Child of the Prophecy

I am giving this book a solid 4. The language and interweaving of the various stories was Juliet Marillier brilliance. I caught myself referring to "Son of the Shadows" early on to recall the story of Niamh and Cíaran and their fall from the families of Sevenwaters. Bringing back the Lady Oonagh into the trilogy was a stroke of brilliance. Except.

There were probably an extra hundred pages of too much self-flagellation that I had to endure to read through this story. I wanted to say to Ms. Marillier, "I get it. Fainne thinks herself trash and the cause of everyone's misfortune and she slaps away the man who loves her. But let's move the story forward and watch Fainne regain a sense of goodness within herself." She does eventually, but show more every single page filled with this ongoing despair and self-hatred should have been edited out.

The story begins with young, happy Fainne, daughter of Cíaran and Niamh of Sevenwaters, living with just her father in a cave in Kerry. Her mother has died from a fall and Fainne has only a few wispy memories and a treasured doll to remember her mother. Cíaran, trained from his youngest years as a Druid, is the son of Colm of Sevenwaters (the father in "Daughter of the Forest") and his second wife, the sorceress Oonagh who turned her stepsons into swans. Niamh was born to Sorcha, from Colm's first marriage, who wove the shirts for her brothers and saved them from their half-life of swans.

As Fainne grows she learns she has ways of making fire happen, and her father teaches her from his craft of Druidry. His mother, the Lady Oonagh, returns as Fainne enters adolescence and teaches her the dark side of the craft while Cíaran seems to sicken and leave off of his teaching.

Fainne chooses (or is forced, it's a bit ambiguous) to leave Kerry with the Travellers who come by every summer and leave in the fall for parts north. A son of the traveling people, Darragh, is her best friend growing up and they are beloved of one another, yet Oonagh promises Fainne that she will destroy both Darragh and Cíaran if Fainne does not do Oonagh's bidding: throw into chaos the negotiations and consequent battle plans that will return the Lost Islands to Eire and the Tuatha de Danaan.

So Fainne returns to her ancestral lands of Sevenwaters, meeting Sean of Sevenwaters, his brother Conor, and Eamonn who played a prominent role in "Son of the Shadows." Sean has several daughters who pull Fainne out of her shell and teach her the meaning of love despite herself. And as one expects, adventures and interweaving of stories lend depth and breadth to Fainne's life and this re-imagining of ancient Eire. show less

Child of the Prophecy is the third book but not the final one of the series. It does finish off the trilogy that makes up the first part of Sevenwaters in a very satisfying manner.
Fianne is the daughter of a druid/mage, a child of the old ways who was lost to Sevenwaters due to her parents' irregular union. Living on the lonely coast of Kerry, her only friend is Darragh, the tinker boy whose tribe comes to summer there each year. Her wicked grandmother Oonagh tries to train her to take down her relatives striving to fulfill the prophecy and keep Erin safe for the future (see the first two books). She almost succeeds in turning Fianne against her family.
This has been an extremely satisfying series to read. The fantasy, Celtic lore, and show more characters are wonderful and I'm sure I'm not done with the series yet. show less

What makes this third book in the series interesting is that this first person narrator is outside the Sevenwaters immediate family. Grandchild of the problematical sorceress, the task of fomenting trouble is dumped on her and she believes she has no choice but to comply. Except . . . well, of course! I suppose the inability to know when a problem is too large to solve yourself is a big piece of adolescence, as well as figuring out who to trust, who to tell, as well. But I wish these characters weren't quite so mutton-headed!
As always, some scenes and situations are gripping and original, in this one, particularly the ending.***1/2

This book could have been a favourite if it wasn’t for the ending chapters. I was ready to look past all of the other flaws up until that point, but there were so many dumb and mean moments at the end that I couldn’t ignore those.

In many aspects this book felt like a YA fantasy story and it had many elements I have seen before. This follows the story of Fainne, who is the daughter of Niamh and granddaughter of Lady Oonagh. The plot revolves around Fainne, under the influence and abuse of her grandmother, going to Sevenwaters to try to make her family lose the isles, that would mean the end of the magical beings of the forest and the ruin of the family. So, Fainne has a sort of coming of age plot as she learns more about her magical show more powers and about herself and what path she should take given that she started to care about the people she was meant to destroy.

