Monday, August 23, 2010

Jessi Reviews "Wildwood Dancing"

Wildwood DancingTitle/Author: Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Publisher/Year: Knopf Books, 2007
How I Got This: From my much-beloved (and completely awesome) public library
Why I Read It: I love anything to do with fairy tales and fairy tale re-tellings!
Rating: 5 Stars

This, my friends, is how you tell a story! 

I've been on a kick of fairytale-related books recently, and this is easily the best of them. I was completely hooked on this book and found it nearly impossible to put down. 

This is my first read of Juliet Marillier, but now I know that I definitely want to check out the other books that she's written. She is quite talented as a storyteller. I was completely transported to Piscul Dracului and the surrounding forest as I read. 

In a genre of books that is slowly all melting together to look the same, this is delightfully original. The fantasy elements are creative, but not overdone. Set in a time when most everyone believed in the magic of the fairytale, the characters believed in what happened and thus does the reader. It all combined together to create this really cool feeling of an old-time, traditional fairy tale. 

I loved this book for all of this and, not to mention, the characters! Jena was an excellent choice for a narrator, and by the end of the story, I was emotionally invested in each of these characters lives. You all know how much I love good characters, so I LOVE when they grow to become my friends. Jena is one of those kickbutt girl characters who isn't afraid to speak her mind. The bond her and her sisters had was really sweet, too. I enjoyed how each sister has a distinct persona, and each character had a very clear voice. Cezar made me want to punch something (specifically his face), and he was a character that I loved to hate. And I LOVE LOVE LOVED Gogu! I thought I was so smart--I thought I had figured out the twist, but I was wonderfully surprised. 

I can't intelligently review this book--all I can do is gush about how good it is. This has definitely become one of my favorites. For those who enjoy fairy tales, I can't recommend this enough.

6 comments:

  1. I love fairy tales and retellings! This sounds really interesting! Do you have any other favorite fairy tales?

    Haha and I totally know what you are talking about with not being able to do anything but gush at how good it is! I think you did a pretty darn good job at reviewing it though! :)

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  2. So happy to see a gushing post! I have this on my Kindle to read some day soon :D

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  3. Oh yes, Juliet Marillier is the BEST!:) Have you read anything else by this author yet?

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  4. I absolutely adore Juliet Marillier. If you loved this, then you'll love Daughter of the Forest. It's one of my favourite reads ever! I'm dying to read this one!

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  5. Hmmm... This is the third mention I've heard of Juliet Marillier in the past week and before this I had never even come across her name! Glad to hear you liked Wildwood Dancing, a few days ago I added this one and Heart's Blood to my TBR list. I'm starting to think there's some cosmic conspiracy telling me I need to read Marillier!

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  6. @thebookfairyhaven Daughter of the Forest is my fav too...I tell you, that book is like a part me. I can not think about it without my heart starting to beat faster, and I've read it years ago.

    @lisa:) Any book from Juliet is one of the best reading recommendations one can give and/or get, so I think the universe is trying to be your friend lisa!;)

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