Helpful Score: 4
I love the Sevenwaters trilogy! The first book is a tear jerker for me however I really loved them all and this is another one of my series that I can't bear to part with! If you like this series you would also probaly like the Kusiel's Dart, Chosen, and Avatar series.
Helpful Score: 3
A fantastic sequel to the first book you can't help but fall in love with the next generation of Sevenwater children. This is my favorite of the series, for nothing is what it seems.
Helpful Score: 3
Almost as good as Daughter of the Forest (the first book), but I personally found the story of Sorcha more compelling than Liadan. Still, an excellent book with top-notch writing.
Helpful Score: 3
I liked Marillier's Daughter of the Forest a lot better; I liked the character development in this story but found the plot overly steeped in Druidic history and magic.
Helpful Score: 2
This is book 2 of the Trilogy and just as good if not better then the 1st book!! The only problem... there's only 1 book left!!
Helpful Score: 2
Second book in "The Sevenwaters Trilogy." "Daughter of the Forest" was the first in the series and I've already sent that to someone. I loved this series. "Child of the Prophecy" is the third book but I haven't read it yet.
Helpful Score: 1
I am not generally a fan of fantasy, but these books are absolutely addictive! This is 2nd in the series, and so far my favorite of the three. I would recommend these novels for anyone, no matter what your fiction preference is!
I read the first in the series 6 months ago and loved it. I have so many books to read and finally got around to reading Son of Shadows, it was just as good as the first one. She is an amazing writer, She can truly spin a story. I ordering the 3rd book Child of the Prophecy immediately! Can't wait yo continue the saga and see how everything works out.
Honna S. (3-little-monkies-mom) reviewed Son of the Shadows (Sevenwaters, Bk 2) on + 4 more book reviews
This book is the second in a trilogy. You don't need to read the first one to be able to follow this book.... but you should. This story has many people from the first book. It is wonderful and sometimes heart-wrenching to see how their lives are progressing. Children are born and grow to take up quests of their own and this book opens up several situations and story lines for the third book. I can't wait to read the third book!
And the story of Sevenwaters continues! Another generation, more twists and turns, fantasy galore, I love it.
This is the second novel, after Daughter of the Forest.
This is the tale of Liadan, a medicinal herbal healer like her mother Sorcha, who gets thrown into an adventure with a bunch of outlaws. She befriends the crew on the way, and creates a strong bond with the leader. A unlikely companionship who comes from different sides of propriety. They struggle against the forces of what is right and proper to the Sevenwaters family - and their own feelings toward each other - and those that are willing to tear them apart and keep them apart at all costs.
Love finds them, and it is stronger than the forces that try to bend their path differently
This is the tale of Liadan, a medicinal herbal healer like her mother Sorcha, who gets thrown into an adventure with a bunch of outlaws. She befriends the crew on the way, and creates a strong bond with the leader. A unlikely companionship who comes from different sides of propriety. They struggle against the forces of what is right and proper to the Sevenwaters family - and their own feelings toward each other - and those that are willing to tear them apart and keep them apart at all costs.
Love finds them, and it is stronger than the forces that try to bend their path differently
Constance T. (shadowtheleopard) reviewed Son of the Shadows (Sevenwaters, Bk 2) on + 11 more book reviews
I loved this book, I accidentally read them out of order and read book 3 second, but I knew the characters from book 1 well enough so it didn't matter. Each story is self contained and has a beginning and an end. I might read it a second time I liked it so much.
Stephanie S. (skywriter319) -
I had heard that, while the first book in the Sevenwaters series, Daughter of the Forest, was pretty good, the second book, SON OF THE SHADOWS, would blow me away. I admit to a bit of good-natured skepticism when I was told this. Okay, yes, Daughter of the Forest was good, but its still the same author writing the second book, which is set in the same world, and has similar characters with similar problems, right? But no, somehow, miraculously, in an act that seems to defy the unstated law of sequels (Thou shalt never be good as the first book), SON OF THE SHADOWS is an astounding original work of fantasy that sweeps the literary awards in the categories of characters, plot, pacing, and readers emotional investment.
Daughter of the Forest was constrained by it being a retelling, albeit a lush and engaging retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, melancholy and terrifying and inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time. However, Marillier hits her writing prowess out of the ballpark when she strays away from the retelling and makes the world she created fully her own. SON OF THE SHADOWS has everything a die-hard fantasy fan will want from a fantasy: a strong protagonist, an epic romance, complex political dynamics, nasty villains. Daughter of the Forest focuses more on Sorcha and her difficult journey to break the curse set on her brothers, whereas in SON OF THE SHADOWS, Marillier takes her time in exploring and expanding the world in and around Sevenwaters. In this book, we can feel the motions of the operations of an estate: its fluid routine under strong leadership, and its heart-wrenching struggles when the leadership is being bombarded by political manipulations and betrayals.
