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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cute book. The first half or so seemed kinda repetitive. I liked the frog. Jenna refers to him as her "wise counselor", but he never seemed any wiser than her to me.
I liked the sisters. They were surprisingly distinct; in the original story of the dancing sisters they're basically all identical.
The annoying cousin was written well, and by "well" I mean "infuriating". I had to keep reminding myself that it was a piece of fiction to prevent myself getting physically worked up with how terrible he was. Also, I'm not sure what happened to him in the end of the book.
Overall, definitely a fun book. I hope I can share it with my kiddos.
I liked the sisters. They were surprisingly distinct; in the original story of the dancing sisters they're basically all identical.
The annoying cousin was written well, and by "well" I mean "infuriating". I had to keep reminding myself that it was a piece of fiction to prevent myself getting physically worked up with how terrible he was. Also, I'm not sure what happened to him in the end of the book.
Overall, definitely a fun book. I hope I can share it with my kiddos.
I liked a lot of the fantasy elements, but there was a considerable amount of predictability because of that. I also didn't care for a lot of the mushier plot lines, which is really 75% of the whole plot. I found myself caring more about how the family was going to get through the winter until their father returned and become independent, useful adult women. Instead the real story is just about the dating adventures of the oldest two. Meh.
It's simple, romantic and suspenseful. It's almost like an Irish fairy tale I've once heard about.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
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
One of my all-time favourites that has definitely stood the test of time. It has everything: magic, mystery, old castles, strong female characters, and deep connections to folklore. I reread this as an adult and it still rings beautifully for me.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Headlines:
A flavour of retellings
Dancing sisters
Other folk of many types
Marillier knows how to craft an interesting world to invest the reader from the start. In this duology starter, I found myself in the Transylvanian mountains of Romania, somewhere I've never been in fiction before; so fresh. This story had the flavour of some fairytales but set in it's own unique way, one of the influences was the twelve dancing princesses (but there weren't twelve).
In no surprise to any Marillier fan, the other folk and their world collided with those of the protagonist Jena and antagonist Cezar. Cezar, (deep sigh) was vile in an exponential way as the story developed. Expect to feel shades of patriarchy, misogyny and control. There were many parts of this story with Cezar that enraged me. That said, many of the men in this story were empowering towards women.
Jena and her sisters were a colourful bunch. By the end, I really wanted a Tati story, more of what happened to her in this story and the afterwards, I'm all curious about her life afterwards. Gogu was a great character and although Hollis and I guessed much about this character, the reading of it was still entertaining.
In the other world we met a lot of different folk, dissimilar to her sevenwaters fair folk. The night people were illusively intriguing, I loved the brief pictures and connections between the sisters and Anatoli, Sten and othe dancing partners.
The romp to the end was predictable in some ways and less so in others but it didn't hamper my enjoyment. I'm looking forward to the next book (and hoping my buddy is on board for this soon) and wishing already that there were more than two books in this series.
A flavour of retellings
Dancing sisters
Other folk of many types
Marillier knows how to craft an interesting world to invest the reader from the start. In this duology starter, I found myself in the Transylvanian mountains of Romania, somewhere I've never been in fiction before; so fresh. This story had the flavour of some fairytales but set in it's own unique way, one of the influences was the twelve dancing princesses (but there weren't twelve).
In no surprise to any Marillier fan, the other folk and their world collided with those of the protagonist Jena and antagonist Cezar. Cezar, (deep sigh) was vile in an exponential way as the story developed. Expect to feel shades of patriarchy, misogyny and control. There were many parts of this story with Cezar that enraged me. That said, many of the men in this story were empowering towards women.
Jena and her sisters were a colourful bunch. By the end, I really wanted a Tati story, more of what happened to her in this story and the afterwards, I'm all curious about her life afterwards. Gogu was a great character and although Hollis and I guessed much about this character, the reading of it was still entertaining.
In the other world we met a lot of different folk, dissimilar to her sevenwaters fair folk. The night people were illusively intriguing, I loved the brief pictures and connections between the sisters and Anatoli, Sten and othe dancing partners.
The romp to the end was predictable in some ways and less so in others but it didn't hamper my enjoyment. I'm looking forward to the next book (and hoping my buddy is on board for this soon) and wishing already that there were more than two books in this series.
Wildwood Dancing is very good, but...I didn't love it.
I really wanted to, and I was excited by the raving reviews about the romance and the enchanted other kingdom. The novel definitely features these moments, but it didn't quite deliver 100% for me. I wanted much more of the Other Kingdom than we actually saw, and I found the romance and really the plot in general to be disappointingly predictable.
I also hated the character of Cesar. You're really supposed to as the reader, but I hated him even more cause he took up soooo much attention and bookspace. With him and a couple other plot points, I spent the first half of the book disappointed because it exemplified one of my least favorite tropes: things just went from bad to worse and then to worst.
The story improved in the second half since the plot points that had been dragging on finally came to their respective heads and got resolved. However, it also brought to light another big factor for me liking the story less than I wanted to: the two female leads. This story could have been a fantastic opportunity to celebrate women overcoming all kinds of trials with sisterly help and their own strength and ingenuity. And while there was a bit of that, I felt mostly that the women just suffered more and more without much if any power to fight against the evils around them and then were ultimately only saved because of the men. While I understand that women have been historically mistreated more than men and that individual women do sometimes need the help of others, including men, to stand on their own two feet again, the two most important women in this story felt almost always helpless.
The second book focus more on Paula, perhaps the most promising of the other sisters, as she travels to a country where women's rights are still questioned in the modern day. People say it's as good as or even better than Wildwood Dancing, so I might pick it up at some point. But it's time for me to move on to something I'm hoping will deliver on its promises to a greater degree.
TL;DR: There's some good writing and magic in this story, but not enough for me, and pacing and character problems prevented me from enjoying the book more than I did.
I really wanted to, and I was excited by the raving reviews about the romance and the enchanted other kingdom. The novel definitely features these moments, but it didn't quite deliver 100% for me. I wanted much more of the Other Kingdom than we actually saw, and I found the romance and really the plot in general to be disappointingly predictable.
I also hated the character of Cesar. You're really supposed to as the reader, but I hated him even more cause he took up soooo much attention and bookspace. With him and a couple other plot points, I spent the first half of the book disappointed because it exemplified one of my least favorite tropes: things just went from bad to worse and then to worst.
The story improved in the second half since the plot points that had been dragging on finally came to their respective heads and got resolved. However, it also brought to light another big factor for me liking the story less than I wanted to: the two female leads. This story could have been a fantastic opportunity to celebrate women overcoming all kinds of trials with sisterly help and their own strength and ingenuity. And while there was a bit of that, I felt mostly that the women just suffered more and more without much if any power to fight against the evils around them and then were ultimately only saved because of the men. While I understand that women have been historically mistreated more than men and that individual women do sometimes need the help of others, including men, to stand on their own two feet again, the two most important women in this story felt almost always helpless.
The second book focus more on Paula, perhaps the most promising of the other sisters, as she travels to a country where women's rights are still questioned in the modern day. People say it's as good as or even better than Wildwood Dancing, so I might pick it up at some point. But it's time for me to move on to something I'm hoping will deliver on its promises to a greater degree.
TL;DR: There's some good writing and magic in this story, but not enough for me, and pacing and character problems prevented me from enjoying the book more than I did.