High in the Transylvanian woods, at the castle Piscul Draculi, live five daughters and their doting father. It's an idyllic life for Jena, the sec...
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reviews
Nov 20, 2011
Kat
rated it: 
The problem with this book is that it's not real.
Juliet Marillier is my arch-nemesis and main rival. We've been competing against each other for the coveted title of #1 most followed Australian for awhile now. The battle has been vicious. The competition fierce.
Okay, maybe she's not as "aware" of this competition as I am... so what if it appears that she's almost never even ON Goodreads and by all accounts may actually have forgotten that she has a Go More...
Juliet Marillier is my arch-nemesis and main rival. We've been competing against each other for the coveted title of #1 most followed Australian for awhile now. The battle has been vicious. The competition fierce.
Okay, maybe she's not as "aware" of this competition as I am... so what if it appears that she's almost never even ON Goodreads and by all accounts may actually have forgotten that she has a Go More...
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Dec 16, 2009
Grace
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I don't recall the last time I've read a fiction book based on classic fairy tales that was this excellent, and I've read many. The tone of this book does indeed feel a lot like the recent works of Patricia McKillip, but Marillier manages to make you care about the characters more (and this is coming from a huge McKillip fan). I don't cry easily at books, but I found myself moved to tears at several points.
The book takes the fairy tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses and sets it in Roma More...
The book takes the fairy tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses and sets it in Roma More...
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Nov 13, 2010
Tatiana
rated it: 
Not sure how to rate this. Somewhere around 3.5 stars rounded up to generous 4 I guess?
I really do like Juliet Marillier's writing, even though it always takes me a while to get into any of her books. I like how descriptive and atmospheric her stories are. Wildwood Dancing offers an interesting blend of traditional fairy tales (The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince) and Transylvanian vampire lore. The characters are likable - the heroines are strong and resourceful, the h More...
I really do like Juliet Marillier's writing, even though it always takes me a while to get into any of her books. I like how descriptive and atmospheric her stories are. Wildwood Dancing offers an interesting blend of traditional fairy tales (The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince) and Transylvanian vampire lore. The characters are likable - the heroines are strong and resourceful, the h More...
14 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2012
Kay
rated it:
Hm, this one is tough to rate. Higher than three stars, but definitely not round-upable to four. So I guess 3.25 stars?
As always Juliet Marillier's prose is lovely and atmospheric. A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince, the story is set in Transylvania and told from the perspective of Jena, the second eldest sister out of five, all of whom visit the fairy realm through a secret passageway in their bedroom.
When their ill father leaves Jena and More...
As always Juliet Marillier's prose is lovely and atmospheric. A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince, the story is set in Transylvania and told from the perspective of Jena, the second eldest sister out of five, all of whom visit the fairy realm through a secret passageway in their bedroom.
When their ill father leaves Jena and More...
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Aug 03, 2008
Cristin
rated it:
This is another pleasant book for young adult readers who are interested in fantasy...(can you sense an impending "however"?)
At times, HOWEVER, I resented the editor, because it seemed like the arguments between Cezar and Jena acted as filler pages that prevented the story from moving forward.
I also disliked the fact that it was nearly impossible to become attached to any of the sisters (besides Jena, who is the main character)though such an attachment or person More...
At times, HOWEVER, I resented the editor, because it seemed like the arguments between Cezar and Jena acted as filler pages that prevented the story from moving forward.
I also disliked the fact that it was nearly impossible to become attached to any of the sisters (besides Jena, who is the main character)though such an attachment or person More...
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Feb 29, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 25, 2008
Pauline
rated it: 
“Wildwood Dancing” reminds me of "Pride and Prejudice" with a spattering of different fairy tales and a bit of Dracula mixed in.
There are five sisters and the oldest is beautiful and the second oldest is smart and witty. The other three consist of the scholar, the flirt and the youngest is just young.
Their father becomes ill and leaves the girls to run the castle under the watchful eye of an uncle and cousin Cezar. To say the least things go awry and the cousin More...