I love that the delicate nature of political relationships is explored so thoroughly in this book. Liadan, Sean, and Niamh being children related to the lord of the manor, it is inevitable that their destinies would involve how Sevenwaters relations with its neighbors and strategic allies must evolve. The lovely thing about this being the second book in the series is that we can already sympathize with Liadans parents, Sorcha and Red, from reading about them in the first book; thus, they never end up assuming the antagonist parent role. So much of this book revolves around the Sevenwaters inhabitants political relationships with others: Liadan and neighboring lord Eamonn, Niamh and her unhappy strategic marriage to an ally, and so on. I found it utterly engrossing how Marillier deftly weaves these complex strings of human desires and ambitions so that no one is entirely good, no one entirely bad.
But I havent even gotten to what may arguably be the best part of the book yet! Liadans and Brans romance isepic. There is no other word for it. It sweeps you off your feet in a violent whoosh and keeps you dizzily, giddily swinging through the air, all the while knowing that you are safe, because the person holding onto you is one whom you can trust with your life. That was what it felt like for me when I was reading about their romance. Liadan and Bran: such seemingly incompatible people at first, and yet they share the same values, both have the same good intentions and dreams that they must fight and fight and fight in order to achieve. So theyand I, as the readerare swept away with the unexpectedness of their connection to one another; and then the incredible trials they must go through in order to have even the barest hope of being happy together is the dizzy, giddy part, pulling the reader along in great breathless gasps, desperate that things might work out for the characters. Finally, no matter how dizzy and breathless and gut-wrenched you may feel along the way, you know that you are safe, because Liadan and Bran are both such fundamentally good, strong, and loving peopleeven if their life situations do not allow for them to show itthat you can believe that they are, without a doubt, absolutely right for one another, against all the odds.
Whew! I think Im gonna stop there with the review. The more I write, the more I realize I dont think I have the words to express how phenomenal my reading experience of SON OF THE SHADOWS was. Justjust read the series. Read this book.
Daughter of the Forest was constrained by it being a retelling, albeit a lush and engaging retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, melancholy and terrifying and inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time. However, Marillier hits her writing prowess out of the ballpark when she strays away from the retelling and makes the world she created fully her own. SON OF THE SHADOWS has everything a die-hard fantasy fan will want from a fantasy: a strong protagonist, an epic romance, complex political dynamics, nasty villains. Daughter of the Forest focuses more on Sorcha and her difficult journey to break the curse set on her brothers, whereas in SON OF THE SHADOWS, Marillier takes her time in exploring and expanding the world in and around Sevenwaters. In this book, we can feel the motions of the operations of an estate: its fluid routine under strong leadership, and its heart-wrenching struggles when the leadership is being bombarded by political manipulations and betrayals.
I love that the delicate nature of political relationships is explored so thoroughly in this book. Liadan, Sean, and Niamh being children related to the lord of the manor, it is inevitable that their destinies would involve how Sevenwaters relations with its neighbors and strategic allies must evolve. The lovely thing about this being the second book in the series is that we can already sympathize with Liadans parents, Sorcha and Red, from reading about them in the first book; thus, they never end up assuming the antagonist parent role. So much of this book revolves around the Sevenwaters inhabitants political relationships with others: Liadan and neighboring lord Eamonn, Niamh and her unhappy strategic marriage to an ally, and so on. I found it utterly engrossing how Marillier deftly weaves these complex strings of human desires and ambitions so that no one is entirely good, no one entirely bad.
But I havent even gotten to what may arguably be the best part of the book yet! Liadans and Brans romance isepic. There is no other word for it. It sweeps you off your feet in a violent whoosh and keeps you dizzily, giddily swinging through the air, all the while knowing that you are safe, because the person holding onto you is one whom you can trust with your life. That was what it felt like for me when I was reading about their romance. Liadan and Bran: such seemingly incompatible people at first, and yet they share the same values, both have the same good intentions and dreams that they must fight and fight and fight in order to achieve. So theyand I, as the readerare swept away with the unexpectedness of their connection to one another; and then the incredible trials they must go through in order to have even the barest hope of being happy together is the dizzy, giddy part, pulling the reader along in great breathless gasps, desperate that things might work out for the characters. Finally, no matter how dizzy and breathless and gut-wrenched you may feel along the way, you know that you are safe, because Liadan and Bran are both such fundamentally good, strong, and loving peopleeven if their life situations do not allow for them to show itthat you can believe that they are, without a doubt, absolutely right for one another, against all the odds.
Whew! I think Im gonna stop there with the review. The more I write, the more I realize I dont think I have the words to express how phenomenal my reading experience of SON OF THE SHADOWS was. Justjust read the series. Read this book.
A great story line with alot of excitment.
Linda A. (Springfieldreader) reviewed Son of the Shadows (Sevenwaters, Bk 2) on + 458 more book reviews
Good sci-fi
Great read!
Excellent book! Once again Juliet Marillier sucks you into the story with all the great characters. Most of the characters from the first book also make an appearance, or at least are mentioned. Liadan, the heroine, is a mini version of Sorcha, though has to overcome a whole new set of obstacles. Like the first book, you are caught up cheering for her all the way.
