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A review by freemajo
The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
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.