The Sword of Flame

Artefacts of Power #3

by Maggie Furey

Armies mass, and men and women must choose sides in the mighty conflict for control of the world and the Artefacts of Power! Though Aurian and her fellow Mage Anvar have escaped the clutches of the dread Archmage, they have yet to lift the curse on Aurian's child, and put an end to Miathan's evil. Only the Sword of Flame, last and greatest of the Artefacts of Power, can help them - but the Sword is hidden. Meanwhile, Death awaits his third and final meeting with the pair...As the Mages set out once more, the world stands poised on the brink of conflict. Miathan is fortifying the city of Nexis and, in the south, the fierce Khazalim are arming for war. The Skyfolk have abandoned their long isolation and the Xandim prepare for their last great ride. Both the Leviathans and the Phaerie have decisions to make which will change their existence forever. The future stands balanced on a knife-edge between hope and destruction. All await the coming of the Sword of Flame - and Aurian.

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Magic, Romance

428 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Maggie Furey was born in North East England and spent most of her adult life residing in County Wicklow, Ireland. She was a qualified teacher, but has also reviewed books on BBC Radio Newcastle, been an advisor in the Durham Reading Resources Centre and organized children's book fairs.

Reviews

[Charlotte L.]

Cette saga n'en finit pas de me séduire ! Tous les tomes sont aussi fabuleux les uns que les autres, haletants, passionnants ... impossible de les lâcher ! Dans ce 3e tome on s'attache encore plus aux nombreux personnages de cette folle aventure, et mille questions se posent sur le dénouement final. J'ai à la fois hâte de lire le 4e et dernier tome (énorme cliffhanger !!) et en même temps je n'ai pas envie de mettre un point final à cette incroyable saga. Je suis fan !!

[Susan]

Aurian was so good I expected the rest of the series to be as fun... not so.

[Laucabu]

Moi qui était hyper enthousiaste à début de ma relecture de la série, j'ai un peu déchanté durant le 2 et 3 car les personnages sont insupportables 🙃
Ils ont tous des coups de colère, qui ne les rendent pas sympathiques à mes yeux. Comment on peut traiter les autres comme ça ?

Et ce qui me dérange aussi, c'est le fait que les méchants sont méchants juste parce qu'ils considèrent les Mortels comme de la merde et qu'ils veulent contrôler le monde... 🤡

La série est vieille et j'étais jeune quand je l'ai lu, donc ça se ressent 😖

Je lirais tout de même le dernier tome, que je n'ai jamais fini et pour qui j'ai fait cette relecture.

[the.bookish.mama.lion]

《Synopsis》
Though Aurian and her fellow Mage Anvar have escaped the clutches of the dread Archmage, they have yet to lift the curse on Aurian's child, and put an end to Miathian's evil. Only the Sword of Flame, last and greatest of the Artefacts of Power, can help them - but the Sword is hidden. Meanwhile, Death awaits his third and final meeting with the pair...

As the Mages set out once more, the world stands poised on the brink of conflict. Miathan is fortifying the city of Nexis and, in the south, the fierce Khazalim are arming for war. The Skyfolk have abandoned their long isolation and the Xandim prepare for their last great ride. Both the Leviathans and the Phaerie have decisions to make which will change their existence forever. The future stands balanced on a knife-edge between hope and destruction. All await the coming of the Sword of Flame - and Aurian.

《Thoughts》
4 stars.

THAT ENDING. Holy moly, I was not expecting any of that to go the way it did. That, my friends, was a cliffhanger.

Other than that, my thoughts on this one are much the same as the first two. I am loving the world, the magic, and the characters.

I do wish the antagonists were more developed. I find them lacking, but there is more than enough to make up for them and there's still enough tension to keep things interesting.

These books are very quick, easy, enjoyable reads and I'm really thankful I chose to give it a try

[Bridgina Molloy]

I did very well at getting through this book until the last two chapters, I'm afraid that I skipped a few pages just to get it done. I don't see myself keeping these books. I've started the last in this particular series of books. I think all bar the first one will make it the second hand shop.

[K.L.]

Aurian and Anvar have pretty much seen it all, from the Winged Folk, to the Horse-Shifter Xandim, and the Fae themselves. Their last task is to get hold of the Sword of Power, for only with that can they save the world from the disaster caused by the power hungry Arch-Mage Miathan

[Lisa]

Intense and lovely!

[Roberta]

Falso finale

Dopo mille peripezie ed avventure in cui i vari personaggi (protagonisti inclusi) si separano e si riuniscono in gruppetti sempre diversi, Aurian torna ironicamente al lago dove è cresciuta per reclamare la Spada di Fuoco.

