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juushikaTitle: Wildwood Dancing
Author: Juliet Marillier
Published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 403
Total Page Count: 70,037
Text Number: 202
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: On a Transylvanian estate, five sisters, including the independent Jena and her frog companion Gogu, have a portal which every full moon takes them deep into the fairy realm. But when their father leaves for the winter, they must struggle to hold their family together against the attacks of a domineering cousin and trouble in the magic realm. Despite a promising setting and cast of characters, this book is bogged down by the frustration of a predictable plot and exaggerated antagonists. Avoid this novel—it's just not worth reading, especially while there are so many better books with similar premises.
In a word, Wildwood Dancing is frustrating. Writing for young adults does not require treating them like children, but Marillier does. The book is entirely predictable, and when the reader is a dozen steps ahead the story quickly grows dull. In the midst of such an obvious plot the characters come across as oblivious rather than the bright young women they are meant to be. Frustrating too is the book's conflict: the primary antagonist is a domineering male relative, and though (given the book's setting) conflict over gender roles and female repression is perfectly natural, here the conflict is so overt and exaggerated that it becomes a parody of itself. As the girls are stripped of more and more of their autonomy, the reader becomes less sympathetic and increasingly frustrated, wishing the author would just skip to the part where they reassert control. But when they do, it's somewhat anti-climactic. The solutions are too easy, and too much is engineered by outside forces. Rather than empowered, the sisters are more or less swept along to their predictable fates.
All of these faults would be easier to cope with if the book were simply bad, and therefore easily dismissed—but it's not. The setting is under-explored (the magical elements in particular often feel like a pseudo-Celtic fairy world), but Transylvania is a pleasant change. A number of sub-plots and a sense of magic keep the reader interested, even when the direction of the story is obvious. And most promising of all, Jena and her sisters have the potential to be spirited, independent young woman—interesting characters in any setting and any sort of novel. There are just enough promising aspects to keep the reader hoping that the book will improve, and so it's all the more frustrating when it does not. I can't possibly recommend Wildwood Dancing. It has some good bits and has the potential for many more, but it never becomes enjoyable. Instead, the story is bogged down by frustration and predictability, and it never rewards the reader for the labor of its 400 pages. Avoid this book—there are many similar novels (even if not set in Transylvania) that are far more successful.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Juliet Marillier
Published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 403
Total Page Count: 70,037
Text Number: 202
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: On a Transylvanian estate, five sisters, including the independent Jena and her frog companion Gogu, have a portal which every full moon takes them deep into the fairy realm. But when their father leaves for the winter, they must struggle to hold their family together against the attacks of a domineering cousin and trouble in the magic realm. Despite a promising setting and cast of characters, this book is bogged down by the frustration of a predictable plot and exaggerated antagonists. Avoid this novel—it's just not worth reading, especially while there are so many better books with similar premises.
In a word, Wildwood Dancing is frustrating. Writing for young adults does not require treating them like children, but Marillier does. The book is entirely predictable, and when the reader is a dozen steps ahead the story quickly grows dull. In the midst of such an obvious plot the characters come across as oblivious rather than the bright young women they are meant to be. Frustrating too is the book's conflict: the primary antagonist is a domineering male relative, and though (given the book's setting) conflict over gender roles and female repression is perfectly natural, here the conflict is so overt and exaggerated that it becomes a parody of itself. As the girls are stripped of more and more of their autonomy, the reader becomes less sympathetic and increasingly frustrated, wishing the author would just skip to the part where they reassert control. But when they do, it's somewhat anti-climactic. The solutions are too easy, and too much is engineered by outside forces. Rather than empowered, the sisters are more or less swept along to their predictable fates.
All of these faults would be easier to cope with if the book were simply bad, and therefore easily dismissed—but it's not. The setting is under-explored (the magical elements in particular often feel like a pseudo-Celtic fairy world), but Transylvania is a pleasant change. A number of sub-plots and a sense of magic keep the reader interested, even when the direction of the story is obvious. And most promising of all, Jena and her sisters have the potential to be spirited, independent young woman—interesting characters in any setting and any sort of novel. There are just enough promising aspects to keep the reader hoping that the book will improve, and so it's all the more frustrating when it does not. I can't possibly recommend Wildwood Dancing. It has some good bits and has the potential for many more, but it never becomes enjoyable. Instead, the story is bogged down by frustration and predictability, and it never rewards the reader for the labor of its 400 pages. Avoid this book—there are many similar novels (even if not set in Transylvania) that are far more successful.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
