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A review by sabsey
Flame of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
4.0
The Summary from my copy of Flame of Sevenwaters is as follows:
When Maeve, fourth daughter of Lord Sean of Sevenwaters, is asked to accompany a skittish horse back to her father's keep, she agrees - reluctantly. For it has been many years since she left the place where her hands were crippled by a fire - years in which she has nurtured her special talent with animals.
Sevenwaters is also much changed. It is now enslaved by the fey prince Mac Dara, a force of malignant magic who is responsible for a party of travellers disappearing. When Maeve discovers the body of one of the missing men, she and her brother Finbar are lured to the Otherworld on a journey that may save Sevenwaters...or lead to catastrophe. If Maeve is ever to dream of a future, she must confront the darkness of her past.
This sixth book in the series is the final instalment in the long, epic Sevenwaters saga about the fictional, ancient family and it's descendants. Flame of Sevenwaters follows the (until now) mysterious and disfigured grand-daughter of Sorcha, named Maeve.
Maeve is probably one of my more favourite protagonists in this series (along with Sorcha, Liadan, and Niamh). She's ridiculously brave, equally stubborn, and her strength to carry on in the numerous precarious situations she finds herself in is as crazy as it is admireable. I truly loved her, in a way I hadn't really loved any of the previous protagonists since the third book, Child of the Prophecy .
Maeve's personal arc (and her relationship with Finbar) was by far the more interesting and satisfying aspect of this book. I almost thought there would be no romance at all in this book (more fool me, this IS a Juliet Marillier novel), and while it felt somewhat shoe-horned in, I'm glad that for once it wasn't such an overwhelming aspect of the story. For all the strengths in Maeve as a character however (who really carried this book), this book not just fell, but crashed and burned when it came to the plot.
This latter half of the Sevenwaters series has been escalating for some time now, but I've found this series has always tended to be weaker when it relied on fey interference for plot and deus ex machina, rather than more real world conflict. Unfortunately, this time Juliet Marillier asked of the reader more than could be believed on their part (and this is considering that the previous book in this series was about giant sea monsters).
The conflict between Mac Dara and the human inhabitants of the Sevenwaters world have been circling and building and in this book, and (almost) everything that was expected to happen, did. There was no truly shocking revelation or, in fact, any foreshadowing at all, since the expected conflict has been set up for so long that it was almost starting to drag rather than spark my interest any further.
I wouldn't have minded so much, the predictability, the almost mediocre climax, the what seems to be, now, standard Sevenwaters novel formula - if it hadn't been the last book in this series. I guess I expected more from a final instalment, but this read like the conclusion to a duology, not to an epic six novel long, generational series. There was no lingering nostalgia, no farewell or nod to the countless characters that we've loved and grown and lost over each massive 500 page book, nothing at all in the final chapter suggests anything than an ordinary, happy ending to one girl's journey.
It was more than disappointing, and perhaps it's because I hold this series especially close to my heart, but I would've loved for some larger, more meaningful - or any send-off at all to this family, and to Sevenwaters.
Four stars, partly for nostalgia, partly for Maeve. A disappointing conclusion, and not entirely satisfying, but it was still a fun read, and interesting addition to the Sevenwaters series, not just the kind of finale I hoped for.
When Maeve, fourth daughter of Lord Sean of Sevenwaters, is asked to accompany a skittish horse back to her father's keep, she agrees - reluctantly. For it has been many years since she left the place where her hands were crippled by a fire - years in which she has nurtured her special talent with animals.
Sevenwaters is also much changed. It is now enslaved by the fey prince Mac Dara, a force of malignant magic who is responsible for a party of travellers disappearing. When Maeve discovers the body of one of the missing men, she and her brother Finbar are lured to the Otherworld on a journey that may save Sevenwaters...or lead to catastrophe. If Maeve is ever to dream of a future, she must confront the darkness of her past.
This sixth book in the series is the final instalment in the long, epic Sevenwaters saga about the fictional, ancient family and it's descendants. Flame of Sevenwaters follows the (until now) mysterious and disfigured grand-daughter of Sorcha, named Maeve.
Maeve is probably one of my more favourite protagonists in this series (along with Sorcha, Liadan, and Niamh). She's ridiculously brave, equally stubborn, and her strength to carry on in the numerous precarious situations she finds herself in is as crazy as it is admireable. I truly loved her, in a way I hadn't really loved any of the previous protagonists since the third book, Child of the Prophecy .
Maeve's personal arc (and her relationship with Finbar) was by far the more interesting and satisfying aspect of this book. I almost thought there would be no romance at all in this book (more fool me, this IS a Juliet Marillier novel), and while it felt somewhat shoe-horned in, I'm glad that for once it wasn't such an overwhelming aspect of the story. For all the strengths in Maeve as a character however (who really carried this book), this book not just fell, but crashed and burned when it came to the plot.
This latter half of the Sevenwaters series has been escalating for some time now, but I've found this series has always tended to be weaker when it relied on fey interference for plot and deus ex machina, rather than more real world conflict. Unfortunately, this time Juliet Marillier asked of the reader more than could be believed on their part (and this is considering that the previous book in this series was about giant sea monsters).
The conflict between Mac Dara and the human inhabitants of the Sevenwaters world have been circling and building and in this book, and (almost) everything that was expected to happen, did. There was no truly shocking revelation or, in fact, any foreshadowing at all, since the expected conflict has been set up for so long that it was almost starting to drag rather than spark my interest any further.
I wouldn't have minded so much, the predictability, the almost mediocre climax, the what seems to be, now, standard Sevenwaters novel formula - if it hadn't been the last book in this series. I guess I expected more from a final instalment, but this read like the conclusion to a duology, not to an epic six novel long, generational series. There was no lingering nostalgia, no farewell or nod to the countless characters that we've loved and grown and lost over each massive 500 page book, nothing at all in the final chapter suggests anything than an ordinary, happy ending to one girl's journey.
It was more than disappointing, and perhaps it's because I hold this series especially close to my heart, but I would've loved for some larger, more meaningful - or any send-off at all to this family, and to Sevenwaters.
Four stars, partly for nostalgia, partly for Maeve. A disappointing conclusion, and not entirely satisfying, but it was still a fun read, and interesting addition to the Sevenwaters series, not just the kind of finale I hoped for.