Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest (Tor, 2000)

After hearing wonderful things about this series and Marillier's writing in general for years, I finally went ahead and gave Daughter of the Forest a try. And I tried. I really did. But in the end, I abandoned the book; it persisted in not only going nowhere, but taking forever to get there, and the writing was nowhere near good enough to justify the nonexistent pace. There is much superior fantasy to be had these days; we seem to be in the midst of a golden age of fantasy writing. And perhaps Juliet Marillier's other series are superior to this one, but based on the sixty-odd pages of Daughter of the Forest I was able to choke down before abandoning the book to my yearly bonfire of bad writing, I can't say Marillier is part of it. (zero)

I was a little reluctant about this book, but it turned out to be pretty good. Some corny stuff in it, overall though not bad.
Follows the story of a young girl, with six brothers, and what happens to her life when her widowed father takes on a new mysterious wife. And what she must do in order to get her family back, and how she deals with falling in love with a guy from the wrong side of the tracks (or the ocean).

First book in the Sevenwaters trilogy.

Marillier has crafted a gorgeous retelling of a Celtic fairytale. Lord Colum, an Irish widower, with six sons and a daughter, buries his grief at his beloved wife's death by throwing himself into fortifying his stronghold in order to withstand the endless attacks of the Britons.

Finbar believes that his father is too harsh and decides to help a wounded Briton escape from Colum's dungeon. He asks his young sister Sorcha, a gifted healer, to save the man's life. She does, but is soon forced to leave him on his own. He escapes into the forest, where he disappears.

Meanwhile, Colum remarries, but Sorcha's new step-mother is a witch, literally. When she discovers that she can't control Colum's children, she turns the sons into swans. Sorcha, hiding in the forest, is told by the fairy folk that she can save her brothers, but the task will be difficult and she must complete it without telling anyone what she is doing. The only way to break the spell is to weave a shirt for each brother out of nettles. If she utters a single sound before the task is complete, her brothers will be trapped in their animal forms forever.

After being brutally raped, Sorcha is captured by the older brother of the Briton whose life she saved. Because of a trinket she carries, Red knows that she has met his brother. He vows to keep her with him until she speaks to him about his brother.

Sorcha will not speak, as to do so will doom her brothers. Despite the pain caused by the nettles, as well as various other threats to her health and safety, Sorcha continues to weave the shirts and to keep silent. Finally, Sorcha is forced to make a choice between saving her beloved brothers or the man who has protected her and who she has come to love.

Beautifully written.

Upon having devoured this book in a day and a half,
I was positively bedazzled, mystified and hypnotized, though not without some overpowering sense of loss. For because of these alluring, real characters and settings, I'd myself unwittingly become a part of them;
I felt, thought, and reacted as though everything, in some way or other, would directly affect ME.

I think this is why I'd been so taken with Daughter of the Forest;
though I very much appreciated the refreshing irony of a fairy tale having dark undertones, it was still difficult for me to fully acknowledge the way the story ended, with its beloved characters each going their seperate ways, so different from traditional happily-ever-after's.

Whether I found this part of the story depressingly bleak or not, it still is one of the most enchanting works of fiction I've come across.
I Could not recommend it enough.

this is one of my favorite books in the entire world! i first picked this in grade 9 or 10 and to this day it remains one of my favorite and most highly recommended books. i think that marillier is wonderful with words. after reading the first paragraph of this book i was enthralled. i've loved faeries all my life, but after reading this book i became interested in celtic culture and started reading up on it. the characters are all very well done. sorcha is a strong, resiliant woman that you thoroughly enjoy reading about, though my personal favorite character is finbar. i have given this book to both my mother and grandmother and aunt and they all loved it. this is a definite purchase!