Google Preview

• .

  • 

  • Based on the fairytale, "The Seven/Six/Wild Swans" (depending on where you hear it), Daughter of the Forest is a lovely story about, amongst other things, the usual tropes of love and loyalty, and fighting for what's most important. It's also about stories, you see, and is, perhaps most movingly, ab ... Continue

    Based on the fairytale, "The Seven/Six/Wild Swans" (depending on where you hear it), Daughter of the Forest is a lovely story about, amongst other things, the usual tropes of love and loyalty, and fighting for what's most important. It's also about stories, you see, and is, perhaps most movingly, about how life isn't like stories. It's about how, despite your best intentions, life goes on. And throughout it all, there is the recurring theme of communication: namely, the ways in which characters find themselves unable or unwilling to communicate, and the ways their willingness and ability to speak twist and turn back upon themselves. The way that characters say the things they should; the way they say too much; the way they choose to stay silent when they should speak; and the times they can say more by saying nothing.

    The book isn't without its flaws: a traumatic event in Sorcha's character development feels a bit tacked on, and the villains - Lady Oonagh and Lord Richard - lack a certain amount of characterization. Oonagh is barely there, and we're never quite sure about much of anything about her: who she is, where she come from, what she wants. Perhaps these questions are answered in later books. Richard never really progresses beyond stereotypical wicked lord/wicked uncle. And of course, due to the inherent limitations of a first-person narrative, the actions and motivations of many other characters remain unexplored. Despite all that, the book remains a thoughtful, atmospheric retelling of one of my favorite fairytales.

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― Yandros said on Aug 24, 2008 | Add your feedback

• .

  • Fantastic Story!

  • Daughter of the Forest started out rather slowly but kept me guessing as to how each chapter in the book would fit together. By the end of the book, the story was an intriguing romance tale. I usually read books that have a bit more action in them, but this was definitely a fantastic story. The endi ... Continue

    Daughter of the Forest started out rather slowly but kept me guessing as to how each chapter in the book would fit together. By the end of the book, the story was an intriguing romance tale. I usually read books that have a bit more action in them, but this was definitely a fantastic story. The ending was not surprising but how the characters evolved to the ending was great!

    

    Is this helpful?

• ― Rayven said on Feb 2, 2008 | Add your feedback

Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment.But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift-by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever. When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all....

• faefantasySevenwaters TrilogyHistoricalMythology/Folkloreparanormalretellingfavoritepersonal libraryread
• See all (14)