Daughter Of The Forest Juliet Marillier Retro Friday Review

Retro Friday Reviews are hosted by Angieville and is an awesome meme/feature where you review an older or under the radar book on Fridays.

Today ALLISON is reviewing Daughter Of The Forest by Juliet Marillier!

Have you ever read a book, and wondered how you had never heard of it before reading it?  That’s exactly how I feel after finishing Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. I honestly could not and still cannot believe that I had never heard of this book series before finding it in my local library recently. Especially given the fact that April had read it before and was going crazy over the fact that I was reading Daughter Of The Forest now.  Yes, ladies and gentleman, she approved of me reading this series. It is THAT good.

Daughter Of The Forest

Daughter of the Forest is the first book in the Sevenwaters Trilogy. It  is based off the classic fairy tale “The Six Swans” that was collected by the Brothers Grimm and it follows the story of Sorcha who is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, a magical land filled with forests and intrigue. Sorcha’s world seems almost picture perfect as she is adored by everyone around her and strongly protected by her six brothers. That is until her father is bewitched by his new wife, who is an evil enchantress. This evil enchantress manipulates her father and binds her brothers with a terrible spell of which only Sorcha can lift — by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes her task that was given to her by the Fair Folk she will lose her brothers forever. Unexpectedly Sorcha is rescued by the enemies of Sevenwaters and meets a man that both intrigues her and scares her in ways that she never thought possible.  As she finds herself torn between saving her brothers, and a love that only comes once in a lifetime, Sorcha takes a journey that knows no boundaries and finds out that love is truly the strongest magic of them all.

It is easy to lose yourself in the writing of Daughter of the Forest. Seriously, just thinking about it gives me shivers. Want an example? This is the opening of the story:

“Three children lay on the rocks at the water’s edge. A dark-haired little girl. Two boys, slightly older. This image is caught forever in my memory, like some fragile creature preserved in amber. Myself, my brothers. I remember the way the water rippled as I trailed my fingers across the shining surface.”

From the first moment in which I read that opening onward, I was hooked by this story. Daughter of the Forest is truly magic storytelling. Not only is the writing fantastic but the characters are as well. Sorcha is the heart of the story, with her love for her brothers as her driving force to survive. Even though she is silent for the majority of the book, she is still incredibly real and active. It was so easy to root for her and I found myself getting caught up in the moments wondering if she was ever really going to be able to accomplish her quest. The way things come together in this book is just so perfect. It is flawless fantasy. Plus, it has a love story inside it as well which is just so squee worthy. It truly captivated my heart, and has refused to let it go. And the best part about it? Not only is it tender and romantic but it is also an EQUAL relationship.

Honestly, there isn’t enough that I can say about Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.  It is simply breathtaking. I loved that it had a beautiful love story, realistic historical background, and admirable characters. It also had intricate details of ancient magic as well as stories of dedicated friendships and unyielding sibling devotion. And of course, what would a fantasy story be without a couple despicable villain characters?  It is definitely one of those books that I can picture myself reading time and time again. I’m also really excited about the fact that this book is not just a stand alone book (although it could be) but is part of a series of books which I plan on reading very soon.  My only wish was that I had found out about this series SOONER.

Disclosure: Borrowed from local library

Other reviews of Daughter of The Forest by Juliet Marillier:

The Allure Of Books
Steph Su Reads
Angieville