With the first three books in the Sevenwaters series resolving the major plot lines, this installment opens a new arc while maintaining a strong connection to the initial trilogy. While the romantic triangle is a bit predictable, Marillier takes it in unexpected and yet satisfying directions. The author also continues her themes of the consequences of not sharing information, the high cost of lying by omission, the importance of loyalty, and the strength of hope. And at the heart, the indomitable power of love. I am looking forward to continuing this series. ( )

Lacking the scope and depth of character of her earlier Sevenwaters books, I had the feeling here that Marillier's purpose was only to continue the Sevenwaters line rather than tell a story for its own merit. I did love the bit about the changeling, though, and her descriptions of it. ( )

The best parts of this book were the baby changeling and the fact that there is a canonically gay character in the Sevenwaters series now.
The only scenes where I had any reaction to this book involved the changeling because those were sort of dark and the baby made of sticks and leaves created a really creepy image in my mind. I liked that.

Unfortunately, everything else about this book bored me. Clodagh was ok, but I didn't care for Cathal and the romance. We are also back to having a 16 year old girl involved romantically with a man in his 20s in this book, which I was never a fan of. Of course we also had to mention how special Liadan is even though she isn't really in this book. When does that character die so I can be free of this?

This wasn't as bad as "Son of the Shadows", but it was close. Every time Marillier focuses too much on the differences she perceives there are between the sexes she loses me. Every time there is a lot of focus on women just being useful to have children she loses me.

The book would have also been improved if it had been shorter because it was too repetitive. I don't need to read the same thing 3 times just because once it was in someone's head, then spoken aloud and then told to another character that wasn't present to hear it the first time. Maybe if it was a sentence, but not pages of it. Unnecessary.

I really don't know if I should read the other 2 books in the series or even more Marillier books, besides the ones I already read. I keep hoping that the newest books are better so I will at least give them a try. At least to the first books in the newer trilogies. It's a pity because I really like the writing style. However, the plot and characters almost always overstay their welcome. ( )

4.5 stars.
Like the three previous books of Juliet Marrilier's that I have read, I liked this one a whole lot. I don't know how she manages to make her stories so enticing, her characters so real and likeable, her plots crafted so masterfully that you find yourself following it like a dream woven of magic threads. I am head over heels in love with this series. ( )

This book is a welcome return to the classical quest format of the first in the series, and is much stronger than the less structured second and third installments. I enjoyed getting more insight into the Otherworld and its inhabitants, and the main characters were easy to root for. Not the Best Book I Ever Read, but I have no distinct complaints, so it manages four stars.

This concludes my reread of the series; now, on to my first read of the fifth book! ( )