I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. It was quick paced and such an exciting easy read. Really enjoyed seeing more of characters that were involved with Luke's life previously. It was so easy to fall into this world. Will probably reread again several times. ( )

I won this Book through Early Reviewers. At first I was disappointed that this was book 3 but I did not have any issue following the plot or characters. This is a uniquely dark and twisted book that had plenty of action. ( )

Literary Merit: Great
Characterization: Good
Recommended: Yes, stands alone well. Better if you have the first two in trilogy.
Reading Level: Grades 9-12

In this gripping third installation of Hunt's trilogy, Luke and girlfriend Elza wake up running in the forest from an event that neither can recall. Soon after, the whole town of Dunbarrow is immersed in fog, a sign that Deadside is meshing with the goings on in the real world. These two returning characters must unite with unlikely comrades in an effort to defeat the great spirit at the heart of the disturbance.

Although this is the third book in a trilogy, Hunt gives context from earlier works to assist the reader and drive the momentum. The pages are laced with suspense and action that keep the reader turning pages long into the night. ( )

7 Trees of Stone is the third book in the Luke Manchett trilogy. I won an advance reading copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, which I'd requested even though I hadn't read the first two books. As I'd hoped, Leo Hunt put in enough clues and references that I was able to follow what was going on. I suspected that I was missing connections that I could have made if I had read 13 Days of Midnight and 8 Rivers of Shadow first, but I was still entranced by the beauty of the descriptions and the suspense that built throughout the story.

Teens are the target audience. I haven't been a teen since 1974, but I LOVED this book. I checked out the first two from my local library and then reread this one after I finished them before writing my review.

Our setting is Dunbarrow, a very small, ancient town '...up in the hills of North East England.' Hero Luke Manchett is now 17 years old. He and his girlfriend, Elza Moss, have switched from attending Dunbarrow High School. Considering what happened in the first two books, that was a good move. Luke has been attending Brackford College since September.

Now it's New Year's Eve. Luke and Elza are amongst the townspeople who have noticed a very large number of swans on the river. One could hope that the birds are some natural, if unusual, phenomenon, but we know they're indication that another weird danger is coming. Luke and Elza run into three of their former classmates: Kirk Danknott, Mark Ellsmith, and Holiday Simmon. She's still nice, but the boys seem determined to blame Luke and Elza for the swans. There's also a blue-green comet in the sky. Scientists have worked out that its orbit is so large that it takes centuries to come near the Earth.

Luke's mom, Persephone Cusp, has a new dog. Beatrice, 'Bea' for short, is a border collie-mix rescue who loves her mistress, but not Luke. Persephone also has a boyfriend. If Darren Hart becomes her second husband, she'll be marrying a chainsaw artist who lives in the woods. His old cottage has no phone, electricity, or gas. (Hope he has running water and a modern bathroom.) His visiting younger sister, Margaux, reads her tarot cards for Luke and Elza. I'd have liked to run screaming from the results, but our heroes are made of sterner stuff. Luke starts to feel sick.

Luke and Elza find themselves in an unfamiliar part of the forest, out of breath, their teeth aching. They have no idea how they got there. Good thing Elza quit smoking a month and a half ago because they'll be doing a lot more running. It's getting foggy. Luke recognizes it as Deadside mist.

Dunbarrow has changed. So has Andy, one of the local ghosts. He doesn't sound like himself at all. That's nothing compared to two hulking Deadside creatures Luke and Elza see roaming around. Dumachus and Titus are hunting their dinner. Guess what's on the menu...

Whatever is going on in Dunbarrow, only six teens are unaffected. The sixth is Kirk's girlfriend, Alice Waltham. Alice hasn't improved at all. If any of them have to die, Alice would be my choice. The scene in the town square is worthy of a horror movie -- a good one, not one of those exasperating efforts that aren't remotely scary. So is the scene that gives us the first hint of what Dunbarrow is in for. If Dunbarrow is to be saved, Luke needs to make another deal with Mr. Berkley. (He's sometimes referred to as the Black Goat. That makes me think of H. P. Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath, 'The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young'.) This time the offer is much bigger than the one Luke was given at the end of 13 Days of Midnight. How is he going to get out of this one?

Chapter notes (the chapters have names, not numbers):

(old year's day)

a. The British have Christmas cake. It's a kind of fruitcake, according to Wikipedia.

b. See the (a glass darkly) chapter of 8 Rivers of Shadow for the time Luke stole Holiday's 'Best of Hannah Montana' DVD.

c. See the (our mutual fiend) chapter of 8 Rivers of Shadow for the time Kirk stumbled across Luke and Elza were summoning a demon.

d. From the dialog, the book Elza lent Luke is Animal Farm by George Orwell. There's an animated film version, too. I recommend reading it anyway, but if you have to write a book report on a classic, that one is short.

e. See the (asphodel) chapter. of 8 Rivers of Shadow for why Luke has only nine fingers.

f. Elza found out she was a descendant of Lilith in the (a glass darkly) chapter.

f. Paradise Lost, Faust, and the Inferno are mentioned. So are Satan: A Semiotic History and Performative Gender in Dante's 'Inferno', which do not appear to be real books.

g. Mr. Berkley appeared in the first and last chapters of 13 Days of Midnight.

h. Ashana and Ilana Ahlgren talked about Luke's mind and the Book of Eight in the
(the shrouded lake) chapter. of 8 Rivers of Shadow.

i. Rapunzel is mentioned.

