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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Every full moon, Jena and her four sisters cross through the portal in their bedroom into the Other Kingdom and join the magical creatures at their dance. But things begin to change, for what seems like the sorse, where their father goes away due to his ill health and the Night Creatures (essentially vampires) join the Full Moon festivities. Along with her best friend--a frog named Gogu who is not what he seems--Jena is launched into an adventure and force to accept the changing world around her. Part "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and part "The Frog Prince," this is a beautiful fairytale, that does, of course, end happily ever after. This is definitely a girl book, and a great read for any age. Jena is a great main character; raised to help her father with the accounts and maintaining their home, she is independent and refuses to relinquish her responsibility or her independence in the face of her domineering cousin. Even in her "happily ever after," when she marries her other cousin, she maintains this role. My only dislike was her older sister, Tati, who represented the weaker female, who would literally let herself waste away to nothing without her love.
relaxing
medium-paced
This book was infuriating and strange and lovely. The Other World was my favorite place and I'm mad I didn't get to go dancing with Grigori as a child. The love stories even worked for me, which is rare! But still this book felt... lacking somehow.
First, the villain goes from well-meaning but obviously wrong to a downright evil tyrant. It was hard to understand his motivations and he went from being frustrating and somewhat scary to being a cartoonish portrayal of a toxic man. It just didn't feel real.
The main character had exactly no personality. She was made up of worrying about her sisters and carrying around a frog. I know she's supposed to like business and be spunky and independent, but I think it's lost in the narrative about Sorrow and the other sister.
This story really has two sub-stories - Sorrow and the one sister, and the story of Gogu. While I found them both to be fine, I felt the Sorrow story really overshadowed the story of Gogu, and that felt weird.
It was a beautiful book and I felt things for the characters - frustration at the main villain, sadness when the father was dying, the weird manic joy of a moon at the Other World. I can't explain why this book was good the same way I can explain why it wasn't. It just connected with me in some ways.
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Okay so... there was a lot of things I didn't like. But overall, I did enjoy reading it. It didn't drag on and the Other World was captivating.
First, the villain goes from well-meaning but obviously wrong to a downright evil tyrant. It was hard to understand his motivations and he went from being frustrating and somewhat scary to being a cartoonish portrayal of a toxic man. It just didn't feel real.
The main character had exactly no personality. She was made up of worrying about her sisters and carrying around a frog. I know she's supposed to like business and be spunky and independent, but I think it's lost in the narrative about Sorrow and the other sister.
This story really has two sub-stories - Sorrow and the one sister, and the story of Gogu. While I found them both to be fine, I felt the Sorrow story really overshadowed the story of Gogu, and that felt weird.
It was a beautiful book and I felt things for the characters - frustration at the main villain, sadness when the father was dying, the weird manic joy of a moon at the Other World. I can't explain why this book was good the same way I can explain why it wasn't. It just connected with me in some ways.
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Okay so... there was a lot of things I didn't like. But overall, I did enjoy reading it. It didn't drag on and the Other World was captivating.
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An excellent re-working of the fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." The writing was great, the plot compelling, and I felt strongly about all the characters. It was easy enough to slip in and out of, and quite enjoyable. My one complaint was that I felt that the actions topped on page 350, but the book continued for another 50 pages after that. However, I don't think that would bother as many people as it did me, and the rest was just amazing, so my rating is still 5/5 stars.
Loosely based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, among other fairy tales, Wildwood Dancing is the story of five sisters who disappear into The Other Kingdom for a fairy revel every full moon night. But when their father leaves them alone to spend the winter in another city, their cousin, Cezar, realizes something is going on and starts making their lives difficult.
So maybe there's nothing deep or thought-provoking here. This was still a hugely fun book. It's pretty obvious that this is a re-telling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but there are some other fairy tales thrown in. I enjoyed seeing how all of them fit together to make this tale.
Jena is the second-oldest sister and the narrator of the book. I loved her. I have noticed in Marillier's other books that her female characters rock, and this one isn't any different. She's intelligent, capable, caring, but also maybe a little blind and naive about some things. Her sisters are a little bit of a disappointment. They don't really have huge roles to play, so they fall more into stereotypes. The pretty one. The smart one. The flirt. The baby. But for me, that just fell right into the spirit of a fairy tale. If you really think about it, aren't they generally peopled with stereotypes that prevent a lot of needless explanation?
Cezar was bad enough for me to really despise him, but he didn't cross this weird line I have where I hate the bad guy too much. He was an insufferable, chauvinist prick who infuriated me, but at the same time I loved it. Go figure.
Once I realized that there were so many stories being woven together to make this one, I started to worry a little that there was no good way to wrap it up. But it all comes together in the end. I do have one or two lingering questions that I would like to have answered, but that's just me. Everything really does wrap up nicely in the end.
If you love fairy tale re-tellings, go pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.
So maybe there's nothing deep or thought-provoking here. This was still a hugely fun book. It's pretty obvious that this is a re-telling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but there are some other fairy tales thrown in. I enjoyed seeing how all of them fit together to make this tale.
Jena is the second-oldest sister and the narrator of the book. I loved her. I have noticed in Marillier's other books that her female characters rock, and this one isn't any different. She's intelligent, capable, caring, but also maybe a little blind and naive about some things. Her sisters are a little bit of a disappointment. They don't really have huge roles to play, so they fall more into stereotypes. The pretty one. The smart one. The flirt. The baby. But for me, that just fell right into the spirit of a fairy tale. If you really think about it, aren't they generally peopled with stereotypes that prevent a lot of needless explanation?
Cezar was bad enough for me to really despise him, but he didn't cross this weird line I have where I hate the bad guy too much. He was an insufferable, chauvinist prick who infuriated me, but at the same time I loved it. Go figure.
Once I realized that there were so many stories being woven together to make this one, I started to worry a little that there was no good way to wrap it up. But it all comes together in the end. I do have one or two lingering questions that I would like to have answered, but that's just me. Everything really does wrap up nicely in the end.
If you love fairy tale re-tellings, go pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated