Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Daughter of the Forest

Dnf’d at 40%…. Yeah it’s a hard pass from me after reading an incredibly violent gang r*pe of a 14 year old girl while her brothers are forced to watch & the assaulters kill her dog. When will authors stop using violent SA of women as a plot device?? This added nothing to the plot whatsoever & I’m so incredibly angry about it as I was really enjoying this book.

Content Warnings

elderlingfool's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This was a reread for me and I like this book even more now, even though it has faults and some elements I don’t like. This was the first book published by the author and, as such, it’s really impressive.

This historical fantasy novel is a retelling of the Six Swans fairy tale, but expanded and with enough originality added. In this first book of the Sevenwaters series, we follow Sorcha, the seventh child of Lord Colum that looks very much like her deceased mother. Sorcha’s father decides to remarry with a woman called Oonagh that later transforms her brothers into swans. Sorcha manages to escape and The Lady of the Forest, queen of the Fair Folk, tells her that her brothers will regain human form twice a year and that the spell can be undone if she keeps silent and sews six shirts made from a painful nettle plant. Alone on her mission and without the possibility to return home or ask for help, Sorcha is determined to complete the task even when she arrives in enemy territory.

I really like the writing style, even though it can get repetitive at times and fall into the trap of too much telling instead of showing. However, there is enough character complexity and dialogue to make me forgive that.

The characters are great. I especially love the bond between Sorcha and her brothers and how distinct each of them is. Conor is still my favourite though, but I like all of them very much. Sorcha has a quiet strength that some people might not like. She is aware of her limits, especially being so young, and she takes advantage of all the protection she can get. I really liked Lady Oonagh, but Richard is one of the most annoying villains ever and I got tired of his disgusting and repetitive monologues.

There is a romance in this book, but very slow and doesn’t take over the entire plot. However, it happens between a minor and someone who is an adult, which always bothers me. There is also the hint of a marriage between cousins.

This book also has a graphic rape scene. This moment affects the character for the entirety of the story, but it was still too unnecessarily descriptive.

I really like the role of the Fae Folk and how they intervene solely to fulfil their mysterious goals. They aren’t completely good or evil and there is the feeling that they only to what they do to entertain themselves.

Even though this book can be read as a stand-alone there are still some questions left to be answered at the end and I hope the rest of the series provides some answers for I will be continuing it.

Content Warnings