Juliet Marillier: Heart's Blood

I've mentioned this book title already and yet had failed to give this book it's very own post. I wanted to make sure I got Marillier's Bridei Chronicle series blogged in order. I'm sorry for the delay. This, of the eight books I've read by Marillier, is the one that I love best. It's a standalone, too, so it's a perfect way to sample her work.

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Heart's Blood is a tale that holds a connection to the well known story of Beauty and the Beast. It follows the point of view of Caitrin, a young woman with a mysterious past who has clearly suffered something terrible. Whatever has happened and for whatever reason, Caitrin cannot return home. With hardly any money to her name at all, she is in luck that at least she is a woman gifted with the ability to read and write. This allows her to be a scribe, and a scribe is exactly what is needed at Whistling Tor.

Whistling Tor has its secrets, too, and the people nearby will not go there. One reason is for the curse that is on them and the family of the chieftain, Anuluan, who lives at Whistling Thor. The other reason is because the people say Anuluan's horrible. Bearing this in mind, Caitrin sets out for Whistling Tor anyways, determined to find work and a place to stay for a while.

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I enjoy many different types of books be they historical fiction, classic literature, books about well-loved classics that can make me smile or laugh, fantasy, young adult, and the occasional nonfiction book. Sometimes readers might crave a particular type of book at any given time. As a reader I've begun to realize it doesn't seem to matter much which kind of book I'm most desiring to read, that if given an extraordinary fantasy, I'm quite happy.

With outstanding books as these, it's not just a fantasy I'm reading. Everything about the book just seems to glow. The language is beautifully written so that the words jump off the page. The setting is strong with powerful-seeming places where scenes take place. Characters are amazingly developed into deep, 3-D beings. This isn't to say they're 'real people' as you and I, just that their traits, personalities, and such are quite known. You can think, What would (fill in the blank with a character name here) do? and know the answer.

A great fantasy can lock you in within the first few pages and make it near impossible for you to abandon. There are things you should be doing that, because you're reading a great book, you procrastinate. You read it at work, or, if you ordinarily bring books there anyway like me, you read so quickly that you never have the chance to carry the book around long enough to read it anywhere but in one place. When it comes to be time that you should be sleeping, you're heavily lost in the book's pages and don't notice the time passing by. Hours can pass by after this while you are still reading. You may just read all night, or, if you're a graveyard worker, all day.

That was this book for me.

Now that I've said how much I love Heart's Blood, I just want to say how beautiful that cover is. Just look at all those books! I adore my edition. (Please note, I most certainly did not choose this book for its cover!)

Juliet Marillier: The Well of Shades

This is the final book in the Bridei Chronicles. I was really excited when I learned that it strongly focuses on the Gaelic spy Faolan once more, continuing his story from where Blade of Fortriu left off. This book left me without any disappointments and was a welcome ending to the series. As with the last book, it still keeps in touch with main characters from earlier in the series and shares their point of views.

Someone is needed to go north and explore to see how people are living on the land in a region once reigned by those outside of Fortriu. Who better to send than Faolan, native those lands, a spymaster, and, when he has to be, a killer? He is ready and eager for the mission with a couple of personal missions of his own to complete before he returns. On one mission he meets Eile, a young woman with an unfortunate and terrible story. Another mission takes him back to his past to his family whom he deemed would never forgive nor love him for a terrible deed forced upon him long ago. The third mission is business. With each step for these missions Faolan is changed. Life holds much in store for him and Fortriu.

As I mentioned with Blade of Fortrui, I had not been happy with how it ended. This book went above and beyond, completely making up for it and more. I debate now which book in the Bridei Chronicles is my favorite. It would have to be The Dark Mirror or The Well of Shades, though they were all good. I may safely say that this is the book in the series which has touched me most. If I never reread the series as a whole, which I very much doubt, I would at least reread this book.

Juliet Marillier: "Blade of Fortriu"

This book is book two in the Bridei Chronicles. It takes place five years after The Dark Mirror. While dealing with some of the same characters, it more so focuses on the story of other characters. Its main focus is on princess Ana of the Light Isles and on Bridei's best spy, Faolan.

A war is being planned, but before it can begin, a few loose strings need to be tied. Princess Ana of the Light Isles, who for eight years has been a comfortable hostage at Fortriu's court, has to be married off to form an alliance. Fifteen people in all will take the journey to where her new home will be, lead by Bridei's friend and spy, Faolan. Trouble meets the group along the way and two people who find each other utterly disagreeable form a friendship. Upon reaching their destination, the chieftain that Ana is to marry is found to be horrible. Both Ana and Faolan sniff out the mysterious secrets lurking about while Ana prepares herself to live a life of unhappiness.

