Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Wildwood Dancing (book review)

Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier, is a fantasy story based on the fairy tale of the twelve dancing princesses. The story is told from the point of view of one of five sisters. Her name is Jenica, or Jena for short. A little, enchanted frog named Gogu, who can speak to Jena, is her constant companion. They live in a castle called Piscul Dracului, deep in the Transylvanian forests, and each Full Moon the five sisters open an enchanted portal and are whisked away to the Other Kingdom, an enchanted world filled with faeries, elves, and other fantasy creatures. However, Jena's world is quickly turned upside down as her father is sent away to a warmer climate to improve his ill-health, and their tyrannical cousin Cezar takes his place as head of the household. To make things worse, Night People, aka vampires, have arrived in the Other Kingdom, and Jena's older sister Tatiana has fallen in love with one of them. But is the mysterious, mournful Sorrow really a vampire? Or is he, as Tatiana claims, one of their slaves? Jena is deeply afraid for her sister. But as it becomes more and more clear that Tatiana may be willing to give up her humanity to live with Sorrow forever, and that despotic Cezar will never give up his grip on Pascul Dracului, and on the five sisters, Jena begins to realize that she must make a choice--or risk giving up everything that is dear to her.

This book was wonderful! I absolutely loved it! It combined true love, enchantment, fantastical journeys, wicked villains, and the strong bonds of sisterhood into a perfect plot. This book was nearly impossible to put down. An amazing read!

9 comments:

Debi said...

Thanks for leaving this book in my room, Annie...after reading this review I KNOW I will definitely be reading it!!!
Love, Mom

Ana S. said...

I wish you could leave it in my room too :P Seriously, I have to get my hands on this! It sounds like something I'd love.

Sharry said...

I absolutely love Juliet Marillier! She's so wonderful~

Kim L said...

This sounds like such a fun book! It has been on my radar for a while.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I have always wondered about this book. The cover is by one of my favorite artists, Kinuko Y. Craft, and I'm thrilled to hear that the story lives up to the cover!

Anonymous said...

I always look forward to your new posts, I learn more compared to school. Always looking forward. Thank you. Please come visit my site Hampton Virginia business directory when you got time.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting such kind of usefull information.Keep Posted in future as well.Thank you! Please come visit my site Pasadena Texas yellow pages when you got time.

Unknown said...

it was such a good book. i could not stop reading it.i have read the second one and wish there was a third.


p.s my name is kate and i am 9

Debi said...

Alex--

Hi! I haven't read the second book yet, but I hope I can soon!

--Annie