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onespaceymother's review against another edition
2.0
I hate giving negative reviews - mostly because I worry authors read these and NEVER LET RANDOS ON THE INTERNET RAIN ON YOUR DREAMS - but I almost set this one down 3 or 4 times. I relented, but still that was hard to finish, which hurt because it had some things going for it. Great fantasy world building. It drew kind of randomly from many sources of folklore, but the plot was basically good and the backdrop was cool as hell. Problems for me were (a) waiting for the plot to actually occur was akin to watching paint dry, and (b) we endlessly talked about characters without actually feeling like we got to know them. This was one of the slowest and needlessly descriptive books I’ve ever read. Pages of useless information. I’ve heard so much about this author, I’m really bummed it didn’t work for me.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
1.0
In a desert land young Jarred lives with his mother. His father left long ago in search of something, or just to hide. And Jarred wants more out of his life so he leaves with a bunch of friends in search of adventure, and to find his father. Instead he find the love of a woman when he meets Lilith who lives in the marches of Slievmordhu. Now he wants to travel no further, instead he wants to win her love.
But she has a suitor, and a terrible curse over her that will make her go insane like her mother one day. But she cannot give up the love she feels for him.
It's hard to review this book since I read the first part 6 months ago and finished it this week. I was honestly not that impressed to continue.
She is a good write, and she creates good stories, countries and such. She puts in a lot of old fairytales and things that we might know, so when a ghost or something shows up we might just know what they are and how to get rid of them. So I do like the marches, and she was a way of writing. It's good romance fantasy.
But then I did turn into a picky reader and this is not the fantasy for me. Nothing happens! They mostly sit in that march and wonder what to do, or we see her jealous suitor, or the marchlife continues.
I do need more things to happen, and the end didn't made me happy either. I even had a sneak peak at the next books ending, which didn't have me happy either. So who knows about the last book then.
Maybe she is trying to hard to put in every single element of fantasy in the book, and the results is just confusing at times. I did get lost if I stopped reading for awhile. There was to much of everything, and too many long boring descriptions. I read that she was compared to Tolkien, and I jsut thought blasphemy! He is not that boring.
And I couldn't connect to Jarred because he was too perfect, and Lilith, plainly boring again. The only one that seemed real was the crazed suitor.
Oh a warning! Read the beginning and you know the end. I hate that.
But if is does seem interesting, than do read it. There are all kinds of fantasy and this wans't my cup of tea.
But she has a suitor, and a terrible curse over her that will make her go insane like her mother one day. But she cannot give up the love she feels for him.
It's hard to review this book since I read the first part 6 months ago and finished it this week. I was honestly not that impressed to continue.
She is a good write, and she creates good stories, countries and such. She puts in a lot of old fairytales and things that we might know, so when a ghost or something shows up we might just know what they are and how to get rid of them. So I do like the marches, and she was a way of writing. It's good romance fantasy.
But then I did turn into a picky reader and this is not the fantasy for me. Nothing happens! They mostly sit in that march and wonder what to do, or we see her jealous suitor, or the marchlife continues.
I do need more things to happen, and the end didn't made me happy either. I even had a sneak peak at the next books ending, which didn't have me happy either. So who knows about the last book then.
Maybe she is trying to hard to put in every single element of fantasy in the book, and the results is just confusing at times. I did get lost if I stopped reading for awhile. There was to much of everything, and too many long boring descriptions. I read that she was compared to Tolkien, and I jsut thought blasphemy! He is not that boring.
And I couldn't connect to Jarred because he was too perfect, and Lilith, plainly boring again. The only one that seemed real was the crazed suitor.
Oh a warning! Read the beginning and you know the end. I hate that.
But if is does seem interesting, than do read it. There are all kinds of fantasy and this wans't my cup of tea.
cakeroo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
freemajo's review against another edition
4.0
I love Cecilia Dart-Thornton's other work: The Bitterbynde Trilogy. The Crowthistle Chronicles are not as good, but I still greatly enjoy them (except book 3). The thing you need to understand about Dart-Thornton is that she loves poetic prose. She REALLY loves it. She will describe everything in exquisite (for me, others may find it tedious) detail. The descriptive nature of her writing is immersive and on occasions overwhelming. If you don't like highly descriptive fantasy, you will not enjoy her books.
