Magic is fading... and the ways of Man are driving the Old Ones to the West, beyond the ken of humankind. The ancient groves are being destroyed, and if nothing is done, Ireland will lose its essential mystic core. The prophecies of long ago have foretold a way to prevent this horror, and it is the Sevenwaters clan that the Spirits of Eire look to for salvation. They are a family bound into the lifeblood of the land, and their promise to preserve the magic has been the cause of great joy to them... as well as great sorrow.
It is up to Fianne, daughter of Niamh, the lost sister of Sevenwaters, to solve the riddles of power. She is the shy child of a reclusive sorcerer, and her way is hard, for her father is the son of the wicked sorceress Oonagh, who has emerged from the shadows and seeks to destroy all that Sevenwaters has striven for. Oonagh will use her granddaughter Fianne most cruelly to accomplish her ends, and stops at nothing to see her will done. Will Fianne be strong enough to battle this evil and save those she has come to love?
Reviews
“A rich tapestry of love and loss, family loyalty and personal sacrifice... this [is] an excellent conclusion to a fine trilogy.” -Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
“Juliet Marillier is among the most skilled of fantasy writers”--Sara Douglass
"To conclude the Sevenwaters trilogy, Fainne, the gifted daughter of the truant Niamh and Niamh's druid cousin, comes to Sevenwaters to claim her heritage. Doing so, she places herself squarely between her evil fairy grandmother, who claims to be torturing Fainne's father every time Fainne fails to follow orders, and her growing love for her kin. Add to this Fainne's passionate but thwarted love for a traveling lad and the ending of a centuries-old blood feud with the Britons, and you have a rousing page-turner, a heady blending of romance, magic, and battle. Marillier created the world of Sevenwaters by weaving together various Irish myths to fashion a magical realm peopled by shape-shifting druids, powerful fairies and elementals, and a noble family gifted and blighted by its history. Each Sevenwaters book reads well independently of the others and is their peer in quality. That the protagonists are, in the main, girls and young women places the saga squarely in the vein opened by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon (1982). Sevenwaters' feminism is never heavy-handed, however, and its male characters are brilliantly and often fiercely drawn. The fitting conclusion to one of the best recent fantasy sagas should send newcomers scurrying for its predecessors, Daughter of the Forest (2000) and Son of the Shadows [BKL My 15 01]. Meanwhile, readers of all three volumes will sigh with pleasure, but also with regret at bidding Marillier's perfectly realized world adieu." Booklist
Author Biography
Juliet Marillier was born in 1948 in Dunedin, New Zealand. She has worked as a music teacher, opera singer and tax assessor, but is now a full-time writer. Her historical fantasy novels for adult readers are published internationally and have won a number of awards. Juliet lives in a hundred-year-old cottage by the Swan River in Perth. She shares her house with a kelpie cross, a miniature pinscher and a tri-coloured cat. She loves history, folklore and travel.
