Posted on  20/08/2024 14:04:56

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful gripping story but very hard to read.



This fairy tale for grown-ups tells the story of Sorcha, and her 6 elder brothers Finbar, Liam, Cormac, Conor, Padriac and Diarmid.

Born and brought up on the Irish stronghold of Sevenwaters, the siblings grew strong and proud and had a bright future ahead. Up until the evil stepmother came! A wicked sorceress who wed their father, took over his will and stronghold and turned the 6 brothers to swans to have them out of her way. It was left to their little sister Sorcha, merely 12 years old at the time but already a full-fledged healer, to find a way to bring her brothers back and save them from the curse.

John Jude Palencar Art; Cover of "Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Marillier - Pinterest

This is her story. A story of sacrifice and courage in the face of horrible circumstances, a story of strength and endurance during hardships that would make even the strongest of men weep! And ultimately, a story of love: the love of a sister for her brothers and the love of a husband for his wife.

In the pages of this book you will read about sorrow:

Perhaps this was what the stories meant when they called somebody heartsick. Your heart and your stomach and your whole insides felt empty and hollow and aching.

as well as about pain and heartbreak. You will read about terrible things that a little girl has to go through and you may want to cry or curse or want to shoot or punch somebody. Because of the unfairness of it all! I have to admit I did.

The writing is beautiful and centers on emotions that are wonderfully explained up to the point that they may become your own. And they are not all bad! Quite the contrary! Some of them could even melt your heart and make you get all mushy inside.

He would have told her – he would have said, it matters not if you are here, or there, for I see you before me every moment. I see you in the light on the water, in the swaying of the young trees in the spring wind. I see you in the shadows of the great oaks, I hear your voice in the cry of the owl at night. You are the blood in my veins and the beating of my heart. You are my first waking thought, and my last sigh before sleeping. You are – you are bone of my bone, and breath of my breath.

There may have been a few inconsistencies or some things unexplained in the plot, but the rest of the story more than makes up for those. I will be definitely reading the rest of the series and I highly recommended it to all lovers of” romantasy”.

♡Meme♡Reads love♡'s Sorcha and Red
and I couldn't agree more! :)

Happy reading

Check out this book and more by Juliet Marillier on www.julietmarillier.com