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Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (2007)

1/28/2021

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Picture
By Piranha T.
 
I’ve heard it said that girls can’t keep secrets. That’s wrong: we’ve proved it. We’ve kept ours for years and years, ever since we came to Piscul Dracului and stumbled on the way into the Other Kingdom…We’d been going out and coming in nearly every month since then: nine whole years of Full Moons.
                              -Excerpt from Wildwood Dancing
                                                          by Juliet Marillier
 
Nine years ago, Jenica and her four sisters discovered the portal into the Other Kingdom, a place of magic, danger and mystery which exists at the edges of the Transylvanian town they live in. Their home, a crumbling castle called Piscul Dracului, is perched on the edges of the myth-ridden Wildwood, and is rumored to be as full of magic as the trees it lies on the skirts of.

In this, the tales are true. Every Full Moon, a portal opens there for Jena and her sisters which brings them to a midnight world of perilous magic and strange creatures, and Dancing Glade, where they spend the night among beings told of in whispered legends, as full of magic as the Wildwood itself. It’s always been dangerous—but one night, when the Night People, subjects of many dark and terrible stories, appear, it becomes much more so. Especially as one of them appears to take a particular interest in Jena’s elder sister.

As the Night People make the visits to Dancing Glade more perilous, the world Jena returns to after each monthly escapade into the Wildwood is growing worse and worse as well. Jena’s father, a merchant, has grown deeply ill, and he leaves Jena and her sisters in the care of their tyrannical cousin, Cezar, who is intent to destroy the Wildwood in revenge for his brother’s death years before, and constrict the sisters’ independence as much as possible. As both the Other Kingdom and the land Jena and her sisters inhabit grow more dangerous, she must confront those in both worlds if she is to protect not only the Wildwood, but the freedom of her and her sisters.
 
Deeply based in both Transylvanian folklore and the fairytale ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’, Wildwood Dancing is a story full of mystery and magic. Juliet Marillier’s writing effortlessly conjures a fairytale-like feeling, and the strange and dangerous setting of the Wildwood, which feels very real. Jena and her sisters are very interesting and multifaceted characters, especially Jena—I love her determination, stubborn nature, and protectiveness of her sisters. There is some romance in it, which is the major reason we've categorized this book as young adult. Overall, I recommend Wildwood Dancing to readers ages twelve and up. 

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    For Older Readers

    Although we're continuing to focus this blog on middle-grade (8-12) books, we've read some stories for older readers which we also enjoy. Some of these we've already reviewed because we've loved them so much, but we wanted to give them and some older reads their own place so that if you’re a reader who is beginning to grow out of middle-grade, we’ll still have some favorite books to recommend.

    Happy reading! 


    Young Adult vs. Middle Grade

    The difference between ‘middle grade’ and ‘young adult’ books mainly has to do with themes, not the complexity of the story. On this page, we’ll give recommendations for readers ages 12-14+, for those reasons.

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