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Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 5 stars and counting
Review: This trilogy consists of the three best books i've ever read. Each and every one has something special to offer, and Julier Marillier doesn't lost her touch with the first sequel. If you love fantasy, tolerate fantasy, or have ever entertained any thought of possibly one day checking out fantasy, read this book. It's seriously amazing - you won't regret it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: My rating is really 4.5!!!
Review: This book was absolutly gorgeous, and I loved it!!! It was intense, with a few good moments of humor-their could have been more of it though-and had beautifully drawn characters, so unlike the cardboard ones I have been stumpling upon lately. Beautiful descriptions which were also backed with fact. Had an elusive quality not seen very much these days. I personally thought it could have stood alone without any sequals- and it is by far the best of the Sevenwaters Trilogy.
Why not 5 stars then? Besides the lack of humor as mentioned above, I thought that there was too many descriptions. Pages and pages of them littered almost every chapter, making this book drag on. Also, the Fair Folk got under my skin. This author tried to portay them as godly figures, but they just seemed like winy brats you used people as ponds in some huge chessboard game. These small faults are easy to forgive, because when you do finish this book (I finished it in 3 days) you are left with that beautiful statisfied feeling that swells your heart and makes you feel as if all is right in the world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: so, so good
Review: this book, along with the rest of the trilogy, is an absoloutley marvolous (sp?) book. i loved the series so much that i read them each from cover to cover consecutivley. although this may not mean much to some people i have about a five second attention span so that IS saying something! they are a must read for all fantasy fans, no matter what age! although the length may be a little hard for young readers i myself read them when i was 13 and didn't find them excpetionally challenging. Even if you aren't a fantasy fan these books, especially the first one, are worth a read anyway, who knows, maybe they'll get you hooked on fantasy like they did to me! that, by the way, is a good thing!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not My Normal Cup Of Tea..
Review: I have normally avoided fantasy novels with Celtic highland-esque looking covers and have characters with such names as Seamus and McFarland. It's nothing against the Celtic people but normally these novels are frankly boring knock-offs of Arthurian legend. I have to admit, "Mists of Avalon" is my favorite book, because it was such a pleasure to read. And "Daughter of the Forest" is another exception as well.

This was a retelling of the tale of "The Six Wild Swans." What I liked that it was well-elaborated and detailed more throughly than the original tale. Here was intrigue and a test of character, that on the part of Sorcha of course. Marillier is very capable of capturing feeling very well. You do feel what the other characters feel and I loved the very much. The characters are mostly likeable, especially Conor and Finbar. And the language was wonderfully poetic as well.

With that said, I had a major problem with the relationship between Red and Sorcha. I did think that they suited each other very well. I understand that Marillier has a penchant for bringing unlike characters together in a relationship but it made no sense. She should have been with Simon. Another thing that I dislikedwas the romantic angle as well. Why is it that in fantasies, for the most part, the female character has to fall in love to feel completed? You would have thinked that having her brothers return to her would have been what she had truly wanted, since that was what she had worked for and been put through hell for. Lastly, a more technical thing is that I believe that the chapters should have been made a little more shorter or varied in their lengths. At times it felt like endurance reading but that is just me.

This was a pretty good novel, not my normal cup of tea but I am definately reading the next in the series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Natural Beauty
Review: I'm 15 and have a high reading level for my age but I -hate- to read. This book is the first -thick- book that I have decided to read and It is magnificent!!!! I cant believe how much soul this book has! It has everything in a book that I've always wanted to read and I am hooked! Beautiful and just enchanting I just cant believe how great it is!!! My goodness...read it! =P

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: awesome!!!
Review: I myself actually got into this book through a fanfiction. But I'm glad I found out about it. This book is so good. When I got close to the end I really didn't want it to end. The characters touched me so much. Yes, I must admit, the rape scene was...disturbing... but I didn't think it was really very graphic. I read it, but as I was reading, I was just so shook up and filled with such hate for those characters. I really liked Red's character, how, even though on the outside all you may see is a cold exterior, he was really kind and caring.

My advice for you is, don't take my word for it, go read it yourself!! ^.~

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Daughter of the Forest
Review: What a wonderful book! This first book of the Sevenwaters Trilogy is a true gem for fantasy lovers. Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum in Sevenwaters. When an evil spell is cast on her brothers, Sorcha sets to work breaking the spell by staying silent and weaving shirts of starwort. This spellbinding novel is poignant, painful, and joyful. The characters are well-shaped and easy to believe in, the plot is fast and fine. Read this book/trilogy. You will not be sorry.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a masterpiece
Review: Daughter of the Forest is the first in the Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier. Although part of a trilogy, I think this book is good enough to stand on its own.

Sorcha is the only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, an organized and peaceful settlement surrounded by forests in Erin (Ireland). It is a land of the mystical, for the Fair Folk dwell in the area as well. Sorcha has six older brothers, and although they are a tight-knit bunch, Sorcha is especially close to Conor, a druid in the making, and Finbar, the quiet intellectual because among the three they can communicate with their minds. Sevenwaters is under patrol for invaders (Britons) from across the sea, and one day, it is a Briton taken prisoner that marks the beginning of many changes in Sorcha's tranquil life.

A beautiful sorceress, the lady Oonagh, comes to the peaceful settlement and instigiates the biggest changes on Sevenwaters, and life is never the same. Oonagh transforms her brothers into swans, and the only way to break the spell is to weave six shirts (for the six brothers) from the fibers of a prickly plant while uttering not a sound for the entire duration. It is a terrible task, both emotionally and physically draining, that will take some years for Sorcha to complete. It is a task that will take her many miles away from the only land she ever knew. It is a task that can be only completed by steadfast love and devotion.

Ms. Marillier weaves an excellent tapestry of a story, for she uses lots of description and subjective passages that appeal to the readers' emotions, at times being heartwrenching. Because Sorcha has limited dialogue in the book, a lot of deep emotions are conveyed and/or told to the readers, and many of these passages strike a chord in my heart.

Daughter of the Forest: Excellent plot, intriguing characters (although the Briton mentioned in the beginning was sadly neglected), and...marvelous overall.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enchanting Read Even for a Seasoned Reader
Review: This author reminds me somewhat of Richard Adams ("Watership Down", "Maia", etc), though her narrative does not plunge off the deep end and make you have to skim pages as Adams sometimes does. Even before I realized which fairy tale this was a retelling of, I enjoyed the slow buildup and the descriptive story-telling.

MINOR SPOILER NEXT:

Having read as many books in my time as I have, though, I knew something awful was going to happen to Sorcha - just didn't know exactly what. It was hard to read in parts, but made the story very personal and touching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pain and beauty
Review: A voyage into sacrifice, beautifully written and quite well researched. It is wonderful that Marillier resisted the urge to "teach" celtic folklore through this book and was able to deliver a story in which knowledge and narration are impeccably merged into one rich, vast tale.

This is a story of love, pain and time. A cruelly yet beautifully violent story in which a kind and gentle girl finds herself suffering through several nightmares on the path to her own destiny. Sorcha is a true fighter in a child's body and she finds ways to deal with reality without ever recoiling from it or trying to make the reader pity her. This, I find, is the true strenght of this book; you will find none of the usual judeo-christian self-pity and sorrow in this book, as the characters are fully in touch with their "natural" selves, both the fighter and the vulnerable child within. Sorcha has a refreshing way of dealing with hardship and it makes this story - which could have been a long whimpering excuse for a tale - a truly unique and very moving experience.

Rarely has a book made me cry and yet want to share it but I can say this one is a gem.


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