Wildwood Dancing -- Juliet Marillier

Wildwood Dancing is partly* a re-imagining of The Twelve Dancing Princesses:

I've heard it said that girls can't keep secrets.  That's wrong: we'd proved it.  We'd kept ours for years and years, ever since we came to live at Piscul Dracului and stumbled on the way into the Other Kingdom.  Nobody knew about it--not Father, not our housekeeper, Florica, or her husband, Petru, not Uncle Nicolae or Aunt Bogdana or their son, Cezar.  We found the portal when Tati was seven and I was six, and we'd been going out and coming in nearly every month since then:  nine whole years of Full Moons.

Jenica (Jena to her friends and family) is sixteen years old, the second oldest of five girls.  They and their widowed father live in Transylvania, in a crumbling castle called Piscul Dracului, or the Devil's Peak.  For the last nine years, the sisters have made monthly visits to Other Kingdom -- the Faerie Realm -- for nights of dancing, music, debate and merriment.  While they are aware that the Other Kingdom is fraught with dangers, they are always very careful, and consider their trips to be mostly safe.

Everything changes when, due to illness, their father leaves Piscul Dracului for the winter.  He leaves Jena and Tati in charge, with their Uncle Nicolae (who lives in the next castle over) looking on in an advisory capacity.  Everything was well thought out and well planned.

Or so they thought.

Unfortunately, no one thought to make a What-If-Our-Cousin-Makes-A-Powergrab plan, and no one thought to make a What-If-Tati-Falls-In-Love-With-One-Of-The-Dreaded-Night-People plan.

Jena has a number of tasks ahead of her -- a single one of them would be difficult, but all together, they're seemingly impossible -- luckily, she has her trusty frog (who speaks telepathically only to her) Gogu to advise her.

I enjoy fantasy stories that double as historical fiction, and I enjoy re-tellings of fairy tales, so I was predisposed to like this one.  That said, I had mixed feelings.  I loved the world -- worlds, really -- that Juliet Marillier created.  For me, they were really the strongest element, lush and vivid.  Jena and Gogu's relationship was well done, as was the relationship between the sisters, though the younger sisters never really achieved real person-ness**.

I had two major problems.  One, by page 84 -- I dogeared it to mark the spot -- I knew exactly what was going to happen.  There were a very few specifics I didn't know, of course, but for the most part, at that moment, I knew how everything was going to go.  At the time, I thought that it wouldn't make a difference. 

It did.  I felt myself waiting for the events I knew were coming, rather than enjoying the moment I was reading about.  And then, when those events took place, BAM, BAM, BAM, I found myself irrationally irritated.  I honestly don't know if that is because the book runs along a truly predictable path, or because I'm amazingly brilliant.  Let's go with brilliant.  It's nicer for everyone involved.

My other problem was Cezar.  I'm pretty sure that I was supposed to have mixed feelings about him, but I didn't.  I hated him so much that even reading about him was unpleasant.  As he was a major character, it made much of my reading experience Less Than Enjoyable.

School Library Journal gave Wildwood Dancing a starred review and Booklist gave it a nice write-up as well.  Maybe I was just cranky?  I don't think so, but we'll see.  I'm going to hand my copy off to some of the teen girls and see how they feel.

I adore the cover art.  After finishing the book, even more so -- there are details in the picture that make it clear that the artist had some knowledge of the book.  Hooray!  Like Gogu, of course, and the gargoyle that hitched a ride on Jena's shoulder, Tati and Sorrow on the right, the other Night People on the left, and Draguta with her white fox down at the bottom.  Ileana is even wearing a feathered headdress.  Nice one.

I'd try it on fans of the Libba Bray books, as well as (obviously) those who enjoy fairy tale re-writes.

[Later:  Word of warning -- People have let the spoilers fly in the comments, so don't click if you don't want to know!]

*It's a re-imagining of another story, as well, though naming it would be a major spoiler, and it plays with Transylvanian folklore, tradition and culture.

**There is Paula, the scholar, Iulia, the flirt, and Stela, the baby.  A bit like the younger Bennett sisters, now that I think about it.  It made sense, story-wise, that they weren't the focus, and really, if they'd been fully-fleshed out characters the book probably would have been twice as long, but still, there you have it. 