I liked to see different settings in this book. Fainne moves to different locations given her mission and I liked the different atmosphere of all of those. The plot in itself is not new and it’s predictable and at times repetitive. However, if you know me, you know I don’t care as much about the plot as I care about the characters and I did love two characters in this book. One of the characters I loved was Fainne herself. She was confused, insecure and morally gray. She is probably the most complex character in the series so far. She had a lot of room for growth and I love that in a character. She was controlled by her emotions even though she liked to pretend she was not and a conflicted character makes for an interesting one to me. The other character I loved was the love interest, Darragh. Also, I am really glad that for once Marillier gave me a couple with only one or two years apart. This is definitely my favourite couple in the series so far. Darragh and Fainne were childhood friends so I found the way they cared so much about each other believable. Darragh can tell how she is really feeling like any people that spend a lot of time together and deeply know each other do and Fainne kept telling stories about Darragh even when they were not together because he brought her calm and joy in her moments of need. Darragh is very loyal and determined and I always loved stories about travellers in a fantasy world so I was meant to like him.

Besides those two, I really liked the children in this book and the friendship they had with their cousin, Fainne. It was really sweet. I also liked to know more about the ancient beings in the forest and I loved the imagery of a mix of human and owl being that wears little red boots. I really liked the interactions between that being and Fainne too.

Even the characters that annoyed me so much in the former book, Son of the Shadows, were being more likeable in this one. That is, until the ending happened. Now, I am going to mention spoilers.

As I already wrote, what I mainly didn’t like about the book was the ending chapters. I was even interested in the small war part of the book. But then, Lady Oonagh decides to reveal herself before the victory and starts monologuing about all of her evil doings and Fainne’s too. I hated that. She not only felt dumb, but she felt like a cartoon character. But the cherry on top was the fact that Fainne’s family that this entire book has been trying to tell her that she is one of them don’t even bat an eye knowing that she will live isolated in order to save their precious isles and fulfil the prophecy. They seemed very concerned when it was all about Johnny, but Fainne? Who cares about Fainne? This to me shows that they cared for her as much as they cared about Niamh (which is nothing at all). The entire book they were pretending that they had loved Niamh and that she had many qualities and I was willing to forget book 2 and the character inconsistency, but then that happened. The good news is the characters are still consistently awful people. Then, there’s Ciaran who all this time has been training his daughter for this awful faith while he rejoins his awful family and they live happily ever after.

I am sure Marillier did not intend for me to hate the Sevenwaters family, but I really do. To them power and prophecy is above all so it makes sense they love Liadan, that has the most powers, and mistreated Niamh since she had none. However, the next books are about Aisling’s children and I like them so I will read them. They were intriguing and innocents in this mess.

I liked that Finbar died and it made sense. He hadn’t been actually living for many years now. He himself said he was only alive to see the prophecy fullfilled with Johnny so that ending was inevitable.

I am not really sure why Eammon protected Fainne, but I guess he realized that without her his obsessed revenge plans would never be fulfilled. That is part of another thing I liked. Eammon didn’t really love Fainne. There was only one love interest in this story. I am not a fan of the every man is in love with this one woman like it happened with Liadan so I am thankful for it being different in this book.

When it comes to Darragh being involved in the war, I don’t find it believable that he fought without training and survived. However, I am willing to let it pass since I was relieved and glad to see him alive at the end of the book. I was going to be so mad if he had died and the only romance I cared for didn’t have a happy ending while the others did.

The title in Portuguese is “Daughter of the Prophecy” instead of “CHILD of the Prophecy” so the twist never even got the chance to pretend to be a twist for Portuguese people. The reveals weren’t reveals given that I saw all of it coming even if not exactly how it would happen.

Overall, I really loved some parts of this book, but I was a little disappointed by the ending. Still, my love for Fainne and Darragh is stronger than the bad aspects of this book. show less

I honestly do not in the slightest know what I feel about this book there is a lot happening in my head right now. It's not even in a bad way it's just all so bewildering

There are so many manifestations of beauty: swift deer and sleek salmon, delicate wren and mysterious starfish, strong oak and slender birch. And there are the things beyond the margin, which show themselves but rarely: the inscrutable, changeable beings of the Otherworld, who walk beside us through our short lives, unseen save when they choose, or when we ourselves learn to cross that divide.

Darragh is my GOAT and I did almost cry near the end during the denouement hope that helps WHAT THE HELLYANTE (i DOn'T know how this is spelled) DO YOU MEAN FINBAR DIES TO OONAGH show more AFTER ALL WHAT THE FRICK AMRILLIER.

A bit of music to while away the time. A little laughter, a little kindness. Patience, and a reason for keeping on. That'd be love, maybe.

