Reviews

The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

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tdouty97's review against another edition

3.0

This was good, if a bit pulpy at times. I'm not really sure how I feel about the depiction of native people in this, but it was nonetheless entertaining.

misseli's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

dread's review

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0.25

This was by far the worst book I have ever read. I was drawn in by the plot, but this book was awful. I thought the author discussed Indigenous culture in an extremely obtuse way, trying to weave it into the plot naturally then referring to Native customs as "Indian" the entire book. At times it felt like she was using Jacob's Indigenous identity to vilify him as a character. Each chapter ends with some extremely corny line; I was constantly cringing. The Hans Anderson inserts were unnatural and unnecessary. Finally, I have never despised a main character more. The main character Helena is a completely self-absorbed, immature waste of a protagonist. <Spoiler, kind of > She spends the entirety of the book hating her mom who was kidnapped and adoring her murderous, sadistic dad. She talks about going to therapy so you'd think she'd have worked through all of this Stockholm Syndrome by now since she's an adult, or at least that her inability to do so would be woven into the plot, but nope. Her being so unsympathetic and cruel like her dad would have been a cool plot point if it was fleshed out more and there was some resolution to it, but I truly think the author was trying to write her as a good character..? Also, her weird, cool girl/tomboy personality is annoying. I stuck it through thinking there would at least be a good twist, but it ended predictably. Please don't read this book.