The story itself is more unique than it may appear at first glance--two lovers and a curse of madness. The main characters are perfect beings, they are not flawed in any way. If that annoys you, you will not enjoy her books. Her characters are always the smartest, prettiest, kindest, most superlative in every way. Their perfection is unmitigated. I think this mimics the simplicity of fairy tales in many ways, but again, it's not for everyone.
There are frequently folk tales and fairy tales told within the story by various characters. The story itself is not straight forward, and as I said before, immersive. SO, if you enjoy highly descriptive fantasy, perfect characters, and stories within stories, then you will probably enjoy these books.
The story itself is more unique than it may appear at first glance--two lovers and a curse of madness. The main characters are perfect beings, they are not flawed in any way. If that annoys you, you will not enjoy her books. Her characters are always the smartest, prettiest, kindest, most superlative in every way. Their perfection is unmitigated. I think this mimics the simplicity of fairy tales in many ways, but again, it's not for everyone.
There are frequently folk tales and fairy tales told within the story by various characters. The story itself is not straight forward, and as I said before, immersive. SO, if you enjoy highly descriptive fantasy, perfect characters, and stories within stories, then you will probably enjoy these books.
tamcait's review against another edition
adventurous
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Very descriptive, does a great job at building the world and the characters in it, but definitely a slow pace.
scholarhect's review against another edition
1.0
Without doubt one of the worst starts to a series I've ever read - appallingly overwritten, like she swallowed and regurgitated a thesaurus, with one dimensional characters whom we learn precious little of, except that the leads are Very Very Pretty. The story spans some... Fifteen years? And let me tell you, the ten days I spent reading it felt about that long. I was about ready to gouge my eyes out the third time I came across a description of the colour of someone's eyelids and how much they resembled a butterfly - this is a trope I hope to never again encounter, and which makes me wonder how anyone in their right mind can refer to her world- and character-building as "Tolkien-esque". The suggestion that this is anywhere in Tolkien's league is insulting and laughable. More offensive, however, was the unexpected (and entirely unnecessary) transliteration of the Grimnørslanders' accent; I assume it's supposed to invoke the New Zealand accent for Australian and Kiwi readers but as no other accent is indicated by phonetic spelling, it comes across as an infantile, and poorly made, joke.
I remember enjoying CDT's first series a lot (except for the "twist" and subsequent make-it-better retcon right at the end of the third novel), and these have been on my shelf for quite a while, so I was incredibly disappointed to find out how bland this was. I feel no compulsion whatsoever to know what happens in the next three books in the series. The only reason I bothered to finish this one was because I've already abandoned three books this year due to boredom and it's spoiling my 52 book challenge.
One star is being kind. Don't bother.
I remember enjoying CDT's first series a lot (except for the "twist" and subsequent make-it-better retcon right at the end of the third novel), and these have been on my shelf for quite a while, so I was incredibly disappointed to find out how bland this was. I feel no compulsion whatsoever to know what happens in the next three books in the series. The only reason I bothered to finish this one was because I've already abandoned three books this year due to boredom and it's spoiling my 52 book challenge.
One star is being kind. Don't bother.
arthurbdd's review against another edition
2.0
Lumbered with some of the clunkiest expositional dialogue I have ever seen in a fantasy novel, and in this genre that's saying something. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/the-precise-moment-at-which-i-gave-up-on-cecilia-dart-thorntons-the-iron-tree-and-why-you-should-read-deborah-j-millers-swarmthiefs-dance-instead/
cetian's review against another edition
3.0
Cecília writes a beatiful, long, love story, filled with many creatures of eldritch, adventures. Slow pace and quiet fun, compared to The Bitterbynde Trilogy. But brace yourselves, this is just the beggining of a very long, epic, multigenerational tetralogy.
hteph's review against another edition
3.0
Reads a lot like a book by Jack Vance, but do not manage to evoke the same creative madness, but only the gnarly prose.
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