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 Fainne, 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 Fainne most cruelly to accomplish her ends, and stops at nothing to see her will done.
Will Fainne be strong enough to battle this evil and save those she has come to love?
I’m truly terrible at finishing series but I’m trying to get better at it! After starting the Sevenwaters series in 2021, I’ve now finished the original trilogy in 2026. It might’ve taken me five years, but I’m very glad that I did manage to finish it.
I liked a lot of things about Child of the Prophecy, but those things also made this one of Marillier’s more stressful and unpleasant books to read, if that makes sense. Fainne spends most of the book desperate, trapped and trying to maneuver her way out of a terrible situation with no good choices, which is inherently stressful to read about. And while Sorcha and Liadan were almost entirely stoic, practical and self-sufficient throughout their own trials of intense suffering, I really like how fallible and vulnerable Fianne feels and how realistically she reacts to her terrible circumstances as a naive and frightened but powerful young woman trying to do her best and not always making the right choices.
Because of how active she is in intimidating and controlling Fainne throughout the book, Lady Oonagh feels so much more malevolent in this book than she did in the previous ones, but also much pettier and grosser. Similarly, Eamonn’s role as a secondary villain really stood out to me – he’s turned into this bitter, desperate, pathetic man obsessed with how Liadan “wronged” him, and the way he consequently treats Fainne is really revolting because it feels like the very real actions of a person who has fallen so low. Marillier’s villains have always felt like one of her weaknesses, so this was a nice change of pace.
One of the things I love about Sevenwaters is how the reader gets to see the characters from previous books aging over time, and Child of the Prophecy did a great job with too. This time, it was particularly lovely to see how Liadan and Bran have managed to HAVE IT ALL – an English manor, a secret warrior training island, and lots of kids, while remaining a power couple! We get to see what’s become Bran’s band of warriors, as well as the surviving brothers who were originally turned into swans all those decades ago. One of my biggest complaints about Son of the Shadows was how Liadan’s sister/Fainne’s mother Niamh was married off against her will, and there is a lot more time spent here exploring how that impacted her and her lover/Fainne’s dad, as well as how much her surviving family members regret it and miss her. Fainne’s distant memories and feelings about her mother are some of the most moving parts of the book. Those who have passed away are still very present in the legacy they left and the ripple effects they have into Fainne’s life, even if she never knew them or barely remembers them.
Besides the fact that this was the least pleasant of the trilogy for me to read, my main critique is that Child of the Prophecy has my least favorite romance. Darragh is a lovely person and the romance has some sweet moments, but it’s extremely repetitive; Darragh follows Fainne and tries to help her, only for her to try to push him away over and over again to keep him safe. This creates a disappointingly one-note dynamic and it also makes it kind of hard to swallow Darragh’s unending patience and loyalty to her. I’d say this romance was perfectly fine as far as fantasy romances go as a whole, but compared to what I know Marillier is capable of, it definitely let me down.
I’m going to read the fourth Sevenwaters book (the first of the modern trilogy) because I’ve heard some good things about it, especially the romance, but I’ve heard that the last two are much weaker. Luckily, I have many other Marillier books that I want to get to, so it wouldn’t be the end of the line if I decided I didn’t want to finish Sevenwaters off. I’d be curious to hear people’s thoughts and suggestions either way.
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