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shelbyhannahh 's review for:
Wildwood Dancing
by Juliet Marillier
I didn't enjoy this book very much at all. This is more of a 2.5 star review, but I may or may not bump it to 3 just because of the Transylvanian lore throughout.
I didn't connect with any of the characters, my favorite character throughout was Gogu, the main character's pet frog. The characters were drab and one-sided and I found them all pretty boring.
We follow Jena and her four sisters through their lives in a castle called Piscul Dracului. There is a wildwood behind their house and in that wildwood is a fantastical party every full moon. The girls have kept this a secret since they found it seven years before the story. Their father is a merchant and during the story he leaves for the winter and their cousin Cezar comes to Piscul Dracului and tries to take full control of the estate and cut down the Wildwood to prevent Night People from wrecking any more havoc, as he blames them for his brother's death.
Overall, the world building was phenomenal, during the parties, I felt like I was there. It was lovely and fantastic. Her writing is beautiful. The scenery felt real. This was the only part I liked about the book.
The characters lacked depth for me, and some parts of Cezar and Jena's arguments felt like filler pages, used to kill time between scenes. It felt anti-climatic, overall as well. There was no real action or incidents. I just didn't enjoy the plot which is disappointing because this is my first fairy tale retelling. (It's a retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses".)
This just fell flat for me but Gogu is what made me give it the extra .5 star.
I didn't connect with any of the characters, my favorite character throughout was Gogu, the main character's pet frog. The characters were drab and one-sided and I found them all pretty boring.
We follow Jena and her four sisters through their lives in a castle called Piscul Dracului. There is a wildwood behind their house and in that wildwood is a fantastical party every full moon. The girls have kept this a secret since they found it seven years before the story. Their father is a merchant and during the story he leaves for the winter and their cousin Cezar comes to Piscul Dracului and tries to take full control of the estate and cut down the Wildwood to prevent Night People from wrecking any more havoc, as he blames them for his brother's death.
Overall, the world building was phenomenal, during the parties, I felt like I was there. It was lovely and fantastic. Her writing is beautiful. The scenery felt real. This was the only part I liked about the book.
The characters lacked depth for me, and some parts of Cezar and Jena's arguments felt like filler pages, used to kill time between scenes. It felt anti-climatic, overall as well. There was no real action or incidents. I just didn't enjoy the plot which is disappointing because this is my first fairy tale retelling. (It's a retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses".)
This just fell flat for me but Gogu is what made me give it the extra .5 star.