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Artefacts of Power #3

The Sword of Flame

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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.

428 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

12 people are currently reading
586 people want to read

About the author

Maggie Furey

32 books197 followers
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.

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5 stars
612 (29%)
4 stars
756 (36%)
3 stars
537 (26%)
2 stars
118 (5%)
1 star
22 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Charlotte L..
338 reviews144 followers
August 23, 2017
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 !!
Profile Image for Susan.
1,619 reviews121 followers
March 1, 2015
Aurian was so good I expected the rest of the series to be as fun... not so.
Profile Image for the.bookish.mama.lion.
264 reviews7 followers
May 17, 2022
《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
Profile Image for Laucabu.
415 reviews1 follower
May 11, 2024
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.
Profile Image for Bridgina Molloy.
Author 2 books14 followers
February 6, 2019
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.
Profile Image for K.L..
Author 2 books16 followers
July 24, 2021
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
Profile Image for Roberta.
1,411 reviews129 followers
June 17, 2015
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.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ward Bond.
165 reviews
November 2, 2014
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.

Profile Image for Marie.
15 reviews
August 10, 2016
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.
Profile Image for S Pearlyan.
88 reviews34 followers
December 2, 2015
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.
Profile Image for Christopher Dodds.
624 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2014
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.
Profile Image for Jim.
Author 7 books2,089 followers
October 23, 2014
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.
Profile Image for Amy.
903 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2008
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.
Profile Image for Sara.
558 reviews6 followers
February 3, 2016
Lots of fun!!! Now, on to the final book in the series...
Profile Image for Matthew.
62 reviews
June 26, 2013
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.
Profile Image for Lucas Stolk.
8 reviews
February 27, 2015
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.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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