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A review by rebeccazh
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
I love this book. This book is an epic tale of love, sacrifice, courage and endurance. Sorcha's immense strength to carry on is frankly amazing. She is that rare combination of softness and strength. Of course, I cried reading her ordeals. The injustices she has to swallow and the suffering she has to endure is heartbreaking.
I loved her close relationship with her brothers. And I loved that she saved her brothers by sewing and defied others by her silence. It's a subversive and subtle strength. It's like Dorothy Parker's poem, Penelope. It's a different kind of strength that the patriarchal world doesn't recognize and dismisses/underestimates it.
The ending bit felt anticlimatic. There was graphic rape in the book, but when it came to Sorcha and Red -- all that build-up to show a loving, consensual relationship was wasted. It felt anticlimatic. There was a point the book had been making/building towards -- sex is not always ugly -- but when it came to the moment where the point was supposed to be made, it was glossed over in a short paragraph. The whole part after Red found Sorcha again felt like a pale imitation of everything that had previously came before; the story there was strangely pallid, lifeless and slow-moving. None of the vibrancy and strength of the other parts of Sorcha's story. Pretty anticlimatic ending. Life returns with a whimper, not a bang.
But anyway, I do love this book. My favourite Juliet Marillier book lbr.
I loved her close relationship with her brothers. And I loved that she saved her brothers by sewing and defied others by her silence. It's a subversive and subtle strength. It's like Dorothy Parker's poem, Penelope. It's a different kind of strength that the patriarchal world doesn't recognize and dismisses/underestimates it.
The ending bit felt anticlimatic. There was graphic rape in the book, but when it came to Sorcha and Red -- all that build-up to show a loving, consensual relationship was wasted. It felt anticlimatic. There was a point the book had been making/building towards -- sex is not always ugly -- but when it came to the moment where the point was supposed to be made, it was glossed over in a short paragraph. The whole part after Red found Sorcha again felt like a pale imitation of everything that had previously came before; the story there was strangely pallid, lifeless and slow-moving. None of the vibrancy and strength of the other parts of Sorcha's story. Pretty anticlimatic ending. Life returns with a whimper, not a bang.
But anyway, I do love this book. My favourite Juliet Marillier book lbr.