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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strong Conclusion To An Extraordinary Trilogy- A Great Read!, June 19, 2004
"Child of the Prophecy" is the concluding book in Juliet Marillier's extraordinary Sevenwaters trilogy, and perhaps the most powerful of all three novels. I think this is partly so because Fainne, daughter of the renegade druid Ciaran and Niamh, the Sevenwaters daughter who was lost to the clan long ago, is the strongest of Marillier's heroines. This in no way diminishes the strength of Sorcha and Liadan, nor the roles these remarkable women played in the trilogy's first two books. Fainne was brought up in almost total solitude after her mother's death. She and her father lived alone in the Honeycomb, a network of caves on the Kerry coast. It was, at best, an austere and lonely existence, especially for a child. Ciaran schooled her unceasingly in Druid craft and lore and Fainne didn't really want more out of life than to please her father - and pleasing him meant becoming proficient in all he taught. Ciaran, a great Druid priest, had little time for his daughter, other than to pass on his knowledge. He spent most of his life continuing to learn the ancient ways. This story is set in a period when magic is fading and Christianity is fast becoming the dominant religion of Erin and Britain. The Old Ones are being driven to the Western Realms, beyond the reach of mankind. The ancient groves and forests are being destroyed and without them the true knowledge of the land will disappear. The prophecies say there is a way to prevent the total disappearance of this priceless lore...and that salvation lies within the Sevenwaters clan. It is to this end that Ciaran works to pass his knowledge to his daughter. The wicked sorceress Oonagh is Fainne's grandmother. She emerged from the shadows in book one, "Daughter of the Forest," to exert her evil ways and plan the destruction of all the Sevenwaters clan had worked for. Ciaran saw the necessity to leave his child for a time under Oonagh's tutelage. With her grandmother, Fainne would learn magic that she had never known or imagined before, and she would learn terrible fear as well. Fainne is such a complex character. Her heritage is one of extreme darkness and of light - of both good and evil. The best of generations of the Sevenwaters clan runs in her blood, as does the evil of Oonagh. In order for the prophecy to succeed, Fainne must overcome her dual nature and prevail against her grandmother's power, while protecting those she loves. Many characters from the previous books are present here: Conor the Druid, swan-winged Finbar, Liadan and her family, and vengeful Eamonn. So are the Fair Folk, (Tuatha de Danaan), and Old Ones. They await the Prophecy's end which will decide their own fate. All depends on Fainne's actions. Ms. Marillier develops her cast of characters and gives them great depth. As with all fairy tales, there is magic at work here, just the right amount to awe but not to disturb reality too much or take away from the characters' independence and ability to choose.
Although "Child of the Prophecy" can be read without reading the first two books, I strongly recommend reading them to best understand and enjoy this wonderful novel.
JANA
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome ending to an awesome trilogy!, May 23, 2002
This review is from: Child of the Prophecy (Sevenwaters Trilogy, Book 3) (Hardcover)
I don't agree with or understand some of the opinions of this book. The intrigue and contrast in this book was amazing. Fainne was amazing. The Daughter of the Forest will always hold a special place in my heart. Sorcha, Red, Ben, John, Finbar, Conor, Lady Oonagh, Simon, Margarie...they are all such amazing characters. The plot is incredible, the feelings so true, and the terror so real. Juliet captured my heart with this book. I waited for the second book with such anticipation, and at first I was dissapointed, Liadan was so different than Sorcha. And the whole set up of the book was so much different. Liadan wasn't set to a task as Sorcha was, Liadan didn't care to marry, Liadan wasn't Sorcha. Then it hit me, if Liadan was like Sorcha, what would the fun of the book be? I read it a second time, and I fell in love. Bran is such a passionate person. Eamonn was so good at what he did. Liadan was so amazingly refreshing. Once I had read Son of the Shadow 5 million times, I couldn't wait for Child of the Prophecy. And when I got the book, I read. I didn't read like I normally did, though. Usually I sit in my bed or on my couch, I don't put the book down until I'm finished, but this was different. I was reading a trilogy and this was the third book. Once I closed the back cover, all would be over, all would be solved. So, I went to the forest by my house. I laid on my hill and read as the wind whipped though my hair. I could hear the wind rustling in the trees. As I read the book, I came to a knew understanding of mother nature, and of it's beauty. I read slowly, I cherised every chapter, every page, every word. Once I was done, I was done...sure I could read it again, but I knew what happened. For the first 2 days I read slowly; I was only about half through the book by the end of the second day. But when I started reading the third day, I couldn't stop. It was the most beautiful thing in the world. Fainne was so much different then Sorcha and Liadan in every respect. She looked different, she was raised different, and she was born different. A sorceress, bound to a certain path by ancient, evil things. The book was such a surprise. I thought I would be disappointed when I turned the final page, but Juliet must be a sorceress herself, for when I finally closed the last book in my favorite series, a great peace filled me. I don't know how to describe it. All is not well, the future definetly isn't going to be all roses and sunshine, but every thing felt right. It was beautiful. I highly recommend this book and this trilogy, if you've got any sort of magic in you, you'll love it. Good, evil, love, hate, joy, terror, smiles, tears, men of Briton, men of Erin, a complete and utter feeling of peace that is nothing other than rightness, and surprise that grip the heart and soul. Juliet can do anything.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A different kind of heroine, January 7, 2004
The conclusion to the Sevenwaters trilogy varies in tone from both its predecessors - I don't want to say it's darker, but it does deal with far more ambiguous definitions of good and evil, including a heroine who isn't nearly as pure and selfless as Sorcha and Liadan. Said heroine is Fainne, the product of the incestous liason between Niamh, Sorcha's older daughter, and Ciaran, Sorcha's half-brother by the evil sorceress Oonagh. Fainne has been tutored by her father and grandmother in the arts of sorcery, and is sent to Sevenwaters to sabotage the Irish plan to take back the all-important Islands from the British. If you skipped a lot of the battle and strategy talk in the first two books, like I did, you might want to review them first, as they play a big role in the final 1/3 of this book. As I said, Fainne is a completely different sort from her aunt Liadan and her grandmother Sorcha, and there were times I felt Marillier let her protaganist off too easily. As Oonagh's pawn, Fainne is coerced/blackmailed into doing some truly horrible things, and even though she doesn't technically do them of her own free will a bit more accountability seems to be in order. I don't know why Marillier abandoned the references she included at the beginning of "Son of the Shadows", if anything they would be more useful here. Two items I felt would be indispensable: a family tree (to sort out the confusion created by the relationship between Niamh and her uncle Ciaran, which makes Sorcha, for instance, both Fainne's grandmother and aunt) and a copy of the Prophecy, which plays such a huge role in the later part of the book but which isn't repeated anywhere until the book is almost over. I couldn't relax as much with this book as much as I did with "Daughter" and "Son", which, despite the hardships faced by their main characters, had at least a few moments of love and beauty. There's none on display here, and the entire book feels tense and bleak because of it. So, while the writing remains as skillful as ever, I can't help but wish Marillier loved her characters as much as she makes her readers love them. While I have no objection to creating characters that are complex and have varied motives, abandoning beloved characters by the wayside just plain hurts. I wish I could give half-stars; "Child" deserves more than 3 but I just couldn't rate this one as high as the first two. Consider my rating a 3.5.
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