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.