SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
This topic is about
Daughter of the Forest
Group Reads Discussions 2022
>
"Daughter of the Forest" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*
date
newest »
newest »
Would not have read this on my own so thanks SFFBC and “Magical Healing” theme.1. What did you think of the writing?
Fit the setting exactly. Seemed just the right amount of old-fashioned, lyrical tone, describing the beauty of the world around them. Dialog fit too.
2. What did you think of the world?
That setting, Old British Isles with the opposition between Celtic/Pagan/Druid religion and new/modern/Christian religion, puts me right into a melancholy mode. Our second-grade teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to us so already in my youth we heard about the old religions being crowded out by Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. (I do not know if or to what extent old Celtic/Irish religions connected to Welsh / Anglo-Saxon ones, with the Faerie, fairy rings, fawns and such, but to me the melancholia feels the same.)
3. Did you have any favorite characters?
Had a soft spot for:
*brother Padriac because he helped those wounded animals.
*brother Finbar because he looked at the overall situation of the Celtic-Briton conflict, and wanted to work toward a diplomatic resolution instead of constant warfare. Even stood up to his father regarding his stance.
*Linn the faithful dog, who bonded with Sorcha as well as her original owner, brother Cormack.
4. What worked or didn't for you?- Finbar & Sorcha’s relationship. Sorcha kept saying (thinking or writing) that they had a very special relationship but I didn’t see it brought to life or feel it much; it was more that she just kept telling me they had it.
- “Oonagh” does not work for me as an evil name it seems like something an extra-terrestrial alien would say, and makes me think of David Letterman’s bad Oscar outing when he kept repeating Uma and Oona. Maybe it was Oprah.
- When the story didn’t end immediately after the swan transformation, I hoped we would find out what the deal was with the evil stepmother. We didn’t but maybe it's told in another book of the Sevenwater series,
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4477...
+ Writing style brought the shorter and dryer fairy tale to life.
+ Characterization. Sorcha’s having six brothers was a concern, how would I remember their names and the difference between them? the author immediately gave them all life and personality and I could remember them all. That made their swan exile and the twice-a-year meetings more meaningful. Even some minor characters had some life to them, such as the weapons master, Red’s best friends, John’s wife Margery.
+ Suffering. The fairy folk said that Sorcha would suffer to the point of wanting to die, and so she did. Just needing to stay mute, spin your own thread and sew shirts would be bad enough. On top of that the loneliness, isolation, hunger, fear, rape, trauma, disfigurement of her hands, being mocked, loss of Linn, being a stranger in a strange land…. really piled it on. I would think back to what the Lady said: yes, you are definitely suffering. Sorcha showed great strength of character in keeping on with her task in silence, when many would have not been able to continue. And I felt that anguish.
+ Surprise at the end - in a modern setting it would have been a possibility, but in this book it did not even cross my mind that Red could or would renounce his inheritance and career and Harrowfield for his love. With no way to communicate or easily travel, once Sorcha left with the brothers I thought the romance was done for. Ahem, tears welled up in my eyes when he showed up, leaving everything including his homeland, and told her how much loved her.
+ Extra touches. There are probably more but a few little parts of the book really hit home.
Education at Sevenwaters, and how the ability to read and write was so useful.
Linn the dog being torn between going home with Cormack on his horse, or staying with Sorcha and Simon at the cave.
Oonagh somehow poisoning Cormack’s mind so that he struck his own beloved dog, and how Linn waited at Sorcha’s bedroom.
The boy in the woods ~with prominent teeth, who was born not quite right, who would always be one step behind the others~ lent extra pathos to how Sorcha was attacked.
Sorcha’s depression and despondency following the attack.
Red being such good friends with Elaine that he could be honest with her.
Finbar’s longing for his swan family.
I've been meaning to read this book for a while, so I'm really glad this group chose to read it, so now I have the perfect oppertunity to finally read it. I've read The Blackthorn and Grim series by this author and really enjoyed it, so I have high hopes for this book.
Mod
Do you know the original fairy tale? :)
Ryan wrote: "I'm going to be awfully annoyed if Sorche doesn't finish sewing these jumpers in this book."This inevitably led to a mental image of Sorcha knitting six ugly Christmas sweaters out of spiny stems.
Mod
Then you’ll have to read and find out 😅
Damn, and here I thought you would just be kind enough to tell us Anna. ;P
I think there are several different versions of it, and the ending differs a lot, too. Like with all fairy tales I guess?When I read this years ago I remember being almost angry that it was a retelling XD I must've thought I was reading an original story, that was back when I didn't read blurbs. The events in the book match the version of the fairy tale I'm familiar with, so it felt like I'd been fooled. I do know how retellings work, but I didn't know I was reading one.
