deathmetalpainter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Confinement, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Murder, War, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, and Death of parent
pennym_'s review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Animal death, Confinement, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Rape, and Violence
katiemcgregor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Daughter of the Forest is filled with atmosphere and slow building. This book takes it's time in everything it does and finds a beautiful rhythm within itself. While the Six Swansfairytale, is not original to this book, Marillier tells it in a way that makes it feel new, yet faithful to the source material. If you're to read any retelling of the story, this one is a great place to start.
Marillier's ability to craft her characters had me feeling their every pain (which there is a lot of) and basking in every joy. She does an incredible job of cultivating palpable relationships between the characters, which I imagine to be especially tricky since our main character, Sorcha, is mute for the majority of the book.
The other thing I'm especially impressed with is how the main villain of this book was portrayed. In some ways he was a bit of a caricature, but I honestly can't complain because Marillier made him so easy to hate.
Daughter of the Forest is a must read for lovers of slow burn and folklore. The Celtic setting is completely immersive and the storytelling is timeless.
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Animal death, Confinement, and Vomit
Minor: War
juliarchetype's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Death, Confinement, Torture, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
btrz7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Injury/injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Violence, and Xenophobia
booksandmo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
matchai's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, War, and Vomit
wee_ramekin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Grief, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
cathuluu's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Confinement
wardenred's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
You will find the way, daughter of the forest. Through grief and pain, through many trials, through betrayal and loss, your feet will walk a straight path.
I have read and enjoyed several other books by Juliet Marillier, but I've been putting this one off for ages because friends warned me there's rape as a major part of the character arc here. It's a triggering subject for me. I don't automatically discard books that deal with the matter, especially if they deal with it respectfully, but I do need to be prepared to read them. Which is why I've waited awhile to read this novel.
This was a pretty heavy read, and not just because of the subject mentioned above. While this is a fairy tale retelling that carries a lot of hope in it, the story goes into a lot of dark places and culminates in a highly bittersweet ending. I greatly admired the protagonist: her willpower, her determination, her quiet strength. I don't think I liked many of the other characters who surround her, so, probably with the exception of Red, Ben, and Lady Anne. The story itself is beautifully told, the historical fantasy setting vividly painted (no one does fairies like Juliet Marillier, I'm convinced), other stories woven into the fabric of the narrative as the characters tell legends to each other, or retell pieces of their own lives as stories and compare the events they go through to patterns from tales.
The tight bonds the heroine has with her brothers are well-explored, not only in the sense of there obviously being a strong familiar love connecting the group of them, but also in the sense that no matter how much they all love and treasure each other and to what great lengths they're willing to go for each other, there's still subtle conflict. Sorcha sacrifices everything to save her brothers, and she has their obvious gratitude, but, without going into too much spoilery detail, there are still two moments in the book where she acknowledges that, with all their love for her, they treat her as a part of their narrative, and more moments where she doesn't acknowledge it but it still happens. That's interesting and realistic and makes everyone more alive, but it's also sometimes hard to read about. But this is the case where "hard to read" actually equals "very well-written," with the way the author draws you in and makes you feel for these characters.
The one small flaw the story had for me was a certain side character who appeared late in the plot and largely turned the tide of events in the heroine's favor. Maybe it's just me, but his timely appearance in the story felt a bit coincidental, and if the character's presence in the storyspace was at least hinted at somewhere around midpoint-ish and he didn't just spring into being when he was needed for the plot to keep going where it's been headed all along, it would have felt more natural.
Overall, this was an engrossing and beautiful read that makes me want to immediately reach for something light and fluffy as a palate cleanser.
Read for the following September 2020 readathons:
- Mythothon3: Animal on the Cover (there's a swan on the cover of the edition I have, and biologically speaking, birds are animals!:))
- I Read Sins Not Tragedies: Retelling
- Demonathon: Intense Love or Friendship
Graphic: Sexual violence and Confinement
Child neglect