Wildwood Dancingby Juliet Marillier
Knopf, 2008. 407 pages. Young Adult
Marillier has taken the fairy tale of the Frog prince and set it in Transylvania. The story revolves around three daughters (one with a magical pet frog) struggling to become young women, who enter a fairy world every full moon to dance and play. What starts off as a happy romp soon turns into dire circumstances as the girl's father becomes ill, and their autocratic cousin does his best to control their every move.
I listened to this story and it was a great audiobook. The female reader used different voices, and I was able to completely suspend my disbelief even with the male voices and various accents.
3 comments:
This is actually a mix of two fairy tales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses (in this case only five) and the Frog Prince.
I really enjoyed this book too.
Juliet Marillier is one of my favorite authors. After reading her Sevenwaters Trilogy for adults I was curious to see her approach to Young Adult Literature. This is a wonderful novel. Because the author takes a fresh approach to several different fairy tales all in the forests of Transylvania - I wasn't sure which direction the book was going to go. After a bit of a slow start I found it to be an exciting read. I enjoyed the primary character and her unique frog. What makes this book stand above the rest are the themes of choice, forgiveness, and personal growth. Although this is a fantasy genre it is an admirable coming of age tale.
This book is magical. The audio book is a fantastic listen. The narrator does a great job with different voices and accents and I was pulled in from the beginning. I was captivated by the setting and charmed by the relationship Jena has with her pet frog Gogu. I felt that the relationships between all the characters, especially Jena with her sisters and Gogu and Cezar, were well-developed and I appreciated the twist and combination of the classic fairy tales. If you like fairy tale retellings at all, this book will enchant you as well.
-LH
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