Before reading Blade of Fortriu I saw some reviews written by people who were unhappy with this book. Their distaste was based on the book only loosely following staring characters from the series such as Bridei and Tuala. I must say that I personally found this book as well as Ana and Faolan's stories enjoyable. The story didn't end in the way that I wished it to, however it was solid and a good tale. It was good enough that getting to enjoy the point of views of characters whose stories were focused on more so in The Dark Mirror were more like a bonus.

Juliet Marillier: "The Dark Mirror"

Having really enjoyed everything else I've read by Juliet Marillier, I decided to give another series a try. The Dark Mirror is the first book in the Bridei Chronicles which consists of three books.

In this book a very young boy, Bridei, is taken from his family of noble blood to be raised by a foster parent, a powerful druid known as Broichan. Never revealing just what he has in store for Bridei's future, Broichan raises Bridei in a way that prepares him for a very meaningful future. Bridei is given the best of educations from Broichan and others in their community. While Bridei is still young a baby is left at their door. From that time on Bridei sets himself to protect and care for her, a girl deemed by others to be of the untrusted Fair Folk. Bridei and the girl, Tuala, become very close friends. Once Bridei is nearly an adult he begins to live the life planned for him and the two friends are deliberately separated in fear that Tuala will cause the ruin of Bridei's greater purpose in life.

Some parts of this book were sad indeed. Bridei is a child of merely four years old when taken away to where he must be tough and learn to be wise. Taula had her own sadness, outcasted at different times and in want of her only true friend. Despite hardships and pain this book works into a beautiful story. I knew when I was still in the middle of the book that I wanted to continue reading the rest of the series. This is why I'm still in the midst of the series as I type this.

My favorite of Marillier's books remains Heart's Blood after having read that, the current four books in the Sevenwaters series, and two out of three books in the Bridei Chronicles. I'm really looking forward to reading the final book to this series.

TBR Tuesday

I have not one but two books I would like to talk about in this post today. First, however, I must talk about another, or more like a series from an author not of either book.

My mother worked in a medical clinic through my late teens. Many books went by in that clinic but one stood out to her from the rest. It was Charles de Lint's The Onion Girl, and with an unforgettable cover like that, who could have blamed her. Such a vast amount of patients had the book and all had very good things to say about it. With me at the time whining that there weren't any good books to read since I didn't read books beyond my five top authors in those days, my mother decided she had a new author for me: Charles de Lint.

We were poor and not a single copy of The Onion Girl could be found in the only bookstore we could afford, a used bookstore. She had me look at other books from the author, we discovered many of them were in a series, and learned the order of the books. I grudgingly began reading the books in the best order a used book store could provide, planning to get to The Onion Girl when a copy could be found.

I found myself addicted to the Newford series and still have fond memories for the books. Years passed by while I still held in my head a quote from one of the first books which recommended two books, one of which I never could find, and the other title which went forgotten.



2009. Seven years later. I went book shopping with some friends in a different used book store and found a copy of the remembered title, John Crowley's Little, Big. I couldn't speak at first. I half thought I would never find a copy. I always wondered how good it must be that it's so hard to get a copy, or how poor was the book that enough requests weren't in for a new publication of it. I guess I'll find out! However, I'm thrilled to be able to read it.



With this blog post I had to drag out a copy of my book with that seven-year remembered quote recommending two fantasy books. (This book is called Dreams Underfoot, should anyone wonder.) I almost dropped the book when I saw the other title, then scrambled to another bookshelf to remove a book: Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. I was with one of those very same friends the day I bought it, a recommendation by her. Of course, Little, Big has been strongly recommended by her as well. I know who my fantasy person is whenever I look for something new to read in the genre. Many thanks to her for helping me acquire copies of these two books!

Now for that quote taken from the back cover of Dreams Underfoot.

"Like Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale and John Crowley's Little, Big, Dreams Underfoot is a must-read book not only for fans of urban myth but for all who seek magic in everyday life." (Source not provided.)

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

5 out of 5 stars

Should you be one of those people who have not yet read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for some reason that will seem as bizarre to the Harry Potter fan that I am, please do not continue reading any further. I can refer you to an earlier blog entry with my book review but warn that it comes with spoilers.

This was my first time actually rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What a difference!

I was one of those fans who went stir-crazy online discussing exactly what might happen in the final Harry Potter book. One of my constant thoughts had been dread because I read that Rowling wanted to end her series in a way that no one would ever try to pick it up again and publish something from it on their own. I had interpreted this as her killing off Harry.

