Ik vond het een mooi verhaal. Net anders dan de rest en daar moest ik aan wennen. Maar daarna vond ik dat juist de kracht. Een meisje dat minder stevig in de schoenen staat met een achtergrond als de hare is gewoon geloofwaardiger dan nog een heldin die precies weet wat ze wil en wat ze moet doen.
Het zouden 5 sterren zijn geweest als gebleken had dat ik de hele tijd met de slechterik van het verhaal had meegeleefd. ( )

Hija de un amor prohibido entre Niamh y el druida Ciarán, la tímida y solitaria Fainne ha crecido en el exilio, lejos de Sieteaguas. Tras la desaparición de su madre, ha sido educada por su padre, que le transmite todos sus conocimientos de magia. La tranquila vida de Fainne cambiará de rumbo cuando su abuela, la malvada y retorcida Lady Oonagh, la obligue a llevar a cabo una terrible misión. La enviará a la fortaleza de Sieteaguas, de donde procedía Niamh, a vengarse de la familia a la que nunca ha conocido y a destruir a Johnny, el hijo de la profecía. ¿Podrá Fainne sobrevivir a esta batalla de odios tan antiguos y salvar a quienes ama?

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 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.

3.5 stars
I liked it but it was very slow paced and the action seemed to concentrate all at the end. ( )

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 ( )