Comments

[Whitney]

Ah, the cover artist is Kinuko Craft, who always does a fantastic job of creating artwork for book covers. It's so refreshing to have an artist that clearly read the book and took inspiration from it.

[Leila]

Yep. One of my teen patrons immediately identified her as Patricia McKillip's cover artist. Makes me want to finally start reading McKillip!

[The Rat]

I loved this book!!!!! The combination of the dancing princesses story and the frog prince with vampires (excuse me, night people) blew me away! Any t-shirt ideas for this book?

[Bea]

Hi! I found your blog about a month ago and I've really been enjoying it. A lot of my library requests are culled from here (even though I'm not in the YA demographic anymore :-) ).

I enjoyed Wildwood Dancing, but it definitely didn't live up to my expectations based on Juliet Marillier's previous books. I thought all of them were better than this one, with more complex plots (I agree with you about Cezar and predicting what would happen -- though I was surprised by Gogu) and better character development. I did like the worlds, Jena, and Gogu, though. Her heroines never disappoint.

Patricia McKillip is one of my favourite authors (along with Robin McKinley)... does your library have the Sorceress and Cygnet? I think it's out of print, but it's one of her best.

[Leila]

Hi Bea,

I knew it from the get-go about Gogu -- I think it was the "King of the Water" that did it -- and once I had the notion in my head, his reactions to Cezar (and everything else -- his father's death, his mother's grief) made perfect sense. She did a really good job with that -- I do think that fans of the book will enjoy re-reading it for just that reason.

We don't have that McKillip, but I can ILL it easily. Putting it on my list! And I am planning on giving her another try -- any suggestions?

[Bea]

Marillier hooked me with the first book of her Sevenwaters Trilogy: Daughter of the Forest (re-telling of the story about the girl with swan brothers), Son of the Shadows, and Child of the Prophecy. The Bridei Chronicles are great, too, and more complex. I really do love everything else she's written so far -- the delay in publishing between Australia and North America is killing me because I'm waiting to read The Well of Shades.
(see http://www.julietmarillier.com/booksnew.htm)

Favourite McKillip books: The Riddlemaster of Hed (and the rest of the trilogy), Song for the Basilisk, Ombria in Shadow, Alphabet of Thorn, Od Magic. Plus the two Cygnet books, which I just discovered are being re-released in one volume, hurray! (http://www.patriciamckillip.com/Books/Cygnet2007.htm)

[Colleen]

I would strongly recommend Od Magic by McKillip also - I reviewed that one last year (towards the end of the year) at Bookslut. It was a great big huge fun magical fantasy and totally sucked me in.

[Lili]

I stopped reading at page 84.

There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the book. it just didn't grab me, and the whole story/characters/setting felt a little familiar. I'm also wearying of the Abundant Capitalisation of Things like Other Kingdom and Full Moon etc.

I think I've read too much fantasy. For a fantasy novel to really grab me, it has to be different or unique, like the Bartimaeus books, or Pullman, or Margo Lanagan's short stories. I'm also enjoying urban fantasies like those by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black. But the 'traditional' fantasy novels just aren't grabbing me.

(from the girl who is currently in the middle of writing a novel retelling of a fairy tale. but mine has convicts being transported to australia! that's different, right?)

[Annie]

Like Bea, I've been reading this blog for a few weeks, and this is my first time posting. I just had to add my two cents when I saw McKillip crop up in the comments: I strongly suggest Ombria in Shadow (again), and Alphabet of Thorn (it's even about librarians, sort of). The Changeling Sea is also one of my favorites, and fits more into the YA category.

[Angel]

I read this book and it took me forever! This is the best book i have ever read in my whole entire life! It was touching, exciting, romantic, interesting, and creative. I recommend this book to so many people in this world!

[Leila]

Phew. My TBR list is getting long! (Obviously, I'm fine with that.) Thanks, guys.

[Someone]

I really love this book! I love all Julliet Marrilliers books!! It would be great to read a lot more!! I especially love the SevenwaterS trilogy!! My favourites ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really love the book covers aswell....soooooo good!!

[xXxCassieChaosxXx]

i simply love your books they are the best in the whole world...write more and more...

[Genevieve]

well i'm trying to read it but i have a problem with vampires. sadly i don't think i will be reading the rest of the book.