Sonderbooks Book Review of

by Juliet Marillier

Child of the Prophecy

by Juliet Marillier

Review posted December 17, 2011.
Book Three of the Sevenwaters Trilogy
TOR Fantasy, New York, 2002. 596 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2011: #5 Fantasy Fiction

Child of the Prophecy is the third book in Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy. She has managed to make each book completely different from the others, each romance totally distinct, and yet all of them equally brilliant.

I expected this third book to be all about the obvious child of the prophecy, Johnny, who was born in the second book and foretold in the first book. Instead, the book is about Fianne, who is the granddaughter of the evil sorceress Oonagh, who enchanted the brothers into swans in the first book. Lady Oonagh still lives, and now she is sending her granddaughter to Sevenwaters to finally get vengeance and destroy the people of Sevenwaters.

However, Fianne is a daughter of Sevenwaters herself. She finds herself loving the family that she meets for the first time. But if she reveals anyone she loves to her grandmother, her grandmother will use that love against her by attacking them.

It was strange to read this book and find yourself rooting for Fianne -- even knowing that she was a tool in the hands of the sorceress.

Juliet Marillier brings the book and the trilogy to a wonderful and satisfying conclusion, weaving another magnificent tale in this third book.