A review by myjourneywithbooks
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
4.0
I didn't really know anything else about the book when I started reading it, so the Irish setting came as quite a pleasant surprise. I loved the descriptions of the surroundings throughout the book and the details on the forest setting made me feel like I was right there myself!
The characters were so well crafted, especially Sorcha and her brothers. Sorcha's feelings, mainly of desperation and helplessness, during her quest were expertly conveyed and I couldn't help admiring her for her resilience in the face of all the obstacles and setbacks she suffered. One of the things I loved about Sorcha is that she's not a "badass heroine" like those spilling out of books today, but she still exhibits a great amount of strength in her own quiet way. Speaking of which, I thought I should put in a trigger warning here for a horrific rape scene about halfway through the book which can be quite difficult to read.
I loved that the story centered around the task Sorcha had to complete, and also that things never seemed to fall into place easily. The romance in the story was slow to develop and wasn't guilty of any of those cringe-worthy tropes like insta-love, for which I was very grateful.
If you'd like an old-timey fantasy novel filled with magic and a bit of Irish folklore mixed in, I'd definitely recommend this one. It is quite a slow read though, so be warned!
Now if only it wasn't so difficult to find the next two books in the series!
The characters were so well crafted, especially Sorcha and her brothers. Sorcha's feelings, mainly of desperation and helplessness, during her quest were expertly conveyed and I couldn't help admiring her for her resilience in the face of all the obstacles and setbacks she suffered. One of the things I loved about Sorcha is that she's not a "badass heroine" like those spilling out of books today, but she still exhibits a great amount of strength in her own quiet way. Speaking of which, I thought I should put in a trigger warning here for a horrific rape scene about halfway through the book which can be quite difficult to read.
I loved that the story centered around the task Sorcha had to complete, and also that things never seemed to fall into place easily. The romance in the story was slow to develop and wasn't guilty of any of those cringe-worthy tropes like insta-love, for which I was very grateful.
If you'd like an old-timey fantasy novel filled with magic and a bit of Irish folklore mixed in, I'd definitely recommend this one. It is quite a slow read though, so be warned!
Now if only it wasn't so difficult to find the next two books in the series!