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A review by vigil
Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
3.0
this book made a lot of choices. i enjoyed and tolerated around 70% of them but the rest of it was minor to moderate quibbles that stacked on top of each other to the point where it got too tall to ignore.
the dialogue at times, was too trite and corny, reading like old irish people doing therapy speak. the important plotlines are introduced as a means of conflict but are handwaved as soon as they became an impediment to the story, and several plotlines are left unaddressed and forgotten.
most annoyingly of all, there was a moment this book tried to say something about feminism. the problem with that is, if you’re going to have your protagonist posit the story as women’s magic, it’s time for women to take back the tale, framing how horrible men can be to women, you have to actually follow up on that.
the protagonist cannot undertake a single action in this book without being saved by a man. every single time, a man shows up to save her in some manner.the only exception to this rule is when she is saved by a magic mirror a plot point so highly utilized yet so unexplored. the only other woman in the house has a personality and plot role that, frankly amounts to vengeful woman / jealous hag. all the other women are there to die, or there to have their husbands die, or there to die and then have their husbands die, or there to have their husbands die and then get paired off to a man twice their age apropos of absolutely nothing. i don’t need this book to tell a tale about feminism and women at all, but if you have the protagonist frame it that way, and do not rebuke or deconstruct her stance, that’s something you must deliver on.
this book teased multiple things and only succeeded at about half of them. thus, 3 stars.
the dialogue at times, was too trite and corny, reading like old irish people doing therapy speak. the important plotlines are introduced as a means of conflict but are handwaved as soon as they became an impediment to the story, and several plotlines are left unaddressed and forgotten.
most annoyingly of all, there was a moment this book tried to say something about feminism. the problem with that is, if you’re going to have your protagonist posit the story as women’s magic, it’s time for women to take back the tale, framing how horrible men can be to women, you have to actually follow up on that.
the protagonist cannot undertake a single action in this book without being saved by a man. every single time, a man shows up to save her in some manner.
this book teased multiple things and only succeeded at about half of them. thus, 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Cursing, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and War