her initial position as an anti-hero means that her actions, and their consequences, are often painful to witness. Yet she is evidence of Marillier’s risk tasking. Fainne is a character who challenges the readers, and the narrative, subverting the traditional expectations of a heroine. Considering that Maeve was burned in CotP, it is fitting that Marillier establishes links between it and Flame of Sevenwaters. Both Fainne and Maeve arrive at Sevenwaters as outsiders, longing for the solitude and order of their previous lives. Each have complicated feelings towards their family, and each ultimately risk their lives to save them. As with Fainne, Marillier creates a multi-faceted character in Maeve. Her disability is never marginalised or trivialised in favour of a smooth plot, nor does it constitute the entirety of her self. Maeve is clever, brave, and caring. She is also proud, closed-off, and difficult. One of the most interesting parts of the novel is Maeve’s awkward relationship with her mother. Whilst Maeve comes to recognise her mother’s particular strengths, there is no firm resolution between them. Like the best of Marillier’s relationships — the pseudo father-son bond between Conor and Ciarán or the fraught brotherhood of Red and Simon — there remains tension, emotional betrayals and years lost. Another relationship that works wonderfully well, and is arguably the most important of the novel, is that of Maeve and Finbar. Where Clodagh rescues the infant Finbar in Heir to Sevenwaters, in Flame Maeve and Finbar rescue each other. As a character, Finbar is simply delightful. Marked by his time in the Otherworld and his visions, he is at once an old soul and a seven-year old boy. As a sister to a much-younger brother, I felt a particular resonance with Maeve’s interactions with and love for Finbar. The focus that Marillier places on Maeve and the two dogs, Badger and Bear, is also an interesting change to the template of the other novels. Whilst some readers may be disappointed by the relative lack of romance (there is one, it is just unconventional…), it is in-keeping with the tone of the story.

The conclusion to Ciarán’s story is by far my favourite part of the novel. I will not spoil anything, except to say that the final pages are amongst the finest Marillier has written. The symmetry between the ending of Child of the Prophecy, and between the choices made by Fainne and Ciarán, are simply beautiful. My only real criticism is that I wanted more of Maeve at Harrowfield, more of Maeve and her parents, and more of Maeve and a certain somebody. More of Sevenwaters, really. There were moments in the novel that were genuinely unsettling, and I found myself putting the book down, waiting just a minute, and then reading on. I wanted to savor the writing, and these characters. Even if Juliet Marillier never writes another Sevenwaters novel, she has given her readers a remarkable gift. A series like Sevenwaters — one that takes risks, one that is dark and true and hopeful, and one that can make its readers stronger and happier in a hundred tiny ways — is rare indeed. I am so glad that I picked up Daughter of the Forest ten years ago, and I urge other people to do the same.

English version below

Português
Mais um livro da Juliet Marillier… O que posso eu fazer se adoro a maneira como ela escreve e adoro as histórias que ela fabrica, as personagens que ela cria…

Acabei esta leitura há um mês, e tenho vindo a reflectir como fazer este post. Fiquei encantada, como sempre com os livros desta autora. Esta é a história de (mais) uma das filhas de Sevenwaters, Maeve. Li algumas opiniões negativas em relação a este livro, e nomeadamente em relação e esta personagem. Não li os primeiros livros da saga, estão na minha lista, e talvez por isso eu não sinta o mesmo. O único desta saga que li para além deste, foi A Vidente de Sevenwaters (podem ver o post aqui).

Eu gostei muito do livro. Meave não é uma personagem que eu sentisse crescer muito ao longo da história; senti que veio de casa dos tios já forte, com algumas ideias bem definidas e ideais pelos quais está disposta a lutar. Afinal, é uma rapariga que sofreu um acidente, e no entanto tem tanta força como se não precisasse de ajuda para as tarefas mais simples. A evolução de Meave, na minha opinião, nota-se na relação com as outras personagens, na aceitação por voltar a casa e enfrentar um passado que ainda lhe assalta os pesadelos, e também na procura de resolver a tarefa com que fica em mãos. É uma personagem forte, apesar de ter medos e inseguranças (quem não tem?), apesar da sua situação após o acidente, o que a torna mais humana.

A história passa-se na Irlanda Celta, um lugar cheio de magia. Mais uma vez, Juliet consegue transportar-me para aqueles locais fantásticos. Adoro os cenários por ela criados, sentir-me lá, quase sentir o toque, os cheiros, até uma pequena aragem ou mesmo o calor de uma fogueira. Não é segredo que adoro a maneira como Juliet escreve, e a maneira como descrever as situações e o ambiente, sem ser exaustiva, mas o suficiente para me transportar.

O enredo teve algumas surpresas, e o final foi emocionante. A parte do romance foi um pouco estranha. É difícil explicar esta parte sem spoilers, mas vou tentar. Achei que a relação se desenvolveu de maneira repentina, que falta qualquer coisa, como que se tivesse passado quase directamente a ser um romance surgido do dia para a noite, em vez de se desenvolver ao longo das páginas. Afinal, a relação que existe e a situação vivida anteriormente à declaração oficial, não é exactamente a mesma que aquela onde se encontram os personagens quando decidem declarar-se, e parece que nada disso fez a mais pequena diferença… mas, na minha opinião, não é bem assim; com as alterações que existiram, faria mais sentido se voltassem a conhecer-se, pelo menos inicialmente, talvez até manifestando dúvidas, e não que saltassem imediatamente para os braços um do outro como se sempre tivesse sido assim. Eu percebo a ideia de um amor verdadeiro e sem barreiras, mas neste caso sinto que falta qualquer coisa.

Portanto, no geral, um bom livro, que me prendeu desde o início, ao bom estilo dos livros desta escritora.

English
Another book written by Juliet Marillier… I love the way she writes, the stories and the characters she creates.

I finished this book a month ago and I’ve been thinking about the best way to write this post. I was delighted, as always. This is the story of another sister from the Sevenwaters saga, Meave. I read some negative opinions about his book, namely about this specific character. I didn’t read the first books of the saga (on my TBR list), and maybe that’s why I think a little bit differently. The only book I read besides this one was the Seer of Sevenwaters (check review here).

I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn’t feel that Meave grew up a lot since the beginning of the story; she went back to her parents’ house with some ideas and ideals on her mind, and she is willing to fight for it. After all, she had an accident ten years ago, but she is strong enough to try and do everything she can by herself. I think that we can feel some evolution in her relationships with the other characters, on the acceptance of returning home and facing a part of her past that still haunts her nightmares, and also we see she grows while she tries to solve the task she has in her hands. She is a strong character, even with her fears and insecurities (who doesn’t have them?), and I think it makes her more real.

The plot is in Celtic Ireland, a place full of magic. Once again, Juliet wrote in a way that made me feel I was in those amazing places. I love the scenarios she creates, feeling I’m there, almost feeling the touch, the smells, even a little breeze or the warm of the campfire. It’s not a secret that I love the way she writes and the way she describes the situations and the places.

The plot had some surprises, and the ending was exciting. The romance part was a little bit weird for me. It’s hard to explain this without spoilers, but I’ll try. I think that it happened too fast, like there is something missing. Not only the situation between the two characters changes, one of them is different before and after the twist, it can’t feel the same before and after… I mean, at least they should talk before, it feels weird that they jump right into each other's arms, not questions asked nor previous talk, like things were always the way they are towards the ending. I understand the idea of a true love, without limits, but in this case something was lost.

In general, a good book, that hooked me from the beginning, like every book of this author.

9/10
Satisfying conclusion to the Sevenwaters series.