There are five sisters and the oldest is beautiful and the second oldest is smart and witty. The other three consist of the scholar, the flirt and the youngest is just young.
Their father becomes ill and leaves the girls to run the castle under the watchful eye of an uncle and cousin Cezar. To say the least things go awry and the cousin More...
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Jun 04, 2008
Honor
rated it:
This is my newest favorite book. Set in Transylvania, it is about a family of 5 daughters who live in a castle next to a wooded area. Each night of full moon, they open a portal to the other world where they dance the night away with fairies, gnomes, dwarfs, and all other kind of mystical creatures. No one knows they go on this adventure every full moon, and they have done it for a long time, 9 years I think. Jenica, the 2nd oldest, is telling this story. When they first started going to the dan
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 02, 2008
Jessica
rated it:
This was an amazing book. She weaves together several classical stories: the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Transylvanian vampire lore, and others (I wouldn't want to give any twists away by saying which ones), and does so seamlessly and without a feeling that she's cramming it all in. The characters were great, and I truly enjoyed seeing what twists and turns the story took. There were villains both in the "ordinary" world, and in the fairy kingdom, but also champions and sympathizers,
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(8 people liked it)
May 16, 2008
Holly
rated it:
I found it rather slow to get into, but after I made it through the first 150 pages or so I was pretty engrossed. The prose itself didn't strike me as anything special, and I do think it could have been tightened down in length, but it was an exciting story, with especially strong characters (ooh, that Cezar made me so angry...) and a nice darkly magical feel. I didn't love it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it after I passed about the one-third mark. An interesting redrawing of a - or rather, several
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(3 people liked it)
Oct 23, 2007
Angie
rated it:
This is Marillier's first foray into YA and, I will confess, I did long a little bit for what the book would be like if she'd written the same story for adults. She's just so good at tension and darkness and the otherworldly that this combination Frog Prince/Twelve Dancing Princesses/Vampire story would make a delicious non-YA. That said, it was a wonderful story and I found myself fascinated to see how she tied together the two familiar (though not necessarily similar) fairy tales, set it in Ro
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 09, 2010
Allison (The Allure of Books)
rated it: 
Not my favorite. I'm disappointed I didn't like it more, because a couple of my GR friends whose opinions I usually agree with loved this book, but I just never got into it. I actually thought the first half was mildly boring...and I had to flip to the end to see what happened, and when I did that I thought "oh cool! I do wanna read this to see how we get there!" After that point, I enjoyed the book much more. Weird.
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Mar 28, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
Ho-ly cow, this is good. This is good good. This is really good good.
I don't know what I really expected when I began this. I had briefly read some reviews, heard it was a fairy tale and decided to pick it up. When they say fairy tale they mean it in the Grimm sense of the term - man, this is DARK. I was spooked and concerned far more than I was laughing.
The characters are fascinating. We see the world through the eyes of Jena; second oldest of five. She's the most More...
I don't know what I really expected when I began this. I had briefly read some reviews, heard it was a fairy tale and decided to pick it up. When they say fairy tale they mean it in the Grimm sense of the term - man, this is DARK. I was spooked and concerned far more than I was laughing.
The characters are fascinating. We see the world through the eyes of Jena; second oldest of five. She's the most More...
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Jun 26, 2008
Holly
rated it:
I found this fairy tale retelling a well-written and refreshingly unique take on fairies, dwarves, elves, vampires, and even frogs. While it wasn't a page-turner for me (it was a bit slow and didn't always keep my attention), it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
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Dec 25, 2008
Nancy
rated it:
A creative combination of The Frog Prince and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in Transylvania! Magnificent, engrossing writing. Fabulous.
