Thorn read and liked Madison's review of Cybele's Secret (Wildwood, #2):

"Honestly, within the first twenty pages of Cybele's Secret, I was tempted to give up. But it's silly to me to give up on a book that is over four hundred pages long because the first chapter doesn't engage you. It could always get better. Maybe it's ...more Honestly, within the first twenty pages of Cybele's Secret, I was tempted to give up. But it's silly to me to give up on a book that is over four hundred pages long because the first chapter doesn't engage you. It could always get better. Maybe it's just slow to set up.

Maybe Cybele's Secret did get better. I think I enjoyed it more once I got into it.

But.

I still didn't like it enough to give it three stars.

I really loved Wildwood Dancing. Maybe that made Cybele's Secret harder to love.

I didn't like any of the characters. I never felt like I got to know any of them really well, except perhaps the pirate (obviously, you know my feelings about that). I didn't like Paula as a narrator. Somehow, I liked Jena more. Paula was just...she was honestly somewhat dull. So what if she's a scholar and stuff? She just didn't have much of a personality beyond that, it seemed. She was...was she somewhat arrogant in her intelligence? I think she might have been, and it annoyed me.

Also, a lot of the dialogue seemed off. It seemed way too explanatory, a lot of it. I get that people talk to explain things, but this just seemed more for the readers' benefit than the characters; it didn't seem natural.

And the plot...well, it just seemed sort of weird and random. It wasn't confusing or anything, but I don't know. It just wasn't to my taste. It was too adventure-ish for my taste.

And then I'm not a fan of epilogues that aren't epilogues, which is what I'd consider the last chapter. It made the book seem longer, since the main story had wrapped up. (Fine, I'm not fond of epilogues in general.)

I mean, Cybele's Secret isn't bad. It just didn't work right for me. But if Marillier writes a third novel about Stella (which she seemed to be setting up in the last pages of this one), I'd definitely read it. I think Stella has the potential to be an intriguing character. But Paula...I think I liked her better in Wildwood Dancing.

But kudos to Marillier for using odd settings for her YA novels. First Transylvania and then Istanbul. Awesomeness. (less) "