When it came to reading the final book that would tell the finished story of Harry Potter, I did everything I could think of including petting the cats before beginning to read because of my anxiety. I could say I was sniffly or teary during my reading but that wouldn't be quite true. I openly wept at parts. Every hour or so someone would be there to check on me, bringing me food or asking "Is he dead?" I shook my head and put aside the food I couldn't bring myself to eat. Such confidence I had in Rowling, I am thinking now as I look back on my previous and first reading of this book.

I became teary and even cried at all the right places during my second time around of reading this book last week, but I am glad I let enough time go by that I could really enjoy it when I did decide to reread it. While some much-loved characters may be gone and dead by the end of this series, we can always look back on the series as a whole and see them happy as they once were.

I have as of yet to reread the complete series since the release of book seven and am not planning it during this year since I don't want to reread this book twice in a single year. Perhaps in 2010, though. The Harry Potter books remain my favorite series and I doubt I could tire of them, but I would like to space out the times that I read them to enjoy them better.

Stephenie Meyer: The Host

At long last this eagerly awaited for book was released. It's not part of the Twilight series but something new that's not a YA book.

I had a really tough time getting into it because of only having five or ten minutes to read here and there due to a busy work week. Once I had more time to read the book in one sitting, I enjoyed it immensely. It was hard to put down though I had little choice. I ended up staying up very late into two nights reading, the only time there was in my busy schedule to read.

From the beginning it is obvious that there is not merely one main character but two lives that are very much a part of this book. One is Wanderer, a soul and alien. The other is Melanie Stryder, a human whose body is used as a host. Through Melanie's memories, two other characters are drawn in and become of importance to both souls within Melanie's body.

You can feel Wanderer and Melanie's relationship as well as their anger, pain, and sorrow. Swept in their thoughts and emotions, you, too, both smile hugely in a grin and are brought to tears.

There's so much more I'd like to say about it, but I could ramble on forever and cause some major spoiling. All in all, an excellent book!

ARC of The Host

While working last night I had the opportunity to see my co-worker who works for a publisher once more. There in her bag that she brought with her was an ARC of Stephenie Meyer's The Host. Lucky girl! She saw me looking at it and pulled it out of her bag, held it in front of me and asked if I wanted to touch it. I carefully reached out my right hand and lightly stroked the front cover before moving my hand away. I was so close to the book. I cannot wait till May 6th! The rest of my shift we discussed Meyer's Twilight series while getting our work done.

Fantasy Genre, Take Your Pick

Some of my TBRs just seem to sit and while I'd bought each of them because they somehow appealed to me at one time, I guess I'm looking for inspiration to read them by someone saying "Read this, I loved it!" Take your pick. Which of these books did you love and why?

Richard Adams: Watership Down

Jacqueline Carey: Kushiel's Dart

Charles de Lint: Jack of Kinrowan or Into the Green

Gregory Frost: Fitcher's Brides

Guy Gavriel Kay: The Summer Tree

Tanith Lee: White as Snow

Juliet Marillier: Daughter of the Forest

Patricia A. McKillip: The Riddle-Master

Terry Pratchett: Equal Rites

Thanks for your time! I'd like to add that I'll always take comments, so no reason to be shy.

The Princess Bride

#34 S. Morgenstern: The Princess Bride (William Goldman) (December 2007)

After having first attempted this book in perhaps September or October, I finally read it. I'd been reading it too slow and, figuring the movie would help me gain more interest, I bought the dvd. However, the dvd sat on a shelf beside the book for a couple months before I got around to watching it. Finally there came a quiet Saturday in late November on which I watched the dvd. I picked the book up again the Sunday before last, and while I haven't had much time to get reading done, I finished it this afternoon. I'm just reading an extra bit in the back of the book that takes place after this story.

A Modern Tale of Faerie

#32 Holly Black: Valiant (December 2007)

Harry Potter Full Circle

I was writing in a word document for a summary of the books I've read in 2007 (so far to date) and discovered something that truly shocked me: I had not entered in my most eagerly anticpated read into my blog! All I can think of is that I had wanted to give it the time it deserved to make it a really good post. Meanwhile, I wrote a review on LibraryThing for this book that was awarded a prize. This is the book,

#13 J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 2007)

And this is my review I had posted on LibraryThing. I warn you, it does spoil the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Please read with some caution.

A big fan of Harry Potter, I was eager and yet afraid to begin the final book of what for me has been a much-loved series. Throughout books one through six, we have read and watched as Harry grew up from an eleven-year-old child deemed The Boy Who Lived who learns he is a wizard, to what he becomes in book seven: a man with a heart of gold who will do everything in his power to save all he loves and then some. We have thought up as many theories as we possibly can, and have argued them thoroughly. At last, the final book has arrived, and there became seven.

