Wildwood Dancing

People looking for a vampire book probably wouldn't find this one, but it's completely wonderful. It's a retelling of the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in historical Transylvania. The main characters are five sisters who have discovered a portal into fairyland, where they go to dance every full moon. The oldest sister falls in love with a good vampire, prompting the evil vampires to threaten war with the "real" world. The second sister has to contend with this, an ill father, and a male cousin who's attempting to launch his own attack against the fey (not to mention her). Add an enchanted frog, and really what more can you ask for?

In addition to vampire fans, I recommend this book for anyone who likes historical fantasy (like Libba Bray) or retold fairy tales (like Robin McKinley). If you like Wildwood, check out Marillier's book Daughter of the Forest. It won the American Library Association Best Adult Book for Teens prize.

"Wildwood Dancing" reminds me of "Pride and Prejudice" with a spattering of different fairy tales and a bit of Dracula mixed in.

There are five sisters and the oldest is beautiful and the second oldest is smart and witty. The other three consist of the scholar, the flirt and the youngest is just young.

Their father becomes ill and leaves the girls to run the castle under the watchful eye of an uncle and cousin Cezar. To say the least things go awry and the cousin is power hungry and in love with Jenica the second oldest, but things do not go as planned and the girls are defiant.

These lovely sisters have found a portal into another dimension. The portal takes them to the land of fairies and dwarves and all types of fantastical creatures. In this land they dance to their hearts content, but they have rules they all swear to follow. No one can eat or drink the food from this fantasy land, for it may change them and they would not be able to live a proper life in their own land. They are to stay in each other sight, but Tatiana one night catches the eye of her true love. Her true love is trapped into servitude by creatures of the dark. Sorrow who is Tatiana's true love changes the purpose of the monthly visits for Tatiana and the ramifications that follow effect everyone even the people of the girls' village. Tatiana lives for nothing but to be with Sorrow.

Jenica tries to keep everything under control with the help of her trustworthy companion Gogu. Gogu happens to be a frog and Jenica can hear him talk, but no one else can. Jenica found him when she was six years old and they are inseparable companions much to the consternation of cousin Cezar. The frog plays a major part in the story as most frogs do in fairy tales.

The story is a delight to read and even though it is based on other stories, it contains a lot of wonderful surprises that kept me reading about the girls' journeys. In this book true love wins, but the two eldest girls have to fight to win it.

Dance all night; work all day. Jena and her sisters have been living that theory once per month for years. That's because they cross a portal into the mysterious Wildwood (where anything is possible) every full moon. There they see treasures of incomparable beauty and meet interesting people that captivate their hearts. Or in Tati's case a person who stole her heart (and won't give it back). No one knows their secret (except Gogu, the frog) and they hope to keep it that way.


Then Jena's father gets sick while away from home, leaving Jena alone to fend for her sisters. Not that Jena minds it. She's always been the leader, the responsible one. Unfortunately, her cousin, Cezar, doesn't think she's up for the task and so moves in to keep a close eye on them. In fact, he watches so closely that he realizes that something's different at full moon. And he'll do anything to find out their secret and if he finds the Wildwood he'll destroy it…

There are so many good things about this book. The beautiful prose that shines in Juliet Marillier's other books is here. There are strong and interesting characters. Jena is an unforgettable character, who is so strong in all her opinions-sometimes to the point of being completely bull-headed. And then there's the great plot- that was, yes, inspired by the Twelve Dancing Princesses, but Juliet Marillier's really made the story her own. And what a great story it is!

I thoroughly enjoyed "Wildwood Dancing". The variety of characters was interesting, and the details enthralling. While the plot is typical of the genre, Marillier's style more than makes up for the predictable ending- she had me smiling and tearing at several points during the story.

I would recommend this book to an older audience than the 10-12 group the publisher targets; some of the topics are fairly mature, and I believe that young women would enjoy the book more than pre-teens.

For those familiar with Marillier's other books, I would say that "Wildwood" isn't as good as the Sevenwater's trilogy, but is better than the Bridei Chronicles.