Foxmask

Rating:
Summary: fresh medieval Nordic world tale
Review: At the top of the world, Norseman Eyvind met and married local Celtic seer Princess Nessa, but the couple and their loyal followers had to struggle to survive the betrayal of his best friend Somerled (see WOLFSKIN). Several years have passed since Somerled was exiled.

Widow Margaret raised her son Thorvald. He learns that his biological father was not his mother's deceased husband, but instead is the traitor Somerled. Needing to learn more about his patriarchal heritage, Thorvald goes on a quest to find his sire while wondering if he might be a murderous chip off the old block.

Sam the fisherman takes him to look for his father, but at sea both are shocked to find a stowaway, the daughter of Eyvind and Nessa, Creidhe, who loves Thorvald. When they are shipwrecked on an island beyond the known world, Asgrim, leader of the Seal People, provides hospitality to the trio. The tribe has terrible troubles as a malevolent force is killing their newborns. Everyone feels Asgrim's son caused the curse when he kidnapped the prophet the Foxmask. Believing that Asgrim is Somerled, Thorvald joins their cause not knowing what the islanders plan to do to Creidhe.

This sequel starts fast with the sea voyage, decelerates to introduce several subplots on the island of the Seal People, but then picks up speed when the various storylines converge. Thorvald is an intriguing soul struggling to find his identity. Creidhe is his key causing Thorvald to choose between his father and the young woman he loves. By moving to another locale, introducing a new tribe and the next generation, Juliet Marillier furbishes a fresh tale in her medieval Nordic world.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Foxmask
Review: Beautifully written story picking up 18 years after Wolfskin. In this novel, Marillier devils in the lives and relationships of the grown children. Marillier is a true artist as a writer, and even though it slightly, only slightly, lacked the emotional roller coaster found, and therefore expected in all her novels, it is still a novel that cannot be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Love all of Marillier's work!
Review: I have always enjoyed Juliet Marillier's work and Foxmask is no exeception. Although I did not read Wolfskin, the prequel to Foxmask, I had absolutely no trouble getting into the book at all.

The book starts at a steady pace, introducing us to the main characters of the rash and not entirely likeable Thorvald, the charming Creidhe, the sweet and honest Sam, and Eyvind and Nessa who were the leads in Wolfskin.

The story is predictable at times and I could tell what the ending of the story would be like. However, the book was still really enjoyable. Especially with characters like Keeper and Small One, who lent some poignant moments to the story.

Marillier never fails to provide her readers with an exhilirating adventure, and enough romance, in her character-driven books. And for that, Foxmask definitely deserves 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Still a beautiful story...
Review: I loved the first two volumes of the Sevenwaters series. I loved Wolfskin. Of Foxmask, I have the same opinion as I did of Child of the Prophesy - very readable, with well-portrayed characters and a good plot... but it could have been pulled together better.

One mildly disappointing surprise was the slip in the author's treatment of dialogue. I've never known her approach to be less than crisp and poignantly effective. In Foxmask, however, there were instances when a group of exhausted, dirty warriors - good folk, but simple - would be sitting around a fire. Suddenly, one would rise and pronounce a speech fit for podiums and marble halls. Declarations of love, too, seemed somewhat over-dramatized - which shadowed the fact that those scenes really were dramatic and un-trivial. Some of the more significant emotional moments seemed a tad rushed, while some of the inconsequential ones ran a little loose and lengthy.

Nonetheless, the story is still the magical, intriguing, and utterly human tale we have come to expect from this fine writer. It is steeped in history and legend. If our world's mythology had not actually held some of these tales, it very easily could have. Nothing here feels foreign or forbidding.

For those who liked Wolfskin, I will say that the story of Eyvind and Somerled is, indeed, continued and concluded to perfect satisfaction. However, the main focus is on Eyvind's and Nessa's daughter, Creidhe, who follows Margaret's son across the sea, to the Lost Isles, where Somerled might, or might not, have ended his journey. There is quite a complicated web, here, of friendship, abandonment, mislaid trust, dangerous assumptions, ambition, and love. It is impossible to predict, from the first, the pattern of the story. Like life, it takes wholly un-looked-for twists. Because of that, the books is quite difficult to put down until you've turned the last page. I do recommend it, highly.

Rating:
Summary: Lacking where WOLFSKIN was great, but still very good
Review: If you liked WOLFSKIN, make sure you pick up FOXMASK. You'll find out what happens to Eyvind, Nessa, and Somerled, and you'll get an entirely new story concerning thier children -- a story that is almost, though not quite, as cunninly woven as the first one. Like WOLFSKIN, FOXMASK is full of surprising twists, tearing emotions, and interesting characters, but it lacks two elements that made WOLFSKIN such a superlative read.

First of all, the dialogue and pacing of events is abrupt and almost stilted for the few several chapters. The reader gets a sense that the author turned in a good first draft for publication...until suddenly you're wound into the story and the writing is as smooth and accomplished as ever. Perhaps Ms. Marillier took a little while to get back into it herself.

Second, while I was neatly swept away by the story and nearly cried twice, the raw emotional power I consider to be one of Ms. Marillier's trademarks (displayed so well in her four previous books as to have me weeping on finishing certain chapters and left with emotional echoes all day) is completely missing from FOXMASK.

While neither of these faults makes FOXMASK anything other than a very good read, they do unfortunately assure that it is not quite in the same incredible class as the rest of Ms. Mariller's work.