The Light-Bearer's Daughter

I’ve very slowly been making my way through Melling’s The Chronicles of Faerie, and I thought this was the last one – it turns out I am wrong (thankfully) and there is one more after this one. (AND it takes place in Canada!) Huzzah!

I absolutely love the way Melling portrays Faerie in her books. Yes, it is dangerous… but it’s not nearly as dark a lot of modern faerie stories. Instead, it’s more like the fantasy novels I read when I was a kid. In fact, this one reminded me a lot of a cross between one of the Narnia books and The Neverending Story.

As with the two previous books, Dana is someone we haven’t met before – but it sounds like the last book in the series will tie all of the characters together. There was something show more about Dana that was absolutely charming and adorable, and she won my heart immediately. She has so much sweet innocence and yet was still able to handle the scariness that Faerie had to send her way. I love the way that we had the opportunity to see the wonders of Faerie through her eyes.

We also got to see Honor briefly, whose twin was the main character in The Summer King. Honor is a queen in Faerie – married to the Summer King, and we get to see how a human can also be a fae, how she forgets some things about her human nature when she’s fae and forgets other things about fairies when she’s human.

I’ve said this before, but Melling’s stories are wonderful because of how much they draw on Irish folklore. Her fey are extremely traditional, which is a huge difference from a lot of contemporary stories about fey. While it can be fun to have something new thrown in the mix, sometimes more traditional stories have so much more charm.

The Bottom Line
This was definitely a highly enjoyable book, and I am really looking forward to the last book in the series. I would recommend it to fantasy fans who are looking for something that is a little bit truer to traditional folklore. show less

This is the third book in Melling's Chronicles of Faerie series; I had read and really enjoyed the first two a couple of summers ago, but put off this one largely because it was only available in hardback (I actually purchased the remaindered hardback, but somehow the bulk discouraged me from picking it up. Or something).

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed in this one compared to the first two. It took a long time to get started, largely because the short chapters following the main character initially alternated with slow-moving chapters about larger events that were described in a fairly distant tone. We heard about some sort of evil being that was slowly gaining in power, and about some other being that was trapped by spells under a show more mountain and was slowly gaining consciousness. I think I would have preferred to experience the story more fully from the point of view of the protagonist, rather than being fed external information in what I found a fairly uninteresting fashion.

I also found it a bit jarring when one of the faerie characters reverted to human form and spoke in American English, which detracted a lot from my attempt to be immersed in another world. And I couldn't believe that the major reveal on page 260 of 330 was partially spoiled by the title! That was a poor choice.

Still, I did eventually get caught up in the story, and I find myself wanting to read the next book in the series, so I must have enjoyed it well enough. I'd certainly recommend first two books, The Hunter's Moon and The Summer King, and if you liked those then you'll probably want to continue on. I think the first books were written a fair bit earlier, though (something like 1994 and 2000 compared to 2008), so that might explain the difference in quality. Or maybe I was just in a bad mood this time. show less

This book falls in the middle for me; it wasn't as bland as "Hunter's Moon," but not quite as engaging as "The Summer King."

Dana Faolan is upset with her father's news that they are leaving Ireland for Canada. She cannot shake the feeling that her mother, who disappeared when she was young, is still out there somewhere. So when the High Queen of Faerie (Honor from the previous book), comes asking that she deliver a message to the ancient wilderness king Lugh, Dana accepts.

There are brand new mythological creatures and figures here, and I enjoyed that. I also enjoyed some of the messages about the environment, and finding your own identity, fighting the demons of your own nature. I agree that the eco-message was a little heavy-handed, show more but it seems authors can never seem to handle that particular subject quite right.

While we get to know Dana quite well, she still wasn't my favorite heroine. Minor characters almost appealed to me more, and they weren't even that well developed, as they were in "The Summer King." I am still anxious to see how all the characters collide in the final installment, "The Book of Dreams." show less

Though this book is not quite as good as the second one, it is definitely better then the first. Though I found it hard to get through sometimes because it was very slow in parts, I enjoyed how it all came together in the end. This novel is truly about fighting your inner demons, and overcoming them to let your light shine through. An almost psychological journey that just shows how much repressed memories control our lives.

Melling has captured the essential elements of fantasy in this third installment of The Chronicles of Faerie, which can be read in any order. Young Dana’s quest is to deliver a message that will save Faerie, but also reunite her with her mother. Two separate worlds intertwine; through magic, Dana sees both worlds. The political undertone is fitting—tree people of Faerie hide behind Eco-Warrior tree huggers in the glen. Melling supplies a backdrop of Irish folklore, fairy tales, myth, and legend, to draw Dana into a world where she might just meet up with her mother again.

Read this book while on a trip to Ireland/Scotland. Didn't enjoy it as much as the previous books by Melling, but the subject matter was interesting as usual. Only wish the setting dealt more with Celtic myths.