Rating: 
Summary: Volume 2 is even better than Volume 1
Review: "The Lady of the Sorrows" is the second volume in Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy. I was worried when the 'ill-made mute' turned drop-dead gorgeous at the end of volume 1, but luckily it doesn't seem to affect the heroine, Rohain's pluck, or her determination to discover her pre-amnesiac past.There is a mounting tension in this book that was missing in the relatively plotless first volume of the trilogy. The author begins to frame the overarching struggle between good and evil. She begins to drop hints as to why it is so important that Rohain should recover her past. Some of the hints aren't so subtle: The Wild Hunt mounts a full-scale, coordinated assault on the tower where Rohain is visiting; the forces of evil blow up an island, Krakatau-style, where she seeks refuge. (There are a few minor errors regarding lava viscosity and the behavior of tsunamis, but overall this section of the book is a splendid, scary reinterpretation of the eruption of the Indonesian volcano, Krakatau in 1883). As in "The Ill-Made Mute," Cecilia Dart-Thornton specializes in long, static, but beautiful descriptions of scenery, clothing, courtly manners, holiday feasts, the land of Faêran (Faêrie), etc. Even though these descriptions slow down the action, they really bring the reader into the scene: "They found shelter in a mossy stone ruin that had once, in ages long past, conceivably been a byre. Honeysuckle and traveler's joy formed a roof over the few remaining, slug-haunted walls. Against those they piled dry bracken to serve as a bed. Not daring to light a fire, they unwrapped the last slabs of cold porridge from their dock leaves and dined in silence." Beautiful. I'm right there under the honesuckle, eating cold porridge with Rohain and her friends. Read "The Ill-Made Mute" (in which Rohain is called 'Imrhien') before tackling "The Lady of the Sorrows" or you might not understand the story and all of its lovingly crafted accouterments. Then you'll have to wait until April, 2003, when the concluding volume of this unique trilogy, "The Battle of Evernight" is published, to see how it all ends for Imrhien-Rohain.
Rating:
Summary: An arresting forray into a world of light and dark.
Review: 'the lady of sorrows' while not as mysterious as the previous novel 'the ill-made mute', it is still a breathtaking adventure into the realm of the beautiful and the deadly.
This is a book that will forever have a place of honour upon my library shelf, a favourite among favourites due to it's rare and refreshingly different take on the fantasy genre.
Cecilia Dart-Thornton's fertile imagination and clever use of real folklore, leaves the reader helplessly entangled in a web of words, that weave this fairy tale with a sinister twist.
A wonderful novel, by and ingenious writer, and no amount of praise can do it the justice it deserves, a must read for book lovers of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: You would have to pay me to put it down. A lot.
Review: Absolutely spellbinding; moving faster than the first (The Ill-Made Mute). The first book sets the scene beautifully, but now the characters are flesh and blood (or otherwise...) persons for whose fate you worry; it is refreshing and rare for a book to develop the characters to a level where you are focusing on the impact events will have on *them*, rather than wondering solely where the plot twists will lead you. I found myself furiously plowing through the entire thing in less than 2 days... and now I'm as anxious and bereft as one with the Langothe for the next book!!! HURRY UP Cecilia!!! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Finally, poetic prose that isn't too wordy...
Review: As action-packed and heart-stopping as it is romantic and dreamy, with poetic prose reminiscent of Angela Carter, Tanith Lee, Ray Bradbury and Patricia A. McKillip, the Lady of the Sorrows is as sumptuous, as luxurious, and as rich and vivid as a Persian carpet. But, unlike some of its predecessors in the pseudo-genre of lyric fantasy, The Lady of the Sorrows manages to be graceful and flowing without becoming long-winded or verbose. Cecilia Dart-Thornton ranks right up there with George R. R. Martin, J. V. Jones, Kate Elliott, Robin Hobb and even J. R. R. Tolkien. The pace is fast, the writing is as rich as dark chocolate, and the book is unputdownable. Utmost recommendations.
Rating: 
Summary: My thoughts
Review: Cecilia Dart-Thornton has crafted a magnificant saga. Her prose is beautiful and full without being overdone. Dart-Thronton has enhanced the story with legends both new and familiar drawn from Celtic and British traditions. However, I do have two quibbles with the books: 1) I think the use of one very familiar myth to fill in the background of a main character and her homeland was a bit too much. The problem is that as soon as you recognized the myth, you could generally fill in the rest of this novel. 2) One of the primary chraters, Thorn is a chracterture - it would be nice to see that he can be less than perfect. This does not bother me too much because the story is told through the eyes of a woman who is deeply in love with him. And to her he is perfect. Also, Thorn's NAttie Bumpoish/Aragornish character fits in beautifully with the rest of the fantastical saga, so I have to admit that a more realistically portrayed version would not be the same. I do not think that this tale has the depth of Tolkien's tales. But it does not need to be comparable to Tolkien in order to be what is it - a worthwhile and heady stroll through a fantastically compelling land.