This wiki has links to the different versions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six...
Mod
I liked most of the characters. Like Bonnie, I was impressed that the author was able to make the brothers different enough that I could remember all six.The overall plot was alright, but the pacing was often too slow for me. There seemed to be a lot of repetition as Sorcha was doing her task and being miserable. I think the book was too long for the story.
The villains were over-the-top evil. The stepmother's motive was not at all clear. I know that fairy tales often just say that someone is evil, but those are so short that it's excusable.
Going to try to organize a BR for the sequel for mid-April
I would love to join you, Chris, but my April is chock full already.
I finished this over the weekend, it started a bit slow (maybe just because I was short on reading time) but once I had time to sit down with it, it hooked me. I was familiar with the fairy tale sorta, but never really gave it a lot of thought. This version really brought it home. I loved the writing, I loved the characters, this was a very emotional story for me and I will definitely be checking out more from this author. I was a little disappointed that we didn't find out anything more about the stepmother, like Chris said her motive wasn't clear and that part of the story was odd. When she appeared, it seemed like she wanted power and money as one of the characters said, but she basically ruined them... although she did get the 7th son of a 7th son and fled with him, so maybe that's what she was after all along. Plus whatever plot she was hatching with Richard and Eamonn was interrupted by the breaking of the spell, so I guess we didn't really find out what her end-game was. Hmm. I'd be surprised if she or her son don't make an appearance in a later book.
For those who want to continue the series, buddy read thread is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Thanks for creating that thread Anna!
Chris wrote: "I liked most of the characters. Like Bonnie, I was impressed that the author was able to make the brothers different enough that I could remember all six.The overall plot was alright, but the pac..."
I think I mostly agree with this take as well. I thought Sorcha herself was well written and very interesting as a character. Her narration of the story was engaging, and most of the other characters were interesting as well.
I'm going to work under the assumption that the rest of the trilogy does expand on Oonagh's motivations and such, but even if it does, a lot of the overall plot in this story just seemed to be fey folk making Sorcha suffer for the sake of making her suffer, taking pleasure in messing with the humans. Which, I suppose, is what many fairy tales do, but there's little resolution to it beyond that Sorcha managed a happy ending of sorts for herself. No sign of Oonagh, no hint from the rest of the fae folk that their plans were messed up by Sorcha's selflessness, nor that their plans were still going perfectly... just nothing. We don't really know why any of this had to pass, other than the general idea of 'fey folk mess with humans sometimes' and that perhaps it was a long, contrived way to get Sorcha and Red together.
So I enjoyed the telling of the tale, I just wish there was a little more resolution to the fae side of things, because that felt like little more than a setup to give cause for Sorcha to experience all the suffering she did. Other than wishing that the fae folk would get a little comeuppance (I suspect I would survive very poorly in a world with the Fair Folk about lol), I thought the setting was executed wonderfully, the first-person narrative was engaging, and as many folks here have mentioned, the characters were unique and interesting. The brothers have been discussed, but I also thought Megan and Margery were interesting characters, and even Ben and John had their own personalities to them.
I agree that Marillier has a real talent for characterization. Even the two dogs have personalities! Ah, Linn and Alice, you were so faithful! I have to say, I wasn’t bothered by the lack of information about the Fair Folk’s motives or plans. I did wonder about Oonagh and where she went. I’m sure we’ll read about it. In fact, the blurb of Book 3 indicates it’s about Oonagh and the 7th son.
I agree with people’s comments re: characterization.But like Chris, the book felt too long for the story it was telling.
And, as I said in my review, I’m not sure I found the lovestory between Sorcha and Red completely convincing. It felt a little too much like a “love at first sight” thing for him, while it took Sorcha too long to figure out she was falling in love with him. I assume that was meant to show how traumatized she was, so I kind of appreciate it, but it still felt somewhat lopsided to me.
I wonder if some of my feelings of this being too long had to do with it being a long audiobook with very long chapters. This might be one of the instances where eye-reading would have worked better for me. (For some reason, I find it easier to stop in the middle of a chapter when I eye-read.)
I listened to the book (at 1.8x speed!!). I don’t have that same problem, Mareike. I get interrupted too much to have the luxury of listening to the end of a chapter.
I had it at 1.7 speed. It's a weird quirk that I don't like stopping in the middle of an audiobook chapter. I might have to get used to it, though. XD
1. What did you think of the writing?
2. What did you think of the world?
3. Did you have any favorite characters?
4. What worked or didn't for you?
Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions
Continue talking about the rest of the books in the series thread.