ABOUT THE AUTHOR Juliet Marillier was born in New Zealand and raised in the town of Dunedin, which is known as the "Edinburgh of the South," which explains her love of Celtic mythology. Juliet holds advanced degrees in music and languages, and now lives just outside of Perth, in Western Australia, where she is the mother of two daughters and two sons. Her first book, Daughter of the Forest , was published in 2000 to overwhelming critical and public acclaim. IN HER OWN WORDS "Fantasy is escapist: sometimes we don''t much like the world we live in, so we bury ourselves in a genre which conjures a multitude of worlds. And fantasy can be a substitute: in an age of scientific rationalism and dwindling religious faith, it demonstrates clear moral codes; basic choices between good and evil, explorations of light and dark. Still, that doesn''t explain the fascination tales of the unreal, the imagined, and the Otherworldly have held for folk since well before Spenser or Mallory set quill to paper. Celt and Norseman had their epics of magic and mystery, heroism and romance. The Dreaming stories of Australia''s indigenous people and the Icelandic sagas, the Maori creation myths and the lore of the druids hold universal themes; they make sense of the relationship between man and nature, between man and his own kind.
They are our key to the world around us. Once, we''d have heard these tales around the fire after nightfall. This shadow time was for listening and reflection, and though the world could be confusing, the tales helped explain it. Folk understood their symbolism as they understood the patterns of planting and reaping, storm and calm, birth and death. In the stories, the very pattern and purpose of existence were encapsulated. Times change. The fantasies we read are now highly developed, cunningly crafted, drawing not on a single shared culture but on our multiplicity of backgrounds. Yet at their heart there are the same universal messages; their symbolism is that of our ancient folklore, a powerful code which we still crave, for all our apparent sophistication.
Yes, they entertain and divert; we read them for fun. But in the best of them we recapture something almost lost; a map for our own journey forward." --JULIET MARILLIER ABOUT THE BOOK In this second enthralling book in the Sevenwaters Trilogy, author Juliet Marillier ushers us back into the lush green forests and misty glades of ancient Ireland, to a time of great and sweeping change, when the old ways are forced to retreat in the face of the coming Christianity. Here, in this land of rugged beauty, the age-old battle for humankind''s destiny is fast approaching its turning point, as the Fair Folk spin their wild magic and the prophesies foretold so long ago come bursting dangerously to life. In the first volume of the Sevenwaters Trilogy, Daughter of the Forest , the courageous young woman Sorcha was forced to defeat a sorceress''s curse, sacrificing herself to save her family. In Son of the Shadows , Sorcha now has a family of her own, including a daughter, Liadan. Like her mother, Liadan is both gifted in the arts of healing, and a storyteller of uncommon ability; she is also blessed--or cursed--with visions of great power. Trouble comes to Sevenwaters with word of a band of fearsome mercenaries led by the mysterious Painted Man.
Some whispers claim the fighters are half-man, halfanimal, able to move without a sound and killing all in their path with a cold and brutal efficiency. In a stunning twist of fate, Liadan falls into the Painted Man''s hands, only to find a warrior as fearsome as his legend, and a man far more troubled and complex. As their destinies intertwine with the great changes afoot in their forest sanctuary, Liadan and the Painted Man form a bond that will grow into something more, setting them inescapably onto their paths in the ancient prophesies. Rich in detail and imagination, Son of the Shadows is a powerful continuation of one of today''s freshest and most exciting fantasy trilogies.