It's always refreshing to spend some time at Sevenwaters - like a vacation for the mind, made bittersweet by the knowledge that it must end too soon. This book's heroine is Maeve, who was burned as a child (in a previous book), and has lost the use of her hands. She makes for an interesting lead, because she (like Fianne) is not as physically perfect as many of the other heroines, and so finds many challenges in her daily life, in addition to her magical/spiritual life. All of this is sensitively but matter-of-factly portrayed.