Daughter Of The Forest

Daughter of The Forest(Sevenwaters Series #1)
By: Juliet Marillier

Write up:

A beautiful retelling of the Celtic "Swans" myth, Daughter of the Forest is a mixture of history and fantasy, myth and magic, legend and love... To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss and terror. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for Sorcha to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and sorcha will have to choose between the live she has always known and a love that comes only once.

Oh my god. This book. 

There are some books you read that are pretty good book. You love the characters, the world, the story, and you read it for its pure cotton candy goodness. Light and fun and tasty, but when you finish it really does not linger with you very long. Then there are some books you read that grab you right away and won't let go. ...even if you want it to. It pulls you into that world and the characters so much that you feel as if you are the one suffering the character's fate, or right there with them. You feel all the emotions the main character goes through good and bad. And when you finish the book and put it down....it still has you in its grip because it left such an impression on you that it takes a while for you brain to let go.  This book is one of those books. 

Sorcha goes through so much pain and trauma and sadness to save her brothers. While reading the book I felt such dread and sadness for her the entire time. Some parts of the book were so hard to read, I felt like my heart was going to break, I was so upset for her. When people mistreated her...I felt so angry and helpless. Much like she felt: trapped and in a corner without a voice. When she gave up someone she obviously loved so much...I wanted to scream and slap them both around till they regained their senses.  It dredges up so many emotions. At some point I thought: I'm just going to stop reading this book. But you can't. I swear I came out traumatized. For some...parts of this book might be too much. It packs a real emotional punch and makes no bones about showing casual cruelty and pain. Not everyone will like that or can deal; one part especially can be very hard to read for some. I remember when my friend died, in a very traumatic and tragic fashion, for months I read nothing but fluffy romance novels and watched nothing but romantic-comedies and comedies....because anything that involved any kind of trauma or death of any kind threw me into hysterical tears.  I avoided certain things like the plague. If the book looked like it was going to be sad...it was pitched to the side. So...this book would have been pitched back then. But I'm glad I am past that because I would have missed a great book despite all of its sadness. It was written so well, the characters are so real and you become so invested in their happiness. You can't ask more from a writer than to have them fully engross you in the world they created and leave you wanting more. 

Final grade: A