As many previous reviewers have said, her later Sevenwaters books aren't as masterful as her original trilogy, yet I think that we shouldn't be comparing them. The first book is what I consider the legend in this epic, and that's the way it was told. Everything further built on it, and became a bit more real. The magic is still there, it's just in another form, just as in Sevenwaters forest. I will always be a fan of her work and this family.