Nonostante lei sia l'Uno, la Spada per essere reclamata esige un patto di sangue: Aurian deve utilizzare la Spada per uccidere qualcuno che ama, ma ovviamente si rifiuta.

A questo punto entra in scena Eliseth, che dopo aver "congelato" Miathan si è impossessata del Calderone e giunta sul lago ha anche rubato l'Arpa ad Anvar. Utilizzando entrambi tenta di uccidere Aurian ma non ci riesce a causa del suo scarso controllo sui due Manufatti, che creano una voragine temporale in cui cade insieme ad Anvar, Aurian, Schiannath, Chiamh, D'Arvan e Maya, mentre i Phaeries vengono liberati dal loro mondo al di fuori del tempo e riprendono possesso delle loro cavalcature, i poveri Xandim ormai tramutati in semplici cavalli.

Con un colpo di scena la Furey posticipa il finale e lascia spazio per un ultimo volume, nel quale verranno finalmente tirate le somme.

[Ward Bond]

Review

' Rich, colourful, infinitely enchanting...I loved it!' DAVID GEMMELL 'Pure magic...a classic tale of epic fantasy' TODAY

Product Description

Armies mass, and men and women must choose sides in the mighty conflict for control of the world and the Artefacts of Power! Though Aurian and her fellow Mage Anvar have escaped the clutches of the dread Archmage, they have yet to lift the curse on Aurian's child, and put an end to Miathan's evil. Only the Sword of Flame, last and greatest of the Artefacts of Power, can help them - but the Sword is hidden. Meanwhile, Death awaits his third and final meeting with the pair...As the Mages set out once more, the world stands poised on the brink of conflict. Miathan is fortifying the city of Nexis and, in the south, the fierce Khazalim are arming for war. The Skyfolk have abandoned their long isolation and the Xandim prepare for their last great ride. Both the Leviathans and the Phaerie have decisions to make which will change their existence forever. The future stands balanced on a knife-edge between hope and destruction. All await the coming of the Sword of Flame - and Aurian.

[Marie]

I took a long hiatus from this book halfway through and did not miss reading it... I feel like this could have been better if the pacing had been faster. I like stories with detail and multiple viewpoints, but somehow this series is not keeping me as interested as I feel it should. There were only two memorable times in this book that I was excited to see what would happen next and kept the pages turning: Zanna's escape and the last three chapters.

Since I usually cannot stop myself once I have started a series, I will move forward to the fourth and final book, but I sadly do not have high hopes for it.

[S Pearlyan]

So disappointing. This book is unnecessarily long. I really liked Aurian, mostly because it was engaging in spite of all its flaws. Sure, Aurian and her bickering with others annoyed me. But momentum of the book was enough to overlook it. In Harps of winds, Aurian spent way too much discussing and arguing. Again, rest of the book was good enough to pick up the next in line. But now it's just unnecessary conversations and it's starting to drag. Ending was good, but was done in hurry . I might read the next one, but I do not have any high hopes with it.

[Christopher Dodds]

As usual Maggie Fury has done a really good job in creating this world full of good and evil- obviously. Great characters and an continuing storyline that shows although the mages are powerful there are still limits to their abilities which makes them human, and can be prone to making mistakes.
Its a shame that I've only got one more book to read as I've enjoyed reading each book from start to finish.

[Jim]

Actually, I only got part way into it. I didn't have all the books to start, read the first two & was confused reading this one - so confused I put it down. I'll reread the first two at some point & then finish the series. My wife read them all in order & agreed this one was confusing, too. Not a good one to break on. The story line wobbles around a lot. Not a bad series, though.

[Amy]

By this point in the story, we are following a lot of different characters. It still moves at a good pace, but there are times when the reader has to stop and remember the story of that particular character up until that point. Great web of intricacy between characters.

[John]

really enjoyed this.

[Karen Desmond]

4

[Eddie]

Better again than Harp of Wind, the series is getting better to read.

[Katarzyna Ziarenko]

bad ending...

[Sara]

Lots of fun!!! Now, on to the final book in the series...

[Matthew]

A great follow up to the 2 previous books and very much left me wanting to move straight onto the final book of the series to complate the story. Hopefully the 4th book will followin th esame suit.

[Crazy]

Liked it still.

[Lucas Stolk]

This book feels a bit of 'going through the motions' and the end is a serious let down. It seems the creativity was running low.

[Jesse Steinvoort]

see part 2

[Leona]

awsome read them all