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pacrislopa 's review for:
Wildwood Dancing
by Juliet Marillier
I don't know what it is about this book. It's not my type; it's filled with things I'd roll my eyes at any other time: clichés, sappy fantasy, unlikely conversation... and yet. And yet, it totally captured my imagination.
Wildwood Dancing is both familiar and wondrously strange. It takes a lot of fairy-tale tradition and weaves it together in one seamless tapestry of color. Its pages are thick with winter, seclusion, cozy rooms and wild places, while through it all runs a definite atmosphere of magic and mystery. You will definetly recognize many of the elements of the wildwood from all your childhood fairy-tales, and you will certainly know what rules are at play here; but other things won't be so obvious, and that's what gives this book its edge.
What I truly loved about this book is the way that almost all fairy-tale folklore was here, from the most innocent to the most evil. And how Marillier didn't shy away from plunging the reader into the darkest recesses of that folklore. As children we read that the evil witch is evil, that vampires are bad, but we never get any closer than that. Here the heroine is plunged right into the dark side of fantasy, and she has to struggle with what that means.
Finally, what really trapped me was the feeling of the book. It was seeped in emotion, at times subtle and at others quite palpable: fear, tension, romance, exhuberation. Some scenes are completely etched in my mind, not in words but in beautiful images and and tense emotion. And an author who can do that is, in my opinion, quite talented.
Bumped up to 5 stars because, weeks after, I just can't untagle this story from my mind
Wildwood Dancing is both familiar and wondrously strange. It takes a lot of fairy-tale tradition and weaves it together in one seamless tapestry of color. Its pages are thick with winter, seclusion, cozy rooms and wild places, while through it all runs a definite atmosphere of magic and mystery. You will definetly recognize many of the elements of the wildwood from all your childhood fairy-tales, and you will certainly know what rules are at play here; but other things won't be so obvious, and that's what gives this book its edge.
What I truly loved about this book is the way that almost all fairy-tale folklore was here, from the most innocent to the most evil. And how Marillier didn't shy away from plunging the reader into the darkest recesses of that folklore. As children we read that the evil witch is evil, that vampires are bad, but we never get any closer than that. Here the heroine is plunged right into the dark side of fantasy, and she has to struggle with what that means.
Finally, what really trapped me was the feeling of the book. It was seeped in emotion, at times subtle and at others quite palpable: fear, tension, romance, exhuberation. Some scenes are completely etched in my mind, not in words but in beautiful images and and tense emotion. And an author who can do that is, in my opinion, quite talented.
Bumped up to 5 stars because, weeks after, I just can't untagle this story from my mind