With the start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry is soon to become a wizard of age, and with that, is about to lose some powerful magic left to protect him by his mother, Lily, who sacrificed herself for her son nearly sixteen years before. Harry and the Dursley's part once more, and Harry is given a surprise as they go. The Order of the Phoenix arrives on scene with their plan that they hope will not fail as they attempt to take Harry away from Privet Drive once and for all. With not all that he left with, Harry as well as the Order make it to safety.

With the death of Albus Dumbledore new to the wizarding world from Harry's last adventure in Half-Blood Prince, people begin to speak about the Albus that they knew, whether he was the Albus they loved or that mystified them. Harry learns much more about the man who he looked up to, and, only months before he died, had told him that he was his man through and through. As it turns out, there is a heart-breaking story about Albus's past, and we learn all there is to know about Albus Dumbledore.

Unsurprisingly, Harry arrives at the Burrow in time, home of his family-at-heart, the Weasley's. Here, he celebrates his seventeenth birthday, and Harry accepts a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that would have been given to him by his parents were they still alive. Harry watches Ginny as he would very much like to be with her but knowingly cannot until Voldemort is defeated. From the previous Harry Potter book, we know their will be a wedding between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The wedding proceeds, an after-party is thrown, and danger begins to lurk nearer.

Throughout Deathly Hallows, Harry searches for the Horcruxes while amongst friends, and together, they destroy them. Destruction of one such Horcrux brings them closer together. Places from the past are revisited, one of which Harry can barely remember. Harry is frequently reminded of how many hold him dear, and how many are rooting for him and offer support. More characters from the past reappear. To some, Harry must say good-bye in heart-breaking moments when you will find yourself in tears. Many of them do all they can to help Harry, even two who are very much unexpected. Filled with surprises as well as chapters that had me crying all the way through them, this is a book I will reread for decades to come. J.K. Rowling has created a marvelous series, full of love, tears, and laughter. Without a doubt, the Muggle world will never forget the name Harry Potter. To the Boy Who Lived!

"The Princess Bride"

I was reading this book for a while but put it down. I'm not giving up on it, but I was simply reading it much too slowly to be drawn in to the book. I'm going to read a few other books and come back to it later, after having watched the movie. For now, I'm reading a nonfiction book that I'm hoping to finish by Monday. After that, I have some reading to do as preparation for the literary graveyard I make for Halloween.

Promises

I was introduced to Charles de Lint's books during the summer of 2002 when my mother pushed his books on me. She bought me perhaps five books from his Newford series over one weekend while she tried to find out more about The Onion Girl, a book she had seen many people reading and for which was the cause for her to get me to read de Lint's books in the first place. Little did she know The Onion Girl would take nearly a year for me to get a copy of, but it was a good wait as I was able to fill myself with other books in the series first. And how I did love that one! I happily dove into it's sequel, Widdershins, three years later. That said, I would have been utterly disappointed had I not been able to get my hands on this one.

#23 Charles de Lint: Newford: Promises to Keep (September 2007)

This book may not mean much to those who are new to the series and have not come to love Jilly, the heroin of this particular book and also favorite character of the author himself. For me, though, it was treasure. I got from it exactly what I wanted, and the only thing that could possibly have been missing that the other Newford books didn't give beyond the clues of. I'm a well satisfied de Lint reader.

This book explains a bit more about Jilly herself, and her past between her life in Tyson and her life as a college graduate. You see a part of Jilly that is not her 'we'll their a$$' self, but rather her journey on the way to becoming such. Besides the obvious, it had me thinking of Memory and Dream, the first book I read by de Lint and the second, if not first, book in the series. I'm thinking a rereading, if not of the complete series, then of part of it, is due soon.

YA Fantasy

I thought I was tired of these, but gave two a try, and the other I just had to read.

#15 Charles de Lint: Newford: Little (Grrl) Lost (August 2007)

This is the one I had to read. Charles de Lint is one of my favorite authors. Not wanting to pay full price for the hardcover, I put this book on my BookMooch wishlist hoping to either get it there, or wait for the paperback. Someone on BM had an ARC copy! I was the first to mooch it, and within two weeks, it was in my home. Of the author's YA books, this one most reminds me of The Blue Girl, however, I liked this book much more.

#20 Neil Gaiman: Stardust (September 2007)

Knowing full well it was a book, I couldn't go see the movie without first reading the book. I managed to read it in time to see the movie, and on the very same day I finished the book on. The two were very different from one another, but both were enjoyable.

#21 Frances Hardinge: Fly By Night (September 2007)

I got this book from someone on BookMooch, who had also registered it on BookCrossing. I hope they don't mind that I plan to keep it! This book was lovely. I will definitely reread it one day.