Heart's Blood
by Juliet Marillier

    HEART'S BLOOD by Juliet Marillier
    Category:  Fantasy
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  11/3/09
    Publisher: ROC
    Reviewed by:  Candace Cunard
    Rating:  5 Stars


    In medieval Ireland, eighteen-year-old Caitrin is an anomaly. Before he died, her scribe father not only taught her
    how to read and write, but allowed her to actively participate in his trade and supported her in the face of those
    who scorned the idea of a female intellectual. However, with his death, Caitrin is left at the mercy of her cruel and
    abusive aunt and cousin, whose treatment forces her to flee from her home with nothing but her scribing tools and
    the clothes on her back.

    She manages to find employment with Anluan, the mysterious and solitary clan chieftan of Whistling Tor. She
    stays with him and his household, reading, translating, recopying, and categorizing the contents of his library, for
    which he promises to pay her both in silver and in the elusive plant heart’s blood, used to produce a rare and
    priceless ink. However, things at Whistling Tor are not quite what they seem, and Caitrin’s work brings her into
    contact with a fantastic history of the place that its ruler would prefer be kept silent.
            
    I have read Marillier’s work before, but unlike others who compare HEART'S BLOOD unfavorably to her
    SEVENWATERS books, I found myself much more caught up in Caitrin’s story. Part of that has to do with her
    character; like most of Marillier’s heroines, she’s intelligent, plucky, and though she’s dealing with her own
    personal demons, she has an infectiously dazzling strength of spirit.

    And although the story is told from Caitrin’s first-person point of view, Marillier manages to portray with equal
    depths the complexity of Anluan’s hidden past. Although the plot does perhaps lag in the middle in the sense that
    there is little outward action taking place, I felt like every single scene was significant for character development
    even if it didn’t immediately advance the plot.
            
    By the end of the first chapter, I felt like this book had been written specifically for me. As a huge fan of the story
    of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, I saw HEART'S BLOOD as both an obvious and clever retelling that played
    fast and loose with some of the plot points of the original tale in order to convey the right feeling and allow the
    characters to gain more complexity of motivation. It’s certainly nothing like the Disney version (well, except that
    there is a magic mirror), but I liked it better for that.

    Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a compelling historical fantasy with strong
    characterization and beautiful writing.