Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest is a retelling of the Six Swans fairy tale - six brothers are turned into swans by their evil stepmother. Their sister Sorcha flees and must sew six shirts for them out of a barbarous weed in complete silence in order to break the spell. Her journey to complete her task spans years of heartbreak and suffering, and takes her far from her homeland into the land of her enemies, the Britons.

I first read this book in either 2001 or 2002, as a pre-teen/young teen. I picked it up at my local library, where I used to spend everyday after school. I went on to read the rest of the Sevenwaters Trilogy and loved these books so very much. I credit them with getting me into the fantasy genre. I spent a long time away from fiction, not feeling like I had the time to read fiction because who has time to read for fun as a grown up? I'm happy to say I finally found the time to re-read this after a long time away. These are my thoughts re-reading this book after TWENTY (yikes) years:

Juliet Marillier is still a brilliant writer and gifted storyteller. Beautiful, moving prose. Characters you will love with your whole heart and characters you with hate with every fiber for your being.

But I have found that I was not nearly as comfortable with some of the plot points as I was when I first read this book, as a kid. I don't know if this is because some of these things went over my head, if I just forgot the impact they made on me at the time, or if my sensitivity has changed after so much time and life has happened. In any event, here are some major content warnings you should be aware of, that I will put behind a spoiler tag:

This book features graphic sexual assault of a child, animal abuse, and animal death.

These books will always be so special to me. However, they are in the same vein as A Song of Ice and Fire, where very bad things happen to good people with little respite. And that's no longer my idea of a good time. Read with care.

Content Warnings

stephanieroc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

La historia me encantó, el mundo me fascinó y los personajes me atraparon por completo. Tiene ese toque de magia y realismo que me encanta.

Mi única queja sería la edad de la protagonista, considerando el aspecto de la relación amorosa en el libro, y aunque puede ser validado por la época histórica en la que se situa la historia, no diría que es lo más apropiado. Aun así la historia de amor had me in a chokehold.

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accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition

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4.5

I didn't realize that this was a retelling, which was a pleasant surprise! I ended up quite enjoying this, although the romance wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. Very atmospheric, and very tense in the end even though I knew it couldn't end awfully. I would check the content warnings though, it got heavy.

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natatouille's review against another edition

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5.0

This was beautiful but it hurt. I think it’s worth it.

The first part was slow, the rape scene and animal death were brutal, but Sorcha’s story just gave me so many heart cramps it was great and terrible and I loved it.

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missgarceau's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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aster_isk_m's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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theavidbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

This book was truly heart-wrenching to read. If it's possible to both love and despise a book for the pain it puts you through, this is it. There was so much sadness that I really had a difficult time reading this... Can't say enjoyable but I also can't say that it wasn't a good book.

The writing is solid, and does a very good job of pulling you in and keeping you there. The characters are wonderfully written.

My biggest struggle with this book (and the reason I can't rate it) would be the abundance of pain and suffering. It almost seems like overkill?

There is a rather explicit rape scene (first person POV, MC).

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clairereadstoomuch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Questo libro è stata una piacevole sorpresa.

E’ un romanzo dall’impianto fiabesco, la cui struttura segue perfettamente nella sua tradizione. Padre rimasto vedovo con sette figli di cui una sola figlia, che poi si sposa eventualmente con una strega cattiva di cui è stregato.
Nel vano tentativo di ribellarsi, i sei fratelli saranno anch’essi vittima di un incantesimo. Solo Sorha, la protagonista, riesce a salvarsi grazie al sacrificio dei fratelli. Sarà lei infatti l’unica a poter spezzare l’incantesimo. A costo di grandi sacrifici, del suo silenzio e di duro lavoro, Sorha si imbarca quindi in questo viaggio per riavere i fratelli.
Fedele alla struttura fiabesca, la povera Sorha ne passerà di tutti i colori prima di raggiungere il suo obiettivo. Ma non temete, perché tra la tante peripezie, Sorha troverà l’amore. Un amore proibito, impossibile e di convenienza che salverà la vita ad entrambi, in più modi.

All’inizio ho avuto un po’ di difficoltà ad entrare nella storia per lo stile narrativo è molto asciutto e crea una distanza notevole con quanto narrato. Forse è il prodotto dei suoi tempi o del genere testuale al quale appartiene ma alla fine dei conti, mi sono trovata grata per questa scelta. Se fosse stata una narrazione ricca di pathos, sarebbe stata una lettura parecchio pesante da digerire.

Superato questo gradino però la lettura scorre veloce, coinvolti tra le disavventure di Sorha, risulta veramente difficile metter giù il libro. E’ così che mi sono trovata da metà alla fine praticamente in un solo pomeriggio.

Ho davvero apprezzato il rapporto che Sorha ha con i fratelli, mi ha davvero emozionato. Per non parlare dell’interesse amoroso che pur attraverso la freddezza dei toni della narrazione riesce a mostrare tutto il suo interesse e amore.

“non è importante che tu sia qui o altrove, perché la tua immagine è davanti ai miei occhi in ogni momento. Ti vedo nella luce sopra l'acqua, nei giovani alberi che oscillano alla brezza di primavera. Ti vedo nelle ombre delle grandi querce, e sento la tua voce di notte, nel chiurlo del gufo.
Sei il sangue che mi scorre nelle vene, e il battito del mio cuore.
Sei il mio primo pensiero del mattino, e il mio ultimo sospiro prima di prender sonno. Tu sei... tu sei fibra delle mie fibre, respiro del mio respiro.” (ho urlato)

La cosa che mi ha incuriosita subito di questo romanzo è stato l’impianto folkloristico irlandese dal quale l’autrice ha attinto per la creazione di questo mondo. Ambientato nell’Irlanda del X secolo, risulta veramente facile credere alle storia di Sorha, di maledizioni e del popolo fatato.

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