(the storm):

a. See the (gray skies) chapter of 13 Days of Midnight for the first time Luke spoke to Elza.

b. See the (asphodel) chapter of 8 Rivers of Shadow for when Luke saw black horses with human heads.

(firelight):

a. See the (the lash) chapter of 13 Days of Midnight for that Halloween Party Kirk mentions.

b. See the (barren earth) chapter of 13 Days of Midnight for the crow-eating incident.

c. See the (the devil's footprints) chapter of 13 Days of Midnight for the time Elza split Kirk's lip.

d. See the (opener of the gate) chapter of 8 Rivers of Shadow for how Mark's nose was broken.

(dunbarrow)

a. I guess Luke has forgotten that the name 'barrenwhite tree' was mentioned in the Rite of Return that he performed in the (our mutual fiend) chapter. of 8 Rivers of Shadow. See the (asphodel) chapter of that same book for the incident in the field of the Ravendark Tree. That same chapter includes the snake with human teeth, the Riverkeeper, and the ghoul.

b. Ash told Luke about who the Oracle had been in life in the (a glass darkly) chapter. of 8 Rivers of Shadow.

(wormwood drive)

a. Loved Luke's response to Elza telling him about Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot.

(the manchett host): Sure, Luke had only one ghost when he went into Deadside in 8 Rivers of Shadow, but that was Octavius, who had been a very powerful necromancer in life.

(new year's day): Ha! I knew from following the links to interviews at Mr. Hunt's amusing website that he was an H. P. Lovecraft fan. 'Herbert West–Reanimator' is one of Lovecraft's stories. I first encountered it in More Annotated Lovecraft , edited by S. T. Joshi, and Peter Cannon,. It's a book I recommend for Lovecraft fans because of the interesting information contained in the annotations. Of course I recommend The Annotated Lovecraft for the same reason.

This time the epilogue jumps ahead 15 months. I found it very satisfying. If you have read the first two books and are worried that 7 Trees of Stone is going to be as big a letdown as the ending of Silver on the Tree was for the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper, don't be. I'm even more impressed with the way Mr. Hunt tied up the problems left over from the first two books than I was with how he ended 8 Rivers of Shadow. If you like horror and ghost stories, you should love the Luke Manchett trilogy.

Dog lovers: Not only is their Bea the rescue mutt to appreciate, we learn the fate of Ham from the first two books. I liked it. ( )

Reviewed from e-reader
Please keep in mind that this review is written from an Advance Reading Copy and is not the final product.

A fantasy and an incredible adventure for teens and young adults (as well as this grandmother!).
A couple of young college students are about to witness an extremely unusual event. Will they survive it? First there were the White Swans, hundreds, thousands or more, where did they all come from and what are they trying to do? Not only that but later, where did they go? Very peculiar, at some point they all just disappeared again flying backwards. I love this story already.

This adventurous race against time in the dead of winter is not only hazardous, it is probably even deadly. Who or what is Mr. Berkeley? What debt does Luke owe him and just how dangerous is he or it?

This New Years Eve promises to be the strangest ever, and perhaps the most dangerous. Luke and his friend Elza notice something very weird, fog that is creeping and moving; what is it made of and what is creating its movement? An odd thing in the sky appears to be green flashes, sometimes blue (is that lightning?) Luke and Elza who attend a different college in a new town are desperately trying to get to Dunbarrow to Elza's house where she has bound it with a hazel safety barrier.

It is New Years Eve and everyone is celebrating in the town centre of Dunbarrow. But not all of the celebrating seems right. In fact, they seem to be overtaken by such riotous cheer as to appear to be suffering a plague of insanity! Will New Years Day last forever? Is this the end of Dunbarrow? Not everyone seems affected though, Luke and Elza have just met up with old college friends who don't seem so much crazed, but more nervous and scared, and decide to go with them to Elza's house.

This book is the final novel in the trilogy. The trilogy itself is Thirteen Days of Midnight (Thirteen Days of Midnight#1) began when Luke was just starting college. The second is Eight Rivers of Shadow (Thirteen Days of Midnight #2) and from what I've seen in the final book is a fantastic adventure of twists and turns. This review is based on the final book, almost done, just waiting for the final polishing before publication. If you enjoyed this review, be prepared for the release Seven Trees of Stone in August 2017. From my perspective it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, the first two books are already released, and ready to join the reader for the beginning of the adventure.

I really enjoyed this book, wish I had read the first two in the trilogy, but unfortunately didn't see either one. It would have made this one fantastically exciting. ( )