Heart's Blood
by Juliet Marillier
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Book Summary Information
Author: Juliet MarillierEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-03
ISBN: 0451462939
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Book Reviews of Heart's Blood
Book Review: This book so did it for me
Summary: 5 Stars
Every now and again I read a book that is simply perfection - Juliet Marillier - HEART'S BLOOD is one of those books for me. Prior to the release I remember seeing the cover and thought this book will knock my socks off and so said, so done.
The book starts of with Caitrin a young scribe making her way to parts unknown, running away from a greater evil. With only the bare minimum plus the tools of her trade as comfort, she is dropped off late in the evening in the woods near to what is known as Whistling Tor.
Not only is Caitrin cold and frightened but she is determined to move on because what is behind her is far worse than what is in front of her - that is until she comes upon strangers going her way plus a barrier with villagers hurling stones at them.
Caitrin is desperate and holds her own and request lodgings for the night. The villagers are not savages and they offer Caitrin what help they can, but they also warn her of the curse of the Tor and gives her some dire warnings about what goes on in the house up on the hill - the home of the chieftain of the Tor itself.
Within twenty-four hours Caitrin is under the crumbling roof of the house on the hill and there is more there than the villagers feared in residence, and even more than she herself would have imagine even possible.
This crumbling fortress is home to Anluan - the last of his line and the only one who has any control of the malevolent army that is the curse of the Tor. Anluan is the guardian of this curse, a century old and he needs someone to help him sort out what remains of his family history, Caitrin is capable and ready - but Anluan was just not prepared for Caitrin.
As days and night passes and the curse draws it shroud around the Tor, Anluan and Caitrin finds that they need each other - Anluan for the courage that only Caitrin can give him and Caitrin finds everything in Anluan that she admires about a man plus he is determined to do all she can for the century old residents of the Tor. Their life is fated to disaster even before they have had a chance, because no matter how much Caitrin wishes for Anluan to be the man she wishes him to be Anluan has had his entire life and the voices to become set in one mode - defeat; Anluan would rather push Caitrin away before he allows the curse of his family to befall her.
HEART'S BLOOD is everything that I expect a good fantasy to be - the setting is dark, the characters are such that they saw into me and I just can't look away. The storylines are numerous and many and they all roll and tip over each other vying for dominance, but as all good story tellers does - Ms Marillier reigns then in with descriptive worth, lengthy scenes and enough mystery to keep me going.
The story revolves around a century old curse that has not only crippled a village but an entire family has fallen foul of its evil arms.
Caitrin comes along searching for her own path to self confidence but finds herself taking an even braver step that not only give to Anluan the one thing he had lost - Hope, but she gives an entire set of people the first ray of sunshine they have ever experience in a century.
Then there is Anluan, the broken man - literally and figuratively. Without even knowing him, I was intrigued by him - he acted like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and in some ways he did. As with men reared in that time - Anluan have high expectation of himself and finds himself wanting, it was a pleasure to watch him see himself through someone else's eyes and it was like a flower opening - the end product was a force to be reckoned with.
There is most definitely shades of Beauty and the Beast here - but Caitrin's and Anluan romance is not one that rushes up on them and it was not expected to be so - their love was a calling and it feeds off the changing seasons, the sighing of their hearts, the wish for best and the hope that each will be the best of themselves.
The setting of HEART'S BLOOD is 12th century Ireland and I love everything about that period - the savage of it, the superstitious-ness of the people, the way they love with their entire being and the fact that life and death are but a whisper and it's literally survival of the fitness and the craftiest. Marillier describes the period beautifully - I was there, I saw, I felt and I did not want to leave.
This book is a character driven book, with not only the main protags capturing my heart, but life long friends making the journey worthwhile. Then there was the cursed people wanting just the pleasure of sleep and villagers who aptly knew the meaning of sticking with the devil you know than the one who wants to overrun the Tor boundaries.
The storylines were suited to the time, there was no big drama - it was treachery, unfair play, power play and some neat scenes of rolling back the years to give me a look at the past, to see how it stacked up against the present and made me dig deep down for that hope for the future.
If you like books that will stand the test of time, about characters that refuse to die, gothic in it's feel - dark and malevolent in it's evil but with a pace that suits the time, creeping, crawling and then in the clear light of day you can't look away - this is the book for you.
I totally enjoyed this journey and I am hoping this is not the last visit that Ms. Marillier takes me on to Whistling Tor.
Summary of Heart's Blood
The national bestselling "fine folklorist and gifted narrator"(Publishers Weekly) of the Sevenwaters novels conjures a new sweeping romantic fantasy.Anluan has been crippled since childhood, part of a curse that has besieged his family and his home of Whistling Tor. But when the young scribe Caitrin is retained to sort through family documents, she brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.
But to truly free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life-and their love...
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