A review by bookaquarius
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I made it through Daughter of the Forest and I really enjoyed it! We follow the protagonist from childhood into adulthood as she goes on a long, arduous journey to save her 6 brothers from a terrible curse. The beginning starts off rather slowly as we learn about Sorcha and her brothers’ lives at Sevenwaters, the land owned and stewarded by her family. There’s a prolonged war with neighboring Britons, and a legacy of violence between the two people. As dark and emotional as it was (and it really really was), it also definitely had a lot of spring/summery cottage vibes because of the magical forest filled with mystery and various forest folk. The protagonist also has a talent for gardening so it was a beautiful landscape to imagine. 

As for the story, Ms. Marillier does not pull punches. The protagonist gets dragged through it! Like, she did not catch a single break up until the end and even in that moment she was still struggling. I found myself really invested in her story as I was reading but at times I needed long breaks because it became harder to pick up when I knew our girl would be getting knocked down unbelievably harder each day 😭. It read like a dark epic fairytale and was ultimately a rewarding read. The romance even read a bit like a fairy/folk tale in the sense that it’s the reward for the journey, not necessarily what you see the whole way through. I liked how it was handled and that it was a relationship that allowed Sorcha to stay true to herself.

As for one of the content warnings, I disagree with statements I’ve seen that the assault was not graphic or in any way not fully on page. Everyone is different, and for me it was a highly detailed and graphic scene. It’s the first half of Ch 6. 
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