Rating:
Summary: The tension grows
Review: Cecilia Dart-Thornton, one of the best new fantasy authors, produces a stunning second book in her Bitterbynde trilogy. Most second books sort of meander, a bridge between book one and book three. In this case, it alters the focus and the knowledge from the first book. Imrhien has regained her voice and her face, but her memory is still a blank. She has also fallen in love with the Dainnan warrior Thorn. The old carlin Maeve One-Eye assists the young woman in trying to find out who she was and why she was attacked at some time by an unseelie wight. So she disguises Imrhien as a beautiful and wealthy lady of the distant Isles of the Sorrows, and gives her a new name: Rohain of the Sorrows. Rohain arrives at the court of the King-Emperor, and fits badly into the sumptuous court, with all its unspoken rules and customs (not to mention "slingua," a bizarre little courtly language of their own). When an old friend is accused of treachery, Rohain tries to stand up for him in front of the King-Emperor -- only to find that he is the key to her happiness, Thorn. But that happiness is short-lived, when unseelie attacks begin to batter the court. An evil wizard's niece with a silver tongue tries to kill Rohain, Huon the Hunter and his Wild Hunt, and a shattering earthquake. Rohain knows that she is the target. And to know why, she must remember the past that was stolen from her: her name, her family, her life, and the beautiful, horrible events that changed Erith forever... In my review for the first Bitterbynde trilogy, I commented that it could not be rightly called an epic. That changes in this book, about two-thirds through. As before, her writing is highly descriptive, highly evocative in its use of poetic words. She doesn't spare the lush descriptions of surroundings, much in the manner of Patricia McKillip. At the same time, this book has more of a satirical side than "Ill-Made Mute," as Dart-Thornton cleverly pokes at the weird bits of a medieval court, the needless customs, and the occasional prod at fashion at the expense of comfort. I was initially afraid that Rohain (previously Imrhien, but in this book she takes on two other names and then remembers her real one) would be less interesting when she regained her beauty and her voice. This is not so -- in fact, Rohain may be even more interesting now that we see her strength and attempts to stay afloat in a place where a single malicious word could puncture her pretense. There is the strong-silent Thorn, who appears in a substantially different slot in the world than he did before, and the pleasant, robust Sianadh, whose scenes with Thorn and Rohain are pure fun. And among the new characters are Viviana, a rather fragile but ultimately resolute and loyal maid to Rohain; Daniella, a chattery noblewoman whose light tongue and odd clothes hide a malicious soul; the charming bard who befriends Rohain; and a hideous sprite called Yallery Green. If there are any flaws, it is that Dart-Thornton seems absolutely in love with clothing, and so virtually every item of clothing is described right down to its frogging and embroidery. This is such a small one that you probably won't notice after a while; and some of her descriptions of clothing (like a particularly weird outfit of Daniella's near the beginning) are unusually fun. As before, there are large amounts of lore, legend and myth, most of it Celtic but with a dash of Teutonic as well (in the form of the "duergar"). In this area, Dart-Thornton excels especially. Rohain's background is almost instantly recognizable, but the author weaves a web of magic and myth around the events of a familiar legend, to which Rohain is the pivot. In this area, she also introduces us to the Faeran, who are probably the best elves I've ever read about, excepting Tolkien's. Virtually no other author has so aptly captured the mystery and magic of the Fair Folk and their realm, without making them too earthy or too distant. Anyone who loves a beautifully written story full of magic and amazing characters will find nothing disappointing in the second Bitterbynde book. Now there's still the wait for book three...
Rating:
Summary: Saved by the ending...
Review: Dart-Thornton has done an excellent job continuing the brilliant epic she began with the Ill-Made Mute. However, I was apprehensive to draw this conclusion until around the last 100 pages or so. The majority of the book, though filled with beautifully extensive descriptions and interesting lore, tends to drag. The secrets of Imrhien's past are witheld from the reader untill the very end, when they come as a huge wave (literally) of memories that suddenly come crashing back to her. I couldn't put the book down after i reached that point, which is why I anxiously await the thrid and final book of the trilogy as much as a did the second.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: Even with a toddler to take care of, I managed to virtually inhale this book over the course of one weekend. I am so impressed by this series... It is twisty, emotive and scrumptiously descriptive. It sucked me in immiediately and I COULD NOT put it or its predeccesor down. Can't wait for the third installment.
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Summary: The Best Fantasy in Years
Review: Every blue moon I come across a book that in my opinion has been written for the sheer joy of it. This is one of those books. The obvious pleasure the writer takes in twisting the language in fascinating and ingenious ways is a joy to read. Her knowledge of folklore is phenomenal. Cecilia Dart-Thornton has the rare gift of taking an archetypal quest tale and tweaking it in new and wonderful ways. Highly recommended if you are tired of cardboard characters and predictable plotlines. What a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Enchanted prose, human hearts
Review: For me, Lady of the Sorrows delivered on the promise of The Ill-Made Mute, and flooded my reading hours with Dart-Thornton's lovely, evocative prose just as Lady Imrhien/Rohain's memory flooded back to her. The subtle weaving of the heroine's life into the fabric of a familiar fairy tale achieved what I could not have imagined--a deeply moving humanization of one of the remoter and more forbidding faerie stories. Dart-Thornton is able to create tension between repellent and abominable acts springing from the Otherworld and utterly attractive human personalities. The grandeur of romance (in the Spenserian sense) is conjured without losing the immediacy and warmth that make one care about these characters as individuals. Between Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde series and Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy (also based on a fairy tale, whose depths are plumbed with heartbreaking effect), it seems that Australia is sending out writers of the highest calibre talent and imagination. The Lady of the Sorrows is beautiful to read, beautiful to hold, and caresses the reader like a walk in her eternal forest.
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