I don't KNOWWW chat Marillier has me just kind of lying on the floor having thoughts that's crazy. And I was sorely jebaited... Fainne is a fascinating protagonist, it turns out... I really do not know if I like the conceit of this villain... I did see the final revelatory twist coming in the prophecy... I'm not sure I like the ending, but I don't know that there was another one to be had. Perhaps she could have gone through with killing Darragh, but I think because it is Marillier and this is straight romance, too, there was absolutely no possibility of that happening + Fainne's arc is love.
It is mostly just because so much of this trilogy has been the driving on of the "prophecy," the Fair Folk and the Old Ones playing only by fairytale logic, that is the deep, great mystery of the piece -- and Liadan broke the rules, and things have changed in undefinable ways. I really do love what Marillier did with the shifting of the prophecy in this book and how that plays out within/out the rules. I like Johnny's character sooo much thumbsup however it does drive me insane sometimes because so much of it feels deus ex machina -- less so in this book bc this is Fainne under her grandmother's manipulation finding her own path -- but it is enough to be frustrating at points. I do not think that Oonagh's entire deal is quite as believable in this one, but it was horrifying start to end the acts committed, the deeds done.
icl I am a sucker for the "it was you all along" trope but also it felt INSANE that Darragh never stopped following Fainne through it all like I know hey this is a romance novel at its heart but. AUHAFHOWUGHWHWIEFFHAHF. crazy he clocked the amulet though.

LOTS of mixed feelings overall but the saga is done and it is strangely wonderful seeing old familiar faces I am sappy although I have never wanted to sock a man in the face more than Eamonn and Liaden intrigues me and I like this Bran MUCH more than in the previous book -- hello Conor and hello Finbar. I like Sean as lord of Sevenwaters. The children are wonderful of course because that's the point but I cannot lie the fact that Marillier's girls are all like 15-16 is terrifying when you put them next to the 'children' who are only a few years younger girl you are all teenagers maannnn. Maybe I am too old for this (I am not this is just ridiculous)

it is 10pm I have to be awake at 5:30am for horse show and they are throwing a literal rave right outside my door. I am crashing out in new and interesting ways. show less

Easily my favorite of the three--I enjoyed Fainne's story and characterization, and found myself empathizing with her and rooting for her no matter how difficult her choices got. I found Darragh to be the only low point; their relationship is patchy and he comes off looking a little creepy--not to mention that he would have saved everyone a lot of bother if he had just listened to Fainne when she told him to let her do what needed to be done!

It was nice to read the ending to the trilogy, and to revisit the world of Sevenwaters, but I didn't really like Child of the prophecy that much. The truth is, Fainne simply is not the heroine that Sorcha or Liadan were. Where you cannot help but cheer them on, with Fainne, you're reduced to shoutin at her to turn around. And that takes 60% of the book. Sure, she is misguided, and the bad things she does, she does under duress. But does that mean she cannot help it? Her first evil act ends in death. Perhaps that was an accident, but does that mean she was not culpable? She knows she is being forced to do something evil, something she doesn't want to do. So does she take care, to do the minimum of damage? Ok, she plans to turn the girl show more back. But she changes her in a FISH! That is cruel to begin with. The transformation perhaps she was forced to and that is bad enough. But then you pick an animal that is absolutely helpless and out of its element, you pick an animal that cannot run, that cannot BREATHE! That was cruel and it was HER idea. Then the second time. One might think that after the disastrous events of the previous time, Fainne would take more care. Instead she is careless and another disaster happens. Of course she feels remorse. Somehow I don't completely buy it, though. Fainne keeps saying that it is her fault, even though she didn't mean to do it. Sounds more like a reminder to us, a nudge from the author to make sure we don't loose our sympathy for her. Quite frankly, I didn't have much to begin with. I also thought Fainne was taking her sweet time before realising that protection of her father cannot remain an excuse forever. At some point the horror you're committing starts to outweigh the horror you're preventing.
Finally Fainne does turn around, but even then, I felt she could have been more. For being a strong sorceress, a bit more fireworks and awesomeness would have been nice. And on top of that, I didn't like her boyfriend either. Mostly because he keeps telling her she cannot take care of herself, the little prick. And then he gets in her way and ruins her plans, all in the name of perseverance and love. Eugh.

No, this was not the best of the books for me. I liked the Foimhore, I liked Liadan's healer daughter, I liked seeing more of Liadan herself and Bran, and the life they made for themselves. So I'll give it a few stars, but this was not the ending I was hoping for... show less