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Jun 07, 2010
Misty
rated it:
Wildwood Dancing is retold fairy tale set in Romania of a century ago. Five sisters (beautiful Tati; sensible Jena, who narrates the story; lively Iulia; smart Paula and young Stela) are left to take care of their estate, Piscul Dracului, when their father travels south for his health. They try to go on with their lives as before: doing chores, watching over his mercantile business, and sneaking out of their bedroom once a month through a secret portal that lead to a fairy realm where they dan
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(3 people liked it)
Oct 08, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marrilier is one of the most unique and beautiful retellings for The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It is primarily Jenica's story, the second of five sisters, although Tatiana, the eldest sister, has an important role in the direction the story goes as well.
As young children, Tatiana (Tati) and Jenica (Jena) discovered a portal that opens each full moon into the Dancing Glade wit More...
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marrilier is one of the most unique and beautiful retellings for The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It is primarily Jenica's story, the second of five sisters, although Tatiana, the eldest sister, has an important role in the direction the story goes as well.
As young children, Tatiana (Tati) and Jenica (Jena) discovered a portal that opens each full moon into the Dancing Glade wit More...
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Oct 29, 2011
This combines several fairy tale tropes with a beautifully realized Eastern European setting. The main character is Jena, a strong, sensible heroine who still long for romance and Otherness. She has to balance her own wishes and desires against what's good for her family and land.
The oldest sister is a tad drippy for an adult reader, but I think I would have found her soggy wasting away intensely romantic when I was young. The main fairy tale is also recognizable early on for the ad More...
The oldest sister is a tad drippy for an adult reader, but I think I would have found her soggy wasting away intensely romantic when I was young. The main fairy tale is also recognizable early on for the ad More...
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Aug 06, 2008
Izlinda
rated it:
I saw this book on a friend's to-read list here on Goodreads and when I came upon it in a bookstore, I casually picked it up. I was surprised and happy to see a glossary of Romanian names and terms at the beginning of the book. I used to live in Romania and it made me a little homesick. I started reading it in the bookstore and decided I couldn't let it go.
An interesting mix of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (down to five) and "The Frog Prince" and probably eleme More...
An interesting mix of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (down to five) and "The Frog Prince" and probably eleme More...
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 23, 2007
Merrin
rated it:
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, especially since I generally refer to Marillier as one of my favorite authors of fantasy. But this is the fourth in a line of lackluster efforts from her, and I’m thinking the two I liked are the flukes, not the other way around.
It’s an interesting enough story, set in Transylvania, five sisters find a portal to the faerie realm in the corner of their bedroom. Once each month, on the full moon, they go through the portal and dance More...
It’s an interesting enough story, set in Transylvania, five sisters find a portal to the faerie realm in the corner of their bedroom. Once each month, on the full moon, they go through the portal and dance More...
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Dec 29, 2008
Shasta
rated it:
I found that the first half of the book dragged on. In fact, the argumets between Cezar and Jena and the bleak but slow turn of events surrounding the family only filled me a sense of foreboding that I couldn't shake. It kept me from really getting into the book. The story could have used more from Gogu and more scenes in the Dancing Glade, a fact that became clear to me near the end because that's when the story really grabbed. But it was too little, too late.
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Nov 19, 2007
Elizabeth
rated it:
I love fairy tales. I particularly love the re-telling in which the otherwise boring princess(es) of the original suddenly become multi-dimensional and intelligent human beings, and not the doe-eyed Disney versions that exist just to teach little girls to wear pink and wait to be rescued.
I've read several of Juliet Marillier's books and this one is definitely my favorite. She can get caught up in creating the place or tracking through the plot to the extent that she forgets about he More...
I've read several of Juliet Marillier's books and this one is definitely my favorite. She can get caught up in creating the place or tracking through the plot to the extent that she forgets about he More...
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Mar 25, 2009
Alice
rated it:
On the night of the Full Moon, 16-year-old Jena and her three sisters dress in their best gowns and go through a hidden portal in an alcove of their castle in Transylvania. From there, they are ferried across a lake in which their cousin Costi was once drowned by a witch, until they come to a forest where they dance with magical creatures until morning. This continues for ten years until their beloved father suddenly falls ill, and must go away for the winter to recover in a warmer clima
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Feb 10, 2012
Emily
rated it:
Why I picked it up: I like fairy tale retellings and 12 Dancing Princesses is probably my favorite fairy tale, so I am particularly interested when I find one.
Jenna is the 2nd oldest of 5 sisters who live in a home (castle?) in Transylvania. Every full moon, Jenna and her sisters are able to open a portal in their bedchamber and enter the fairy realm where they dance and socialize with the folks from the other realm. But in their own world, their power-hungry cousin Cesar threatens t More...
Jenna is the 2nd oldest of 5 sisters who live in a home (castle?) in Transylvania. Every full moon, Jenna and her sisters are able to open a portal in their bedchamber and enter the fairy realm where they dance and socialize with the folks from the other realm. But in their own world, their power-hungry cousin Cesar threatens t More...
Oct 08, 2011
Kat
rated it:
What do you get if you mix a splash of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses', a sprinkling of 'The Frog Prince' and a few vampires thrown in for good measure? You get a delicious slice of Faery pie, and how truely tasty this is. 'Wildwood Dancing' follows Jena, as, due to her fathers failing health, the responsilbility of caring for her four sisters, running a household and looking after the family business, thrust upon her. But she has her constant froggy companion Gogu to guide her, and keep her san
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Aug 12, 2011
Ailsa
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 05, 2011
Myimaginariumspace
rated it:
É um livro encantador! Esta história repleta de magia prendeu-me durante todo o livro!
Em pequenos Cezar, Costi e jenna apenas queriam brincar aos reis e rainhas…uma brincadeira que acabou em catástrofe.
Jenna tem 4 irmãs e como melhor amigo um sapo, o Gogu. As 5 irmãs descobrem um portal que lhes permite mensalmente (em segredo!), a cada lua cheia, ir ao outro reino. Neste reino brilha a alegria, música, um cenário repleto de cores e magia com seres como nunca antes vistos, anões,…. More...
Em pequenos Cezar, Costi e jenna apenas queriam brincar aos reis e rainhas…uma brincadeira que acabou em catástrofe.
Jenna tem 4 irmãs e como melhor amigo um sapo, o Gogu. As 5 irmãs descobrem um portal que lhes permite mensalmente (em segredo!), a cada lua cheia, ir ao outro reino. Neste reino brilha a alegria, música, um cenário repleto de cores e magia com seres como nunca antes vistos, anões,…. More...
Jul 17, 2011
Tara
rated it:
I'd probably give this book a 4.5, if that was an option. It was a creative story developed from the fairytale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in Translyvania. I always enjoy stories where the characters enter different worlds through secret portals in our own world. I found the book compelling to read. Some of the characters include "night people" which are similar to vampires. After all the Twilight books, and other vampire series and shows, vampires seem a little cliche, al
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May 22, 2011
Muffin
rated it:
I am now a fan of Juliet. Besides her amazing name, her skills in writing are epic and should be legendary. It is the most fluid book I have ever read!
All I have to say is... JENA, WTF.
As I was reading the book, with all the decisions she made, that annoyed me profoundly, I just felt like this:
And the worst part is, I understood why she was doing the things she was doing, and I could relate completely WHICH ANNOYED ME EVEN MORE.
At the end, I felt like I was ready t More...
All I have to say is... JENA, WTF.
As I was reading the book, with all the decisions she made, that annoyed me profoundly, I just felt like this:
And the worst part is, I understood why she was doing the things she was doing, and I could relate completely WHICH ANNOYED ME EVEN MORE.
At the end, I felt like I was ready t More...
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Apr 22, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Wildwood Dancing; Juliet Marillier
I've just finished reading Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I was quite wary at first about reading said book since the blurb on the back was anything but informative (really, Mr/Ms Publisher?) and I dislike going into the great unknown.
Five adventurous girls...
Four dark creatures...
Three magical gifts...
Two forbidden loves...
O More...
