Daughter of the Forest

Juliet Marillier brings us a lovely mixture of fantasy, Celtic lore, paganism and the wonderful retelling of the Six Swans legend as told by the Brothers Grimm in Daughter of the Forest.  She brings about a new kind of historical fantasy romance where there is an actual plot to the stories.  I admit it, I am a sucker for romance, sometimes I just want to read a saccharine story and read about a happy ending.  Like literary refined sugar, it gives you a momentary high, and a bit of energy to keep going, but too much of it and you will start becoming sluggish, used to fast, happy endings, the avoidance of important issues, and most importantly, it makes us addicted to pop-style books that drain our wallets and add nothing of value to our brains.  Not bad for  occasional reading, but it should not be the main